Chair Lee on ACE and ASAP enrollment and retention

Okay, moving to ACE and ASAP.

So CUNY, the ASAP's program and the ACE program is great, and I'm glad you included more details in the testimony.

How many students are currently enrolled in CUNY ASAP and ACE, and what is the retention rate?

I'm going to let our provost answer that.

So the finalized numbers for academic year 24-25 is worth 39,299 students, and the one-year retention rate was 65.6%.

65.6%.

Correct.

Okay.

And how does the retention rate differ for students not enrolled in CUNY ASAP or ACE?

That's about twice as high compared to non-ASAP students.

Oh, wow.

Okay.

And graduation rate versus similar students not enrolled?

The two-year graduation rate is 16.5%, and the three-year graduation rate, which is the main metric, is 34.6%.

34.6%.

Okay.

And I know that this hasn't been baselined yet, which obviously, as we mentioned, impacts the ability to sort of plan and for a new cohort of students.

And so when do you usually recruit?

For that program to enroll in terms of CUNY ACE?

We are usually recruiting right at the very point of admission.

So students apply in the fall and get decisions throughout the spring semester.

And as they are receiving admissions letters, that's when the recruitment starts.

Okay.

And to your point, Chair, the recurrent funds is not just the obvious personnel.

You're making a commitment to bring students in for two, three years, right?

So we need to make sure that we have the funding to be able to support them at that point when they come in, too.

That's another reason why the baselining on this case and also on ACE is so important.

Yeah, no, definitely.

Okay.

Yes, planning purposes wise, for sure.