SUNY Learns From CUNY ASAP to Promote Student Success

Providing students with wraparound support is one evidence-based practice that has demonstrated impact on student credit accumulation, persistence and graduation rates. In the mid-2000s, the City University of New York created a model of student support that has been duplicated at dozens of colleges to improve outcomes; now the State University of New York system hopes to build on this success on its own campuses.

In 2018, Westchester Community College became the first SUNY campus to adopt CUNY’s initiative, which WCC calls Viking Resources for Obtaining Associate Degrees and Success (Viking ROADS). A March 2025 report from the nonprofit education-research group MDRC highlights the success of Viking ROADS during its initial three years: a 12-percentage-point increase in graduation rates among participants, despite headwinds from remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The background: CUNY created Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) in 2007 as a comprehensive initiative to address barriers to student retention and completion.

The core components of ASAP are personalized academic advising, specialized enrollment options and financial aid for course material and transportation costs for three years.

Over the past decade, ASAP-inspired programs have been implemented at over a dozen institutions in seven states. WCC president Belinda Miles was a part of the ASAP replication initiative in Ohio in 2014, so when she began her role at WCC in 2015, “it wasn’t too long before I ran into ASAP,” she said.

Arnold Ventures and MDRC, along with an anonymous donor to the WCC Foundation, provided financial support for the launch of Viking ROADS.

In 2023, SUNY chancellor John B. King Jr. announced the system would implement ASAP at 25 of its 64 campuses starting in 2024. Now, results from a three-year MDRC evaluation of Westchester Community College’s program offer guiding principles to peer institutions scaling their own efforts.

“We’re delighted to be that pivot campus and a leader amongst our peers,” Miles said.

The study: MDRC’s study followed WCC staff and students from 2018 to 2021.

Viking ROADS requires WCC students to be enrolled full-time in an eligible major, meet with a dedicated counselor and use college support services monthly, as well as be a New York resident, a first-time college student and only enrolled in one developmental education course.

A majority of students involved in the Viking ROADS study were traditional college students, with about one in five identifying as a nontraditional student (defined as someone who is older than 24, works full-time, has children or does not have a high school diploma). One adaptation of ASAP that Viking ROADS staff implemented was to offer a transportation stipend, rather than a prepaid MetroCard; WCC is a commuter campus and students utilize both their own cars and public transport to reach campus, so having flexibility in how they addressed transportation barriers was key, Miles said.

Over all, program participants were more likely to have higher enrollment rates over time and complete more credits, compared to their peers. By their fourth semester, 20 percent of program participants had earned degrees, compared with 13.3 percent of control group students. And by their sixth semester, 35 percent of program participants had completed an associate degree, compared to 23 percent of the control group.

Researchers theorized this gap could be tied to the specialized course enrollment options and academic advising Viking ROADS participants receive, which could help students meet their course requirements and reduce their risk of earning excess credits that don’t support degree completion.

“It’s critical that students begin with a person and a plan, or a plan and a person, [so] we can say, ‘Here’s the road map, here’s your guided pathway, here are the steps you take.’ But having a person that’s reliable is something that is critical for students, particularly first-generation students,” Miles said, because some learners may not have supporters at home who understand the bureaucracy of higher education.

Program staff also reduce barriers to applying for graduation and making degrees official; among nonparticipants who earned 60 or more credits, only 69 percent earned a degree, compared to 83 percent of Viking ROADS students.

“Despite the challenges that were posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, Viking ROADS still had large effects on three-year graduation rates, confirming the strength and adaptability of the ASAP model,” according to the report. “Viking ROADS not only helped students navigate the immediate disruptions that were caused by the pandemic but also supported their continued academic progress and degree attainment.”

What’s next: In the same way Miles brought her work with ASAP to WCC, she and her staff plan to contribute to a community of practice for the other SUNY campuses joining these efforts.

“I’m happy to share with colleagues what our story is and how we keep it going and how we keep expanding, albeit incrementally,” Miles said.

Funding and providing resources for wraparound services can be a barrier to scaling initiatives, but reallocating and redesigning existing services to better address student needs is one way Miles said she is looking to expand student success efforts at WCC.

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This article has been updated to reflect the correct name of Arnold Ventures.