2023 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

The population of students in Puerto Rico that has enrolled in higher education within the last six years has been severely affected by a compound effect of the many major humanitarian crises including a deteriorated economy since the 2006 Great Recession, Hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017, earthquakes in 2019 and 2020, the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic since 2020, and Hurricane Fiona in 2022. To ensure that students can cope with the aftermath of these natural disasters, The Ecosystem to Expand Capabilities and Opportunities for STEM-Scholars (EECOS) was conceived. The program, funded by The National Science Foundation, developed a support ecosystem that consists of three elements: academic support, socio-emotional support, and financial support. This project emphasizes the importance of developing and implementing an ecosystem of support that includes academic and socioemotional support systems, and the validity of the adage that financial aid alone cannot increase student success. The baseline characterization of the strength of these components within a support ecosystem has led to increased student retention and promoted student graduation. EECOS served 65 low-income STEM students from 2018 to 2021. The program has a 96% retention rate and 75% have graduated from their bachelor’s degrees. The results of the evaluation indicate 95% of scholarship recipients indicated a high level of satisfaction with the program and the mentoring received; 68% of scholarship recipients were given counseling services due to emotional stress. This paper provides effective practices and a baseline characterization that can be used by universities to help students overcome the effects of natural disasters and promote student success.