2026 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

Sustaining a student support program is more than maintaining funding; it’s about preserving purpose as participation grows. The [Program Name] S-STEM project was launched to help low-income engineering transfer students navigate the academic and social transition from community colleges to a four-year university. Now in its fourth year, the program has entered a phase focused on scale and sustainability: how to serve more students while holding on to the mentoring elements and community-driven approach that makes the experience meaningful.
Years 3 and 4 brought both challenge and opportunity. Because more scholars than expected received other federal, state, and institutional financial aid, including grants and scholarships, the leadership team expanded the cohort to ensure that NSF scholarship resources reached as many qualified students as possible. The larger group required new forms of coordination and flexibility. Faculty mentors, co-PIs, and staff worked together to reimagine event planning and mentoring assignments to accommodate a more complex community. What emerged was not just a larger program, but a more robust network among students, mentors, mentees, and institutions, one that highlighted the importance of intentional structure in maintaining connection at scale.

Outcomes, informed by student questionnaires and focus groups, suggest that growth has not diluted the impact. By spring 2025, most Scholars from the first two cohorts had transferred successfully to four-year programs, and participants continue to report a strong sense of belonging and satisfaction with the program. These results reflect the value of adaptability, the ability to adjust without losing the human element that defines the project.

This paper shares how the [Program Name] has balanced expansion with sustainability, highlighting lessons on partnership, coordination, and the evolving meaning of “support” in a growing multi-institutional program.