As part of the State University of New York’s Academic Momentum Campaign, Jamestown Community College has begun its ongoing student retention efforts.

JCC’s Educational Services Committee heard an overview Tuesday of what the college’s initiatives are.

SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. announced Nov. 17 that additional financial support and technical assistance to strengthen student retention and completion rates through the momentum campaign.

According to suny.edu, “SUNY’s Academic Momentum Campaign builds on the success of ASAP|ACE – the nation’s leading evidence-based strategy for college no retention and completion. Thanks to investments made by Gov. Kathy Hochul and the legislature, more than 7,000 SUNY students are currently enrolled in ASAP (Advancing Success In Associate Pathways)|ACE (Advancing Completion Through Engagement), and the academic momentum campaign provides an opportunity for campuses to learn from these successful models and scale several of their strategies, including high-quality advising and personalized student support. In addition, SUNY campuses will draw on proven best practices from across the country used at the colleges with the greatest success in retention and completion, particularly for students furthest from opportunity.”

Because two-year community colleges enroll students who are not retained at the rates that students are retained at more selective, four-year schools, JCC Vice President of Academic Affairs Jessica Kubiak said that with community colleges, retention is always a focus.

“Typically four-year schools enroll students who have a lot of resources, a lot of history of being very good students,” Kubiak said.

JCC Retention Coordinator Jeanne Frerichs said that some ways SUNY measures retention are graduation rates, fall-to-fall retention rate, 30-plus credits earned in the first year, gateway course completion, and completion of the free application for federal student aid (FAFSA).

Frerichs added that SUNY is addressing retention in a new way, in part, because four-year schools, especially in the northeast, have had to recruit students who they normally would not have recruited.

Frerichs noted that many of the four-year schools have had high admission standards, but the standards are decreasing because schools have fewer students from which to choose. Essentially, she added, as high school graduation rates are dropping, four-year schools are enrolling more students who fall into the category of “higher needs” – students more likely to drop out of college.

“Therefore SUNY is encouraging all 64 schools within the system to engage in their academic momentum campaign so they can demonstrate a system-wide impact on retention,” Frerichs said.

SUNY campuses, suny.edu said, are developing action plans to support increased retention and completion rates for students who enter in Fall 2026. To support these locally driven efforts, SUNY is announcing:

– Additional resources to campuses to increase student success in key “gateway” general education courses. SUNY has invited campuses to join a voluntary Professional Learning Community for SUNY faculty and staff leading gateway course redesign work that will be led by a technical assistance provider with expertise in improving success in the courses that students use to meet general education requirements in written/oral communication and mathematics. Campuses will receive up to $15,000 each to support faculty and staff participation in the learning community, which will launch in February 2026.

– Leadership opportunities for faculty and staff to support academic momentum across the SUNY System. In recognition of the expertise of SUNY faculty and staff, SUNY will name up to 20 SUNY Faculty & Staff Academic Momentum Fellows to support campuses in the development and early implementation of their action plans. Ten faculty and staff will be identified across each of the community college and state operated campus sectors to work in concert with the SUNY Office of Student Success to provide ongoing technical assistance to campuses.

– Financial support for campus teams to work together on academic momentum solutions. Every SUNY campus is eligible for up to $20,000 to bring together teams to develop their action plan. These funds can be employed to provide release time for faculty and staff to engage in this important work, among other uses.

ASAP|ACE helps students in both two-year and four-year degree programs stay on track and graduate on time with academic, financial, and personal support, the website noted.