MCC Officials Touting Success of Damato 'Retention' Grants

MANCHESTER, CT – Manchester Community College officials on Thursday were crediting a bequest from the estate of Raymond F. “Sonny” Damato, for a new set of retention scholarships to students who "might otherwise have had to suspend their education for lack of funds."

The Spring 2018 semester marks the fourth time that the college has awarded the grants, which total nearly $70,000 to date.

Of the students awarded a retention grant, more than 60 percent were able to earn their degrees and/or return for the following term, officials said.

MCC’s retention grant program has become a "best practice" in Connecticut for helping successful students – so much so that Interim Dean of Institutional Advancement Susan Alston and Enrollment Services Coordinator Samantha Plourd were invited to present at the College Board’s New England Regional Forum in Boston on March 1, according to MCC officials.

The forum is an annual gathering of professionals from across K–12 and higher education circles, as well as "college access professions," MCC officials said.

Alston and Plourd said the retention grant program is a new need-based scholarship that offers funding for eligible continuing students to cover a semester’s initial tuition and fee bill.

The grant makes the first payment of an installment agreement to secure the student’s position in classes, they said. Each students then agrees also to attend a financial literacy workshop, which is designed to help him or her plan and manage upcoming budget milestones, they said.

To be eligible, a student must have at least a 2.5 grade point average.

“Of the recipients of retention grants to date, nearly 60 percent have gone beyond to earn a 3.0 or higher,” Plourd said.

Alston added, “We recognize that many of our students face a broad range of personal and financial challenges at the same time they are pursuing their education, and that ‘life happens.’ We don’t want students to stop going to college just because they can’t continue to pay tuition for one semester, so we greatly appreciate the bequest from the Damato Estate.”

The Damato bequest is $7.6 million. In addition to the retention grants, funding has been used to support scholarships for graduating high-school students who are pursuing a degree or certificate at MCC, course lab and related fees, developmental courses and supplemental flexible funding as needed, as well as campus upgrades and program support.

The foundation also has a number of additional scholarship funds and each semester gives hundreds of deserving students the opportunity to achieve their academic dreams, having awarded more than $200,000 over the past year.

For information, visit www.manchestercc.edu/scholarships-and-grants.

The endowment is overseen by the MCC Foundation.

Photo Credit: MCC