University of Indianapolis receives nearly $3 million grant to strengthen support for students and prepare them for careers
The University of Indianapolis has been awarded a $2.94 million Title III Strengthening Institutions Program grant to expand career-focused educational opportunities and help students overcome both academic and personal challenges that can prevent them from completing college.
The grant will fund a new five-year initiative called UIndy CARES: Career Advancement, Retention, Employment, and Student Success. The program will expand opportunities to earn college credit for prior learning, develop short-term certificate programs and strengthen individualized student support.
The investment comes as colleges nationwide work to address barriers to student completion. The 2026 Lumina Foundation-Gallup State of Higher Education Study found that one in three students pursuing a degree or credential had considered stopping their coursework in the last six months, with emotional stress (46%), personal mental health (38%), and financial costs (28%), cited as the top three reasons.
“Helping students succeed means recognizing that they face challenges both inside and outside the classroom,” said UIndy Associate Provost Stephanie Kelly, who is overseeing the initiative. “UIndy CARES brings academic support and career preparation together so students can see a clearer path to completing their degree and better understand the opportunities that education can create. By recognizing learning gained through experiences like work and military service, we give students more ways to move toward their goals and thrive in their lives and careers.”
UIndy CARES will expand opportunities for students to earn academic credit for learning gained through apprenticeships, industry certifications, military service, prior work experiences and other professional experiences. The University of Indianapolis will also develop three short-term, credit-bearing certificate programs designed to meet Workforce Pell requirements, with employer partnerships helping align those programs with workforce needs. A new Greyhound Professional Success badging program aims to help 2,000 students develop and demonstrate career readiness skills.
The new initiative will also help students stay on track toward graduation by expanding success coaching, academic recovery programming and the Achieving College Excellence (ACE) program. The grant will fund three full-time success coach positions and a nonclinical case manager who will connect students facing financial challenges, housing instability, food insecurity and other personal concerns with campus and community resources. In total, the expanded retention efforts aim to provide additional support for more than 1,000 undergraduate students.
“When a student is worried about their next meal or where they are going to spend the night, it is incredibly difficult to just make it to class, much less give their best effort,” said UIndy Vice President for Student Affairs and Student Success Carolyn Golz. “We want all of our students to know they have someone to turn to when they need support—to listen, to help them navigate their options and to follow up to make sure their needs are being met. UIndy CARES will help us strengthen those personal connections so students know they’re not alone.”
UIndy CARES will also fund the development of workforce skills training modules that faculty can complete on their own schedules to help them incorporate career preparation into undergraduate courses. By the end of the program, UIndy aims to increase first-year retention from 71% to 80% and achieve a workforce certificate completion rate of 75% in Workforce Pell pathways.
The grant is funded through the U.S. Department of Education’s Title III Strengthening Institutions Program, administered by the Department of Labor.
For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact UIndy’s Director of Public & Media Relations Dan Klein at kleind@uindy.edu.