The Hearst Foundations Award Bard College $100,000 in Support of Bard High School Early College Programs

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—The Hearst Foundations have awarded Bard College a $100,000 grant to help fund the Bard High School Early Colleges’ (BHSEC) academic support services, which work to assist more than 1,500 public school students a year reach college. The grant will support one-on-one tutoring for academic support across the curriculum, peer tutors in writing and other subject areas, and the extensive college transfer advising program that students begin during their first year of the BHSEC college program (junior year of high school).

Bard College has long been an innovative voice in strengthening college readiness and achievement among high school students. In 2001, the College partnered with the New York City Department of Education to open Bard’s first early college campus, BHSEC Manhattan, located on the Lower East Side. BHSEC Manhattan initiated a transformative education model premised on the belief that intellectually curious high school–age students, regardless of background, would be better prepared for both college and life if they were given the opportunity to take college courses at an earlier age, not only to give them an academic jumpstart but also to make the most of their natural passion for learning. At the BHSEC schools, students complete their high school requirements and earn 60 college credits—resulting in a Bard College associate in arts degree—in the four years typically assigned to high school. Since the first BHSEC, Bard Early Colleges have opened in Queens, New York (2008); Newark, New Jersey (2011); Cleveland, Ohio (2014); and this fall, Baltimore, Maryland (2015). Bard College also was approached to partner with the New Orleans Recovery School District in 2008; and more recently, by the Harlem Children’s Zone in New York City to improve college degree attainment by students attending its two Promise Academies. Completion of a two-year college degree program affords BHSEC graduates advanced standing at a four-year institution, increasing the likelihood that students can complete a baccalaureate degree and giving them the tools they need to succeed in life. Transferred credits from BHSEC allow the possibility of graduating from a bachelor’s degree program in fewer than four years, thereby saving students and families thousands of dollars in tuition and eliminating the need for remediation.

“We are very grateful to the Hearst Foundations for their support of the Bard Early Colleges and BHSEC’s proven ability to enable diverse young people to maximize their full academic, social, and career potential,” says Martha Olson, Bard College dean of education initiatives and BHSEC dean of administration. “Hearst’s gift will not only enable us to provide the support many of our students need to complete our program, but also to document what we do, so that more school districts, colleges, and universities can adopt our successful early college model.”

The Hearst Foundations are national philanthropic resources for organizations working in the fields of culture, education, health, and social services. The Hearst Foundations identify and fund outstanding nonprofits to ensure that people of all backgrounds in the United States have the opportunity to build healthy, productive and inspiring lives.

About Bard College
Founded in 1860, Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, is an independent, nonsectarian, residential, coeducational college offering a four-year B.A. program in the liberal arts and sciences and a five-year B.A./B.S. degree in economics and finance. The Bard College Conservatory of Music offers a five-year program in which students pursue a dual degree—a B.Music and a B.A. in a field other than music—and offers an M.Music in vocal arts and in conducting. Bard also bestows an M.Music degree at Longy School of Music of Bard College in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Bard and its affiliated institutions also grant the following degrees: A.A. at Bard High School Early College with accredited Bard College branch campuses in New York City, Cleveland, and Newark, New Jersey; A.A. and B.A. at Bard College at Simon’s Rock: The Early College, in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and through the Bard Prison Initiative at six correctional institutions in New York State; M.A. in curatorial studies, M.S. in economic theory and policy, and M.S. in environmental policy and in climate science and policy at the Annandale campus; M.F.A. and M.A.T. at multiple campuses; M.B.A. in sustainability in New York City; and M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. in the decorative arts, design history, and material culture at the Bard Graduate Center in Manhattan. Internationally, Bard confers dual B.A. degrees at the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, St. Petersburg State University, Russia (Smolny College); American University of Central Asia in Kyrgyzstan; and Bard College Berlin: A Liberal Arts University; as well as dual B.A. and M.A.T. degrees at Al-Quds University in the West Bank.

Bard offers nearly 50 academic programs in four divisions. Total enrollment for Bard College and its affiliates is approximately 5,000 students. The undergraduate College in Annandale-on-Hudson has an enrollment of more than 1,900 and a student-to-faculty ratio of 10:1. For more information about Bard College, visit www.bard.edu.

Bard High School Early College allow students to earn up to 60 college credits and a Bard College associate in arts degree, tuition-free, along with a high school diploma. These schools have had great success in helping students access, afford, and complete college. For more information, visit bard.edu/earlycollege.

This event was last updated on 04-16-2015

Back to Top