Bard College Receives Nearly $2.8 Million Grant from New York State Department of Education for Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program

ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, N.Y.—Bard College has been awarded a $2,790,494 grant from the New York State Department of Education (NYSED) for its Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program (HEOP). This grant will provide funding over five years (2024–2029) to significantly increase support of HEOP students at Bard. Bard College is one of the first and longest-running HEOP schools in New York, having run a program since 1969. HEOP provides full-tuition scholarships as well as a broad range of services to New York State residents who, because of educational and economic circumstances, would otherwise be unable to attend a postsecondary educational institution. These awards are highly competitive.

This grant will enable Bard to increase enrollment in its successful Arthur O. Eve Higher Education Opportunity Program from 36 scholars to 53. Bard will increase full-time HEOP staff to support this expansion. The College will continue its recent focus on recruiting students living in the Hudson Valley and Capital Region who come from under-resourced academic backgrounds and meet the financial criteria for economic disadvantage set by NYSED. 

During the five-year grant cycle, Bard will be able to provide more direct support to students by increasing the amount provided for tuition assistance, medical insurance, textbook allowance, and personal expenses. Bard will also offer additional benefits to its HEOP students including loan support for graduating seniors, loan buybacks for returning scholars, and support for travel to off-campus academic programs or conferences.

Bard anticipates that this increase in support, coupled with Bard’s multi-faceted network of academic and socio-emotional support programs (including the launch of a new course for first-generation students titled “Exploring the Hidden Curriculum” cotaught by Dean of Inclusive Excellence Claudette Aldebot and First Year Dean Cylon George), HEOP scholars will continue to thrive in the College’s academically challenging liberal arts environment, thereby buttressing Bard’s excellent HEOP scholar retention rate of over 95 percent and five-year graduation rate of 92 percent.

Director of Bard’s Office of Equity and Inclusion (OEI) Jessica Gonzales Purcell says: “Opportunity programs like HEOP are an integral component of building the kind of pathway to higher education that is important to me and, more broadly, to Bard. My commitment is to create as many opportunities as possible for young people to experience the kind of educational journey that Bard provides. Higher education changes lives, and having traditionally underserved students on college campuses makes the campus a better place for all. Here at OEI, students have access to multiple layers of support and a community of peers. HEOP has been at Bard since the beginning, and we are incredibly thankful to the New York State Education Department and Office of Opportunity Programs for allowing us to build a bigger and more vibrant program than we have ever had. We’re just so excited to be able to welcome so many new individuals into our community.”

Learn more about HEOP here.
About Bard College
Founded in 1860, Bard College is a four-year, residential college of the liberal arts and sciences located 90 miles north of New York City. With the addition of the Montgomery Place estate, Bard’s campus consists of nearly 1,000 parklike acres in the Hudson River Valley. It offers bachelor of arts, bachelor of science, and bachelor of music degrees, with majors in more than 40 academic programs; graduate degrees in 13 programs; eight early colleges; and numerous dual-degree programs nationally and internationally. Building on its 163-year history as a competitive and innovative undergraduate institution, Bard College has expanded its mission as a private institution acting in the public interest across the country and around the world to meet broader student needs and increase access to liberal arts education. The undergraduate program at our main campus in upstate New York has a reputation for scholarly excellence, a focus on the arts, and civic engagement. Bard is committed to enriching culture, public life, and democratic discourse by training tomorrow’s thought leaders. For more information about Bard College, visit bard.edu.

This event was last updated on 05-15-2024

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