{"id":55674,"date":"2026-10-06T13:08:03","date_gmt":"2026-10-06T18:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/?p=55674"},"modified":"2026-10-06T13:08:28","modified_gmt":"2026-10-06T18:08:28","slug":"student-success-expanded-through-stay-the-course-partnership","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/student-success-expanded-through-stay-the-course-partnership\/","title":{"rendered":"Student Success Expanded Through Stay the Course Partnership"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

FORT WORTH, Texas \u2014 Tarleton State University and Catholic Charities Fort Worth (CCFW) formalized a new partnership Tuesday, Oct. 6, marking a shared commitment to removing barriers that prevent students from completing their education and reaching their full potential.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dr.
Tarleton State University President James Hurley and Catholic Charities Fort Worth President and CEO Heather Reynolds sign a memorandum of understanding expanding student support through the Stay the Course program.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

At the center of the partnership is Stay the Course\u00ae<\/sup>, CCFW’s evidence-based student success model. Built on a simple belief that education is one of the most powerful pathways out of poverty, Stay the Course helps students overcome the non-academic barriers that often stand between enrollment and graduation through comprehensive case management and emergency financial assistance for non-academic needs. Evaluated through a randomized controlled trial by the University of Notre Dame’s Wilson Sheehan Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO), the program has demonstrated dramatic increases in credential completion. Students paired with a Navigator were four times more likely to graduate than their peers, and 35 percent of female participants completed a degree or credential within three years, compared to less than one percent in the comparison group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAccess to higher education is only the beginning. Our responsibility is to help students complete their education and leave prepared to build meaningful careers and lives,\u201d said Tarleton State President Dr. James Hurley. \u201cThis partnership strengthens the support already available to our students and allows us to respond when unexpected challenges threaten their ability to stay enrolled. By working with Catholic Charities Fort Worth, we are building a stronger network of resources that helps students persist, succeed and reach their full potential.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Through this partnership, Tarleton State students will gain access to the proven Stay the Course model, receiving individualized support designed to help them persist through challenges, complete their educational goals, and move toward careers that provide long-term financial stability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Talent is everywhere, but opportunity is not,” said Heather Reynolds, President and CEO of CCFW. “Too many students leave college because they hit a barrier they can’t overcome alone, not because they lack the ability to succeed. Stay the Course exists to change that. Through this partnership with Tarleton State University, we’re making sure more students have the support they need to earn a degree, secure a living-wage career and create a different future for themselves and their families. That’s how we end poverty, one graduate at a time.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cStudent success is not something any one group or organization can accomplish alone,\u201d said Dr. Rachael Capua, Vice President of External Operations and Dean of Tarleton State Fort Worth. \u201cThis partnership reflects the power of a shared commitment centered around persistence and completion at its core. When we pair the resources and expertise of our community partners with existing student support services, we can help remove barriers, keep every Texan moving forward and ensure more students have the opportunity to earn their degrees and build meaningful futures.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since its launch, Stay the Course has served thousands of students and expanded to institutions across North Texas, demonstrating how colleges and community partners can work together to improve completion rates, strengthen workforce pipelines and create lasting opportunities for economic mobility.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

FORT WORTH, Texas \u2014 Tarleton State University and Catholic Charities Fort Worth (CCFW) formalized a new partnership Tuesday, Oct. 6, marking a shared commitment to removing barriers that prevent students …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":595,"featured_media":55676,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"advgb_blocks_editor_width":"","advgb_blocks_columns_visual_guide":"","wds_primary_category":382,"footnotes":""},"categories":[382,421],"tags":[430,469,457],"class_list":["post-55674","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-homepage","category-featuredstories","tag-academic-affairs","tag-our-impact","tag-tarleton-state-fort-worth"],"acf":{"image":false},"author_meta":{"display_name":"jpartin","author_link":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/author\/jpartin\/"},"featured_img":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/65\/2026\/10\/MOU-Signing-Stay-The-Course-300x200.png","coauthors":[],"tax_additional":{"categories":{"linked":["_Homepage<\/a>","Featured Stories<\/a>"],"unlinked":["_Homepage<\/span>","Featured Stories<\/span>"]},"tags":{"linked":["Academic Affairs<\/a>","Our Impact<\/a>","Tarleton State Fort Worth<\/a>"],"unlinked":["Academic Affairs<\/span>","Our Impact<\/span>","Tarleton State Fort Worth<\/span>"]}},"comment_count":0,"relative_dates":{"created":"Posted 6 hours ago","modified":"Updated 6 hours ago"},"absolute_dates":{"created":"Posted on October 6, 2026","modified":"Updated on October 6, 2026"},"absolute_dates_time":{"created":"Posted on October 6, 2026 1:08 pm","modified":"Updated on October 6, 2026 1:08 pm"},"featured_img_caption":"","series_order":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55674","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/595"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55674"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55674\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55679,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55674\/revisions\/55679"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/55676"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55674"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55674"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tarleton.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55674"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}