HILLSBORO, Ohio — Southern State Community College is part of a three-school partnership that has been awarded a five-year, $4 million federal grant to help former college students who never finished a degree return and complete one.
The grant, funded through the 2026 Strengthening Institutions Program and administered by the U.S. Department of Labor on behalf of the U.S. Department of Education, is led by Cincinnati State Technical and Community College and also includes Wilmington College, according to the colleges.
More than 37 million working-age Americans have attended college but never earned a credential, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s 2025 Some College, No Credential Report. While more than 1 million of those former students returned to college in the 2023-24 academic year, that represented less than 3% of the total population, the report found.
“Students who leave college before finishing have already invested time, money and hope in their education,” Cincinnati State President Robbin Hoopes said in a statement. “By working together to help them finish, we can open doors for those students and strengthen the workforce our region depends on.”
The project builds on CState Complete, a Cincinnati State initiative developed through an earlier Strengthening Institutions Program grant that combines personal outreach, peer connections and coordinated assistance to help former students overcome barriers to returning. From fall 2024 through fall 2025, the program helped 988 students return to Cincinnati State, and 98 of those students graduated with 104 credentials, according to the college.
Using lessons from CState Complete, Wilmington College and Southern State plan to build their own versions of the outreach model. Wilmington, a private liberal arts college, plans to explore faculty connections as a way to reconnect with former students, while Southern State, a rural public community college serving Highland, Fayette, Clinton and surrounding counties, will adapt outreach and support to the needs of rural learners, according to the colleges.
“Many left college because life presented obstacles, not because they lacked the ability or desire to succeed,” Southern State President Nicole Roades said in a statement. “Through this project, we have an opportunity to welcome those students back, provide the support they need, and celebrate their accomplishments as they complete the credentials they set out to earn.”
It’s the latest student-support initiative at Southern State, which also awarded more than $225,000 in scholarships to students earlier this year.
Wilmington College President Corey Cockerill said the grant builds on a history of partnerships among the three schools. “A pause in college does not have to mean the end of that journey,” Cockerill said in a statement. “Our goal is to help students navigate their return and move toward successful degree completion.”
Over the five-year grant period, the three colleges will work as a collaborative learning community, testing and refining outreach approaches and measuring their effects on re-enrollment, retention and credential completion, with plans to share findings with other colleges, according to the colleges.
The information contained in this story was obtained from Southern State Community College.
