SUNY Westchester Community College Expands Program Proven to Increase Student Retention and Boost Graduation Rates

Viking ROADS program empowers students with financial, academic, and personal support to remove barriers to student success and dramatically increase timely degree completion.

Valhalla, NY, October 22, 2025 – SUNY WCC will host a special event to highlight the expansion of its Viking ROADS (Resources for Obtaining Associate Degrees and Success) program. Viking ROADS has been proven to increase graduation rates by 12 percentage points – one of the most significant improvements ever recorded at a community college.

The event will highlight the comprehensive support to students provided through Viking ROADS, which is modeled after the City University of New York’s Advancing Success in Associate Pathways (ASAP)— a program that nearly doubled graduation rates at CUNY community colleges and demonstrated similarly strong results when replicated in Ohio. The program includes financial assistance, personalized academic advising, career development, and community-building activities designed to help students overcome obstacles to timely graduation.

Following the success of Viking ROADS at SUNY WCC, SUNY ASAP|ACE launched in spring 2024 with 4,200 students at 25 campuses thanks to support from Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature through the historic $75 million SUNY Transformation Fund, demonstrating their commitment to improving student success across the state. The program is part of SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. and the SUNY Board of Trustees’s vision of advancing student success and upward mobility within the SUNY system. In May 2025, Gov. Hochul and the state Legislature established $12 million in recurring funding to help support SUNY’s expansion to 7,050 students in Fall 2025 on the path to 10,000 students by Fall 2026.

The event will include remarks from Dr. Belinda Miles, President of SUNY WCC, as well as students sharing their stories on how they have benefited from the program. Attendees will learn about the impact of Viking ROADS on participating students and the benefits of this initiative for the campus and community.

WHAT: Viking ROADS Program Announcement
WHO: Dr. Belinda Miles, President of SUNY WCC
WHEN: Monday, October 27 from 2:00-3:00pm
WHERE: SUNY Westchester Community College Hartford Hall, Boardroom 75 Grasslands Rd Valhalla, NY

MEDIA CONTACT: Mark Stollar
Director, Strategic Marketing and Communications
914-606-6638
[email protected]

RSVP: Please RSVP by Friday, October 24 to Mark Stollar at [email protected].