ILEA Equity Plan | Elgin Community College (ECC)

• College Literacy (LTC-099). LTC-099 is an additional accelerated literacy course, which
combines four developmental courses for reading and/or writing into a single 5-credit
hour course. This course was first offered in fall 2016 and is especially advantageous for
students who place two levels below college-level in reading and English. For such
students, it is possible to meet ECC's minimum competency requirement for collegelevel
English with just one course (5 credit hours) and in one semester instead of the
four courses (12 combined hours) and at least 2 semesters that the traditional
developmental course pathway would have required. In evaluation of the effectiveness
of LTC-099, the college has focused on student performance in high-enrolled, freshman
college-level courses that have college-level reading and writing requirements as
prerequisites. Our analyses show that students who place into both developmental
reading and writing are much more likely to enroll in a college-level course within the
first two years (86%) than students who enroll in the traditional developmental
sequences (67%). We also find that students who place into both developmental
reading and writing are more likely to be successful in their subsequent college-level
courses if they complete LTC-099 (74%) than if they complete the traditional
developmental course sequence (64%).
Financial Aid Counselors/Literacy Workshops
Our Student Financial Services Department is invested in student success and recognizes
financial problems are distracting and worrisome for students. Sound financial health has been
proven to be a catalyst to a student successfully completing college, but is often overlooked.
The College’s Financial $marts Financial Literacy Program is a financial education program first
implemented in 2009 to help teach critical financial literacy skills. It reflects a joint partnership
between the College’s Financial Aid office and the Student Services and Development Division
to educate students, families, and community members about financial literacy – how to
prepare a budget, how to manage debt, and improve understanding of financial aid and student
loans. Prior to its launch, ECC students were borrowing more through student loans; the cohort
default rate was rising; and students were struggling to remain enrolled due to financial
barriers. Mandatory one-on-one loan advising for all students seeking student loans was added
to this program in 2012. Today, Financial $marts encompasses pre-collegiate non-profit youth
organizations and individual presentations at area high schools that work closely with ECC’s
Alliance for College Readiness. This program has seen a nearly 60% reduction in both the
number of and total amount of student loans taken on by current students between 2009-2010
and 2017-2018. The 3-year student loan default rate has similarly been cut approximately in
half since the program was first implemented.
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ILEA Equity Plan
Current State