Austin Community College will be one of 17 community colleges and 19 universities from 13 states that will participate in the Equity Transfer Initiative (ETI), which aims to increase transfer rates for African-American, Hispanic, adult and first-generation learners.

The American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) will lead the initiative in partnership with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities (AASCU) and the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). The ECMC Foundation and Ascendium Education Group are funding the two-year ETI, through which selected partnering two-year and four-year institutions will receive up to $27,500 to advance transfer pathways and align them to increase transfer and completion for underrepresented student populations.

The goal of ETI is to serve 6,000 students from the identified underrepresented groups over the two-year project period. Each team must place at least 100 students on one of five identified transfer pathways by the end of the first year and 300 or more total by the end of the second year.