CARY, N.C. - From financial aid to summer scholarships, the UNC System is launching a Student Success Innovation Lab to examine any extra resources needed to improve graduation rates.

• Graduation rates have increased six percent in last five years.
• The goal is to improve graduation rates even more.
• The lab will be launched with more than $3 million of funding.

The announcement was made Monday as UNC System President Margaret Spellings shared her State of the University speech.

While graduation rates increased six percent over the last five years, Spellings says there's work to be done to improve accessibility for the state's fast-growing and diverse population.

“We know it’s not enough to get students into school. This initiative will leverage our System platform for research and development on student success,” said Spellings. “By supporting promising initiatives at our campuses, and funding researchers across UNC System institutions to rigorously evaluate those projects, the Student Success Innovation Lab will help us identify what works to raise completion rates and take those ideas to scale.”

The ;ab will be launched with more than $3 million of funding from the ECMC Foundation and the John M. Belk Endowment.