In late 2021, the College of Western Idaho (CWI) needed to address a consistent enrollment decline and improve student retention. With an ambitious vision to improve and optimize its technological infrastructure and student outreach, CWI sought to build a best-in-class system to enhance student engagement and elevate enrollment strategies. To ensure that data and technology were aligned with CWI’s growth objectives, the college partnered with Collegis Education to analyze their combined impact. Were its data and tech aligned for impact, or were gaps hindering progress and creating unnecessary burdens across the team?
Key Takeaways
Six consecutive terms of YoY enrollment growth
Experienced the highest YoY increase in persistence in history of the college from Fall 2022 to Fall 2023
Consistent improvement in term-over-term retention
CHALLENGES:
Declining enrollment
No established retention strategy
Lack of CRM
Underutilized LMS
Siloed technology and data systems
SOLUTIONS:
Connected Core®
Advanced analytics + business intelligence
LMS support
Website optimization
Data-driven outreach and support for students identified as at-risk
Strategy
Collegis Education and CWI began collaborating on building a best-in-class student journey from the point of initial inquiry through graduation.
A comprehensive evaluation of existing CWI systems allowed Collegis to assess the college’s digital readiness, technology infrastructure, and enrollment ecosystem to understand how they aligned with its growth objectives. The partnership quickly proceeded from consultation to implementation.
Collegis prescribed a set of solutions to enhance student engagement from first contact and elevate the school’s enrollment strategies:
Connected Core® to unite siloed systems, data sets, and other enrollment technologies, providing more accurate, actionable, unified institutional intelligence with clear visualizations to support data-enabled decision-making at all levels.
Website optimization to improve conversion and deliver a student-centric digital experience that supports the objectives, goals, and mission.
Prospective student nurturing campaigns with a messaging protocol designed to drive conversion and prospective student engagement with CWI.
Collaborating closely with CWI, Collegis developed a well-defined student retention strategy that established meaningful student-advisor relationships early on, ensuring students felt supported from their first interaction onward.
Enrollment conversation training gave student-facing staff the tools to drive positive experiences for CWI learners while embracing a liaison approach to student engagement.
Collegis student success coaches conducted proactive outreach to engage students while leveraging an at-risk alert system to drive intervention. This early alert system flags students needing support based on learning management system (LMS) data on attendance, current grades, and assignment completion.
Results: Average YoY growth each semester since our partnership began has averaged 5%
By working with Collegis, CWI could focus on its student journey and how it could better use data and technology to deliver superior student engagements and reach its growth targets. This has helped not only stop, but reverse historical enrollment declines. In 2024, CWI projected year-over-year growth for the sixth consecutive academic term. The school has achieved an average year-over-year term growth of 5%, with a trendline for fall 2024 of over 9% growth.
“Our partnership with Collegis has provided expertise, speed, and flexibility in areas where we, as an institution of higher education, have been unable to improve so nimbly.Where most consultants provide an analysis and leave, Collegis follows through with ‘and this is how we’ll make that happen for you’.Trusting their recommendations is easy because I know they are signing themselves up to do the work with me.”
Tyler Brown, Associate Vice President Enrollment & Student Services, College of Western Idaho
Value-based conversations with prospective students have resulted in increased applications. Further, pre-start engagement from the advising and student success coaching teams has increased registrations from admitted students.
By fostering a culture of meaningful interaction and support for students, CWI paved the way for improved student retention. The LMS-based at-risk model has driven 19,000+ proactive student engagements and interventions in one academic year.
Within just one year of implementing these targeted strategies, CWI witnessed a remarkable in retention rates, all while alleviating the workload on faculty and staff.Similar retention strategies deployed by other Collegis partner institutions have yielded term-over-term retention rates exceeding 90%, underscoring the effectiveness of our approach.
“Whenever we want to try something new or have a challenge we need help with, my first thought now is let’s call Collegis and see if this is something they can help us with.”
Denise L. Aberle-Cannata, Provost, College of Western Idaho
With a proven retention strategy and access to a proactive model, CWI can now build out its internal retention capabilities and plans to take over the student success coaching function.
The Future
CWI’s commitment to embracing change and being agile is demonstrated by the school’s evolving partnership with Collegis to exceed industry best practices and realize sustained growth. Ongoing services and incremental work are targeting LMS initiatives to stabilize, standardize, optimize, and transform CWI’s instance of Blackboard Learn and redesign its new student orientation, among other things.
Top Student Enrollment Roadblocks and How to Overcome Them
In my more than two decades of steering enrollment management at various institutions, I’ve seen students encounter numerous hurdles on their journey to and through higher education.
My experience has consistently shown that the decision to enroll is heavily influenced by four critical factors:
The ease of the enrollment process
A transparent path to graduation
A reasonable time frame for degree completion
A clear cost-benefit analysis of the educational offering
Understanding these priorities is critical to attracting and retaining students in the community college space. By aligning your enrollment strategies with the needs and expectations of prospective students, you can ensure a smoother, more engaging educational journey that benefits both the students and your educational institution alike.
Common Ease of Enrollment Roadblocks for Students
The pursuit of higher education is a daunting task in itself. When students encounter challenges at the enrollment phase — before the actual coursework even starts — it can be easy for them to bow out of the process altogether. To ensure that doesn’t happen, avoid these common pitfalls in the community college enrollment journey:
Complex Enrollment Processes
Lengthy admissions procedures: Complicated and time-consuming application processes can frustrate new students, especially those unfamiliar with higher education procedures.
Document submission delays: Students may struggle with gathering and submitting the required documents (e.g., transcripts, proof of residency) on time, leading to delays in their enrollment.
Orientation and Information Overload
Overwhelming orientation sessions: While orientation programs are meant to help new students, they can be overwhelming if they cover too much information in a short time, leaving students confused about where to start.
Missed information: Students may miss important information about resources, deadlines, and processes if the information is not communicated clearly, or if the students do not attend orientation sessions.
Confusing Websites
Sites overloaded with information: Websites designed to serve multiple audiences — current students, alumni, faculty, and potential students — can make the inquiry stage difficult and confusing for prospective students. They may become frustrated as they struggle to find specific information or complete essential tasks, which can lead to them delaying or abandoning the process.
Placement Testing Delays
Test scheduling issues: Placement tests in subjects like math and English are often required before students can register for classes, but delays in scheduling or students misunderstanding the requirements can slow down the process.
Preparation for tests: Some students may need to brush up on certain skills before taking a placement test, and may be unaware of resources or study options available to them, making this a barrier for them.
How to Overcome Ease of Enrollment Roadblocks
So, those are the potential enrollment roadblocks for community college students. But what are the enrollment solutions? Solutions for overcoming enrollment roadblocks for community college students include the following:
Create a “Future Students” platform: Build a page or digital experience that is 100% focused on educating and helping individuals who are simply exploring their educational options. Below are just a few examples of topics that prospective students might want to be able to easily find information about on your “Future Students” page or experience:
When can I start?
How much does it cost?
What support services are available?
What is the application process and deadline?
What are the specific steps I need to take to be prepared for the start of the term?
What happens after I apply?
Create mobile-friendly applications: Simplify the application itself, and ensure that students can use their mobile device to complete the application, apply for financial aid, register for orientation and/or courses, and order their books.
Apply technology solutions: Use simple and low-cost systems to track students’ progress through the onboarding process, identify at-risk students, and automate follow-up communications.
Use data analytics: Analyze data to identify common drop-off points as new students navigate the onboarding process, and tailor interventions to address these specific challenges.
Common Clear Path to Graduation Roadblocks for Students
Now that you’ve mowed down the enrollment roadblocks, it’s time to ensure that the ride stays smooth. Remember, it’s never too late for students to change their direction. They might do so if these issues persist:
Course Registration Problems
Limited course availability: Popular or required courses may fill up quickly, leaving new students without the courses they need, which can delay their academic progress.
Complex registration systems: A complicated online registration system can be difficult for students to navigate, leading to errors or incomplete registrations.
Prerequisite confusion: Understanding which courses have prerequisites and ensuring those are met can be a hurdle for new students unfamiliar with academic requirements.
Technology Barriers
Difficulty navigating online platforms: New students may struggle with using the college’s online portals for registration, financial aid, course management, and other essential functions.
Limited digital literacy: Students with limited experience using digital tools may face challenges in accessing online resources and completing necessary tasks.
How to Create a Clear Path to Graduation
Constructing a clear path to graduation isn’t easy, and with limited resources, it can be difficult to avert every bump in the road. But in my experience, you can keep most students on track by focusing on these two key areas:
Create academic maps: Complete an analysis that maps out all of your institution’s programs, courses, campuses, modalities, and times of day (day versus evening courses). Make sure all students can clearly see what courses they need as well as how, when, and where they can take the courses in order to reach their educational goals.
Make integration the top priority: Really cool software options exist that are designed to help students stay on track. But if they don’t integrate with your existing systems, steer clear. You’re only going to confuse your students with disjointed information.
Common Reasonable Degree Completion Roadblocks for Students
You’ve cleared two major hurdles by easing the enrollment process and creating a clear path to graduation. But you’re only halfway home. Here are some common mistakes institutions make when it comes to the time it takes to complete a degree:
Inadequate Academic Advising
Limited access to advisors: New students often need guidance on how to choose the right courses, but they may struggle to get timely appointments with academic advisors due to high demand.
Lack of personalized guidance: Some students receive generic advising that doesn’t take their individual needs and goals into account, leading to poor course selection or misaligned academic paths.
Lack of Clear Communication
Inconsistent information: Conflicting messages from different departments (e.g., admissions, financial aid, advising) can create confusion and frustration among students.
Unclear next steps: Students may not know what steps to take after completing their initial tasks, which can lead to delays in moving forward with the enrollment process.
Social and Emotional Challenges
Anxiety and uncertainty: The transition to college can be intimidating, especially for first-generation students. Without proper support, students may feel overwhelmed and unsure of how to proceed.
Lack of connection: Feeling disconnected from the campus community can hinder a student’s willingness to engage and complete the onboarding process.
How to Help Students Reach Their Goals in a Reasonable Amount of Time
When it comes to keeping students on track, intervention is key. Follow these tips:
Educate students early: Help students realize that taking two courses per term may not be enough to earn their degree in the time frame they set for themselves. Make them aware of initiatives such as “15 to Finish” or “Momentum Year,” as well as other ways to receive college credit, such as through a prior learning assessment. These topics can all be part of the “Future Students” experience mentioned above in the “Ease of Enrollment” section.
Keep students focused on the end goal: Post each student’s expected graduation date within their degree audit so they can see that taking two courses per term will put them on pace to earn an associate degree in five years.
Common Cost/Benefit Roadblocks for Students
You’ve now reached the last but never the least critical roadblock in higher education: return on investment. It’s why your students are showing up, and if the numbers don’t make sense, they can — and should — turn back. Here are some financial concerns that your students are likely to face:
Housing and Transportation Challenges
Affordable housing: Students who need housing may have trouble finding affordable options, which can delay their ability to start classes.
Transportation barriers: Students without reliable transportation may struggle to attend orientation sessions, placement tests, or even some of their classes.
Cost of College Data Is Hard to Find
How much a degree costs: Some students don’t know what a college credit is, much less what a cost-per-credit model is. Furthermore, many students don’t know how many credits it takes to earn a degree/credential.
Payment options: Students may not know that different financial options exist. This is especially true for students who work full time for an employer that provides tuition assistance as a benefit.
Ways to Help Students With Their Financial Concerns
Your institution is responsible for ensuring that students understand their financial obligations and how to meet them. Here are a few ways that you can do this:
Provide clear cost comparisons: Create easy-to-understand charts or infographics that compare the cost of tuition and fees at your community college to those at local four-year universities. Highlight the significant savings.
Offer cost calculators: Provide online calculators that allow students to input their financial information and compare a community college’s costs to a four-year institution’s costs. See an example here.
Provide debt-projection tools: Offer tools that project potential student loan debt based on different educational paths, clearly illustrating the financial advantages of the community college option. Remember that you are an educator and that education starts the moment a student begins exploring your college.
Bust Down Roadblocks by Partnering With Archer
In my 20 years of experience, I’ve helped lots of institutions navigate these potential roadblocks to enrolling and retaining more students. And I’m far from alone in my expertise at Archer. Our full-service team partners with colleges of all kinds to help them build and scale their capacities.
Is your institution ready for a collaborative partner who takes the time to get to know you, then makes custom recommendations based on decades of experience? Reach out to us today!
Brian Messer has over 20 years of experience overseeing all aspects of university administration, including online, operations, academic affairs, enrollment management, marketing, financial management, and human resources and student affairs. Specifically, his extensive experience in scaling marketing and enrollment initiatives in all sectors of nontraditional higher education have contributed to student success and growth at many institutions of higher learning.
Messer holds a doctorate in higher education administration from Saint Louis University.
This is a reboot of a visualization I did in 2018, which I found fascinating, but which didn’t get much traffic at the time, and thus, I’ve not refreshed it. But I still find it compelling and instructive.
Each year, the Association of American Medical Colleges publishes a lot of data about admission to medical colleges in the US. But frankly, it’s a mess, and takes a lot of effort to clean up and visualize: Each link is a separate spreadsheet, and each spreadsheet has spacer rows and merged cells and lots of stuff that needs to be scrubbed (carefully) before analyzing and visualizing. So, if you use this work in a professional capacity, I’d appreciate your support for my time, software and hosting costs at this link. As a reminder, I don’t accept contributions from high school counselors, students, or parents who are using the site. (And if you know anyone at AAMC, tell them raw data would be much appreciated).
There are seven views here, some of which combine several data sets. Use the tabs across the top to access the views.
The first three tabs show similar data, broken out three ways: By undergraduate major, by ethnicity, and by gender for applicants and matriculants. Don’t be afraid to use the filters to get what you want; you won’t break anything, and there is a reset button at the bottom.
The top chart on these three views shows Total MCAT scores for applicants (blue) and matriculants (purple). The middle chart shows your choice of GPA, using the filter at the top: Science, Non-Science, and Overall. And the bottom chart shows sub-scores on the MCAT, again, based on the filter you choose. Hover over a bar for details.
Total MCAT scores range from 472 to 578 with 500 being the mid-score, and each of the four sections–Biological and Biochemical Foundations of Living Systems; Chemical and Physical Foundations of Biological Systems; Psychological, Social, and Biological Foundations of Behavior; and Critical Analysis and Reasoning Skills–is scored from a low of 118 to a high of 132, with a midpoint of 125. Read about them here, whence I shamelessly stole this information.
The fourth tab shows which undergraduate institutions sent applications to US Medical Schools in what quantity, based on student ethnicity. Note that the data are not complete, but rather a compilation of five different reports, for colleges sending applications from at least 100 White students, 50 Asian students, 15 African-American students, 10 Hispanic students, or five Native American/Alaska Native students. A college can be on one list but not another: For instance, the University of Oklahoma is #1 for Native students, but not on the list of institutions sending at least 50 Asian students.
When you hover over the bars, you can see that institution in larger context, like this:
The fifth tab gets into the nitty-gritty, and show the distribution of applicants and admits by GPA and MCAT ranges (top two charts), as well as the admission rate (bottom), showing the success of being admitted to at least one medical college.
The sixth and seventh tabs are simple summaries by first-generation status, and gender over time.
There is an awful lot of data here, and again, if you have any sway with the AAMC, tell them I’d sign my life away to get raw data in one big file. As always, let me know what you see here.
Two quick additions/clarifications to this: The definition of full-pays is those students who receive no institutional funds. EM people don’t care where the cash comes from, only the discount. Second, yes, I know some institutions use endowments to pay for institutional aid. That percentage is likely very small, although concentrated at a few institutions.
Before we begin, here is what this post does not do:
It will generally not tell you where you can get low tuition, with a very few exceptions. And when it does, it won’t be at one of “those” colleges.
It will not tell you which colleges are likely to close soon, although after the fact, you can probably find a closed college and say, “Aha! Right where I expected it would be!”
It will not show you net costs to students.
It will not adjust for things like church support, enormous endowments, or the cost of living in that high-priced city where Excellence College or Superior University is located.
Got it? Good.
This will show you the discount rate on first-year students at about 1,000 four-year, private, not-for-profit colleges in 2021-22. Discount as I define it is the total unfunded institutional financial aid divided by the total charged (gross) tuition and fees. A university that charges (published tuition and fees times the number of students) $10,000,000 and awards $4,000,000 in aid has a discount rate of 40%. At most colleges, this discount is simply an accounting transaction, much like a coupon to save a dollar on a sandwich at Subway. That, of course, is a gross over-simplification of the “what” of discounting, and it doesn’t touch the “why” of discounting at all. But if you want an explanation, I’ll gladly talk to your trustees for a reasonable fee.
And there is a difference between discount and net revenue, although at any given tuition charge, the two are perfectly related. Unfortunately, as you’ll soon, see, colleges all set their own tuition. To wit:
A college charging $50,000 with a 20% discount has net revenue (the cash you can spend) of $40,000 per student.
That same college with a 50% discount has just $25,000 per student.
A college charging $30,000 with a 10% discount has $27,000 per student.
That same college with a 40% discount has $18,000 per student.
As a college, you don’t care where the cash comes from: Pell grants, state grants, loans, or the student’s family. This means, hypothetically, a student with low institutional aid might pay less than one with more aid. Confused? Good.
If you use this with your trustees to explain your own college’s market position, consider supporting my costs of time, hosting and software by buying me a coffee. Just click here to do so. If you counsel high school students, or your a parent of a prospective college student, must keep reading and don’t feel any obligation at all.
Here is the data, in three views. The first two are box and whisker plots, where half of the colleges fall inside the gray box on each column to show you the middle 50%.
The first view shows net revenue per freshman student, arrayed by the institution’s Carnegie type. Use the controls to filter region, highlight region, or highlight an individual college. To do the latter, type any part of the name in the box, hit enter, and select from the options. Hover over dots for details; each dot is a college.
The second view is identical, but it shows discount rate, the number people obsess over while missing the more important net revenue figure.
The third view shows those two values arrayed, with the same highlighters, allowing you to filter on Carnegie type, or even the percentage of the students who are full-pay (that is, they get no institutional aid at all.)
You’ll soon see that discount and net revenue don’t seem to be big issues at the big name, strongly endowed institutions. That’s because, at many of these places, undergraduate education is essentially a sideline business, and only a minor source of revenue. The money they bring in (or don’t) on this presumably core function of the university is managed to best optimize to reputation or selectivity, or other factors (including, sometimes, mission).
Note that I’ve done my best to remove some outliers with wild data that throw the charts off. Many of these are colleges I have never heard of, and they’re tiny. Others are places with strong religious missions (like Yeshivas or Seminaries) that may be externally funded in ways this can’t account for.
The motto at Hudson County Community College is “Hudson is Home,” a saying created by their students that reflects HCCC’s commitment to community across their three New Jersey campuses. Located in one of the densest and most ethnically diverse counties in the country, HCCC uses inclusive strategies to boost employee recruitment and retention.
HCCC’s focus on promoting a culture of care and belonging positions them well to contend with voluntary turnover, which remains on the rise nationally as higher ed employees report feeling overworked and undervalued. HCCC’s inclusion and belonging initiatives, including their new peer-to-peer recognition program, address the top three predictors that employees will seek work elsewhere: recognition for contributions, being valued at work, and having a sense of belonging.
In their recent CUPA-HR webinar, HCCC’s Anna Krupitskiy, vice president for human resources, and Stephanie Sergeant, assistant director of human resources, explained how they use inclusive strategies to engage their approximately 1,000 employees, including:
Prioritizing a Culture of Care
Addressing the needs of parents is one way HCCC creates a culture of care through inclusion. In the past, parents who were employees or students were confronted with unclear and inconsistent guidelines. But the institution’s new parent-friendly children on campus policy makes it clear that children are welcome on HCCC’s three campuses. With the new policy, Krupitskiy says, “we wanted to make sure that there’s a strong message that we do allow children on campus.” HR has also collaborated with campus partners on their Take Your Child to Work Day program, where children of employees engage in a range of campus activities, like participating in science projects or watching a nursing demonstration, before ending the day with an ice cream social.
Using Checkpoints During Recruitment to Ensure Inclusive Hiring
HCCC has created checkpoints to ensure there are meaningful milestones to reflect on inclusion during the recruitment and selection process. The first checkpoint is the composition of the hiring committee itself. Krupitskiy and Sergeant stress that screening committees should be representative of HCCC, not just in terms of demographics, but also such characteristics as how long a person has been employed at HCCC, what role or level of position they hold, what union affiliation they have, etc. They’ve also invited students to participate in searches when appropriate.
Job descriptions are another area they’ve scrutinized, asking if certain minimum qualifications inherently limit a pool of applicants. Might a minimum qualification, like years of experience, be listed as a preferred qualification instead?
Implementing a Peer-to-Peer Recognition Program
Recognizing employee contributions is a critical retention tool. Only 59% of higher ed employees say they receive regular verbal recognition for doing good work, according to CUPA-HR data. To address recognition, HCCC holds a years-of-service event, with awards for five to 40-plus years of service for both part-time and full-time employees. Their new Hudson is Home employee recognition program allows colleagues to nominate each other for awards ranging from Collaboration and Team Achievement to a Part-Time Spotlight award. Employees receive an email notification when they’ve been nominated, which has driven up participation overall.
September 6, 2022 by Dean Hoke – The percentage of students without a post-secondary degree in the United States has been a widespread concern for decades. Employment at a decent working wage did exist for those who did not have a degree however that world is quickly changing. This topic has been of interest to me for over 50 years because I am one of those who dropped out of college.
I started attending university in the Fall of 1968 and it took me until June 1975 to complete my bachelor’s degree. I attended two universities and dropped out twice before coming back and finishing. I thought in early 1969 when I left the university, I didn’t have the academic ability to get a degree and my university advisor certainly was not supportive and suggested I should go sign up for military service that day.
I did go back to another smaller university six months later and though I had pauses due to those challenges everyone has in life I finished with a bachelor’s degree six years later. Upon graduation, I started immediately after commencement at a small university in Kentucky as an admissions officer and completed my master’s in a relativity short amount of time while working.
With that in mind, I have always wondered how we get dropouts back to school and finish their degree. Employers, government, and adults all believe it’s needed, and it has financial benefits for all. Yet nearly 40 million people from the age of 18-64 started higher education and did not complete one degree. I am presenting my initial thoughts and I would ask for your thoughts on how to address this question.
US Labor Market
According to the Federal Reserve Bank of Saint Louis, the US Civilian Work Force from 25-34 as of June 2022 has the following educational attainment
The Harsh Facts on College Dropouts
American higher education overall has 39 million people with Some College, No Credential (SCNC) as of July 2020 according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The most recent study dated 2017 shows the following:
30% of first-year students drop out before their second year of college.
58.5% of students who started in community college after 6 years have not obtained any degree or certificate (1,071,720 students from students starting in 2011)
32.6% of students who started at a four-year institution after 6 years have not obtained any degree or certificate. (730,556 students starting in 2011)
More than two-thirds of college dropouts are low-income students, with family-adjusted gross income (AGI) under $50,000.
Full-time employment reduces graduation rates.Students who work a full-time job during the school year are half as likely to graduate with a bachelor’s degree, as compared with students who work 12 hours or less a week. Every additional hour of work beyond 12 hours a week reduces graduation rates. Working a full-time job takes too much time away from academics.
The reasons why are not surprising but still distressing.
Source: Hanson, Melanie. “College Dropout Rates” EducationData.org, June 17, 2022,
Economic Impact
According to the 2020 US Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average wage earned by a person by education level looks like this.
One statistic that stands out is the percentage of the income difference between a 4-year degree vs a person with a two-year degree person is $19,288 a 38.5% increase.
As the United States’ employment needs quickly change, industry and government have a pressing need for more qualified workers. In the publication HR Drive titled“Employers are hiring, but 80% say they can’t find skilled candidates”More than 82% of employers said they’re actively hiring, despite predictions of an economic downturn, according to a survey of 150 HR leaders by Challenger, Gray & Christmas, Inc. 80% of the respondents, however, reported having difficulty finding workers, with 70% identifying skills shortages as the reason.
It is further reported that 43% of Challenger’s respondents reported that, although they have enough applicants, those applicants do not have the needed skills. Another 43% said they do not receive enough applicants, with 27% noting that candidates who do apply are not qualified. “The labor market remains tight and employers are reporting skills shortages in almost every area, including in STEM, data analytics, human resources, finance, and operations.
During the next decade, the need for people with advanced credentials will continue to rise. Corporations have made it clear there is a need for more qualified workers whether it’s via a traditional degree such as a bachelor’s or micro-credentials/badges which verify customized skills. A report by McKinsey projected that more than 100 million workers will need to find a different occupation by 2030. In the United States, for instance, customer service and food service jobs could fall by 4.3 million, while transportation jobs could grow by nearly 800,000. Demand for workers in healthcare and STEM occupations may grow more than before the pandemic.
Organizations use different techniques for reimbursing student employees. The most common include:
Tuition assistance/reimbursement (63%)
In-house training seminars (61%)
Attendance at educational conferences (51%)
Continuing education courses (50%)
Coverage for licensing courses and exams (44%)
Personal development courses (35%)
Looking at tuition assistance the concept by employers is not new and many have had some sort of program in place for well over 10 years.
The Society for Human Resource Management survey reports tuition assistance programs are an attractive recruiting measure, and most employees are aware of the basic benefit. However, less than 5% percent of employees participate. Of those who participate in the tuition assistance program more than 4 in 10 who are using the benefit to attend graduate school.
Large corporations such as Starbucks, Target, Walmart, and others have all implemented go-back-to-school incentive programs using various higher institutions schools with an emphasis on online degree institutions.
Example One – Starbucks
Starbucks was one of the early adopters. In 2014, Starbucks and Arizona State University (ASU) introduced the Starbucks College Achievement Plan (SCAP), which provided Starbucks’ U.S. employees the opportunity to earn their first-time bachelor’s degree with the company paying for 100% of their tuition.
in 2021, Starbucks modified the tuition reimbursement benefit by paying all tuition and fees up front, as opposed to reimbursing employees for their out-of-pocket costs later.
More than 20,000 Starbucks employees are currently participating in SCAP.
The number of employees finishing their undergraduate degrees through SCAP will reach over 8,500, with Starbucks setting a goal of 25,000 graduates by 2025.
There are more than one hundred different degree programs offered through the SCAP program, and Starbucks has employees enrolled in all of them.
Almost 20% of people who apply to work for Starbucks say that SCAP is a major reason for their decision.
SCAP scholars are retained by Starbucks for a 50% longer period than non-participants, and they are promoted at nearly three times the rate of those employees who do not participate
Example Two – Walmart
In July 2021 Walmart announced it will pay for full college tuition and book costs at some schools for its US workers, the latest effort by the largest private employer in the country to sweeten its benefits as it seeks to attract and retain talent in a tight job market.
The program includes 10 academic partners ranging from the University of Arizona to Southern New Hampshire University. Participants must remain part-time or full-time employees at Walmart to be eligible. They have recently dropped a previous $ 1-a-day fee paid by Walmart and Sam’s Club workers who want to earn a degree and will begin to cover the costs of their books.
Example Three – Target
Target in August 2021 announced a fund to support educational courses for its employees. It is similar to the Walmart program. Available to 340,000 full-time and part-time workers.
Cover the full cost of select undergraduate degrees, certificates, and certifications for its 340,000 U.S.-based workers.
Pay up to $10,000 each year for master’s programs at those institutions.
Allow participants to attend one of 40 partner institutions.
Invest more than $200 million within the next four years in the program
However, one of the issues employees are challenged by is tuition remission vs tuition assistance. It is difficult and a deterrent to potential participants to upfront costs.
Researchers who have studied tuition benefits, including Jaime S. Fall, director of UpSkill America at the Aspen Institute, and Kevin Martin, chief research officer at the Institute for Corporate Productivity, believe that frontline workers might be more likely to participate in these programs if companies moved from “tuition reimbursement” to “tuition assistance” models, where employers pay their portion of education costs upfront. Many lower-income employees—or workers of any kind—can’t afford to float tuition costs for several months while they wait to be reimbursed.
Despite these new and innovative programs, we still have millions who are not going back to school. While 80% of employees are positive about these benefits only 40% have made any investigation and only 2% have taken advantage.
Student Barriers include
Restricted options by degree, college choice, net cost, upfront payment before receiving reimbursement
Lack of knowledge of grants and loans by employers, government, and schools.
Student personal issues (living life and family issues)
Childcare options and cost
Fear of failure,
School too far away
The older you get the less likely you will return to school
Paths to Explore by Higher Education, Corporate, and Government
Each sector is aware of the challenge and trying different approaches to get students dropouts and get a degree.
Higher Education
Private and state-supported regional universities are an asset underutilized
Further development and refinement of quality online degree programs to encourage re-enrollment
Developing stronger retention programs to reduce the percentage of college dropouts
Expansion of Teaching and Learning Centers for their communities
Evening and weekend on-campus programs
Academic credit for life experience
More student-friendly transfer of credits to a new school
Easier for students with outstanding bills to send an academic transcript
Corporate
More generous funding for employees to return to school. Going above the $5,200 a year tax deduction
The movement to paying tuition in advance by the employer rather than paying tuition in advance by the student
Increasing the number of majors a company will financially support
Opening the door for employees to have a selection of more universities including accredited private institutions
An example is the IBM apprentice program which aims to hire more than 400 trainees each year, from software development to data science to human resources. The current estimated cost to the company is $65 million since 2018.
Improvement in communicating and encouraging employees to return to school
Government
Increased priority in developing joint partnerships that incentives employment and encourage dropouts to return to school
Increase current state and federal student grants program
Establish no-interest loans to encourage students who have previously dropped out to return to complete their undergraduate degree
Let me expand on the role of partnerships between government, Corporate and higher education. The development of regional partnerships between government, industry, and higher education is not necessarily new. It has been used with tier one institutions such as Ohio State, the State of Ohio, and local government to entice Intel to establish a major tech center in Central Ohio.
Another recent bi-partisan proposal was introduced in August, by Rep. Jim Costa (D–Fresno) and co-sponsored by Rep. Bruce Westerman, an Arizona Republican. The bill is aimed toward four-year regional public universities in distressed areas that could receive federal grants of up to $50 million for economic and community development efforts under newly introduced bipartisan legislation.
In a press conference at Fresno State to unveil new legislation that he will put forward to Congress that would benefit up to 174 universities, Congressman Costa stated “Universities like Fresno State and many universities throughout California, but throughout the country, support community development. “They represent constituencies where we have distressed communities. They support the workforce, leading to faster employment growth, along with a higher per capita income.”
Robert Maxim, a senior research associate at Brookings, a think tank based in Washington, D.C. is an advocate of this type of partnership. “There are way more regional public universities in the U.S. than there are R-1s, our view is that they are really good anchor institutions to route federal investment through. They are a set of institutions that have been historically neglected and deserve a bit more attention and support from the federal government.”
Conclusion
I believe we need to prioritize on the group with the best chance of returning and obtaining a degree, the 25-34 age group with some college but no degree. This is 5.7 million of the overall 39 million who started college but did not finish. While we should make available any current or new programs that encourage people to return to school the 25-34-year-olds are the most likely to go back.
The United States should emphasize the wider use of partnership programs with government and industry teaming up with state regional higher education institutions and local small town and private colleges and universities would be a valuable asset to all parties. These schools are scattered in smaller cities across America. Both regional state institutions and private schools come from the applied teaching traditions Many are in small towns and rural areas in which employees who wish to return for a degree have few options. The question of cost certainly exists but I believe some form of government/industry/university partnership can effectively address the cost issues. They have space and teaching knowledge and the ability to customize local solutions.
One final thought and that is the question of will. While cost is a significant issue government, industry and schools must work in unison to get students to return and complete their education. We must remember these are second or in some cases third-chance students. They have failed in their attempts for various reasons. However, these students must overcome the fear of failure. We must find ways to support and encourage these students to take that leap of faith and believe they can graduate.
Postscript:
Graduation day 1975
I have been asked why did I go back? I worked in a factory and my parent’s deli for 6 months I felt I needed someone to test me and determine what I should do for the rest of my life. I went to the state employment bureau in my hometown to be skills tested to learn what I was best suited for. After the tests, I sat down with a lady who read the results. She told me with a smile that scared me I needed to go back to college and get a degree. Seeing I was somewhat shocked by her recommendation she stated the test revealed my hand/eye coordination was horrible and if I worked in a factory as my father did, I would seriously hurt myself. I asked her about joining the military and she commented if you went into the military, it better be an officer working behind the lines in military intelligence because I was unlikely to be much of a decent front-line soldier. As you can see, I graduated, and my proud parents were there for the event. I later in my life suspected the lady at the employment bureau was trying to give me a slap of reality to grow up and use my brain.
Dean Hoke is Co-Founder and Managing Partner Edu Alliance a higher education consulting firm located in Bloomington, Indiana and Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates. Dean received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Urbana University in Ohio, his Master of Science in Community Development from The University of Louisville, and a graduate of the Wharton School of Business Executive Management program. Since 1975 Dean has worked in the higher education and broadcasting industry, serving in senior leadership roles specializing in marketing, communications, partnerships, online learning and fund raising.
He currently serves as Chairperson Elect of the American Association of University Administrators , Franklin University and is Co-Host of the Podcast series Higher Ed Without Borders . Dean is actively engaged in consulting projects in international education, branding, business intelligence, and online learning leading projects in the United States, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. Dean resides in Bloomington, Indiana
New research from CUPA-HR shows that higher education institutions are in the midst of a talent crisis, as many staff, professionals and administrators are considering other employment opportunities due to dissatisfaction with their pay, their opportunities for advancement, their institutions’ remote and flex work policies, and more.
The newly published research report, The CUPA-HR 2022 Higher Education Employee Retention Survey: Initial Results, provides an overview of what proportion of the higher ed workforce is at risk for leaving, why they’re considering leaving employment, and with which policies, work arrangements and benefits employees are satisfied or dissatisfied. The report includes several recommendations for addressing these issues.
Data from 3,815 higher ed employees across 949 institutions and representing 15 departments/functional areas were analyzed for this report.
Findings
Higher ed employees are looking for other jobs, mostly because they desire a pay increase. More than half (57%) of the higher ed workforce is at least somewhat likely to look for other employment opportunities in the next 12 months. The most common reason for seeking other employment (provided by three-fourths of those likely to look for another job) is an increase in pay. Other reasons are that they desire more remote work opportunities, a more flexible schedule, and a promotion or more responsibility.
Higher ed institutions are not providing the remote work opportunities that employees want. Nearly three-fourths (71%) of employees report that most of their duties can be performed remotely, and 69% would prefer to have at least at least a partially remote work arrangement, yet 63% are working mostly or completely on-site.
Higher ed employees are working longer and harder than ever. Two-thirds (67%) of full-time staff typically work more hours each week than what is considered full-time. Nearly two-thirds (63%) have taken on additional responsibilities of other staff who have recently left, and nearly three-fourths (73%) have taken on additional responsibilities as a direct result of the pandemic.
Higher ed employees have clear areas of satisfaction and dissatisfaction. Areas of satisfaction include benefits, relationship with supervisor, job duties, and feeling a sense of belonging. Areas of dissatisfaction include investment in career development, opportunities for advancement, fair pay, remote work policies and parental leave.
