Student Engagement

WASHINGTON — The transition from high school to higher education is often tumultuous, and students can face a unique disadvantage their first year. With so few credits banked, one or two bad final grades can tank their cumulative GPA and risk their academic standing.

One institution undertook an experiment to assist such students and saw promising results after just one semester.

In summer 2024, Stony Brook University launched the Summer Academic Resilience Program, or SARP, a pilot program designed to support first-year students who had been placed on academic probation after their first semesters.

Leaders at the public New York institution presented the results Jan. 22 at the American Association of Colleges and Universities' annual conference. 

In just a few months, the program — which offered one-on-one coaching and wraparound services — improved the students' GPAs and raised the institution's overall first-year retention rate by 1 percentage point, they said.

A common challenge

A 2.0 GPA is the typical threshold for academic probation. The higher education research nonprofit California Competes found that 1 in 5 students end their first years with a cumulative GPA below that.

Research has also shown that students' likelihood of academic success and on-time graduation diminishes once they're put on probation.

At Stony Brook, 210 first-year students were placed on academic probation in fall 2023. Just 22 were reinstated to good standing in the spring. And 24 went on to be suspended, the last step before being dismissed.

And that was an improvement from the year before, according to Rachelle Germana, senior associate provost for undergraduate education at Stony Brook.

"In fall of 2022, we reinstated one first-year student who had been suspended — only one," she told conference attendees. Another 32 students were suspended that term.

The situation led Stony Brook, a member of the State University of New York system, to design the pilot program to improve student outcomes more quickly and prevent suspension after probation.

In summer 2024, SARP enrolled 30 first-year students on probation. Michelle Setnikar, associate director and academic standing coordinator at Stony Brook, described the cohort as both racially and economically diverse.

Nearly all participating students reported facing a significant personal challenge, such as mental health concerns, a family crisis or financial difficulties. Almost half said they were experiencing two or more such challenges at once.

The pilot offered participants full financial support, covering the cost of two summer courses, housing and meals. It also conducted a needs assessment for each student and connected them with wraparound support services, including a dedicated academic advisor and one-on-one financial aid consultations.

Before the program, the pilot group’s average cumulative GPA was 1.62, Germana said. After the summer semester, the average increased to 2.03. And by the end of fall 2024, the group's cumulative GPA had risen to 2.65.

More than a third of participants, 11, finished 2024 with GPAs above 3.0, Germana said.

"What became even more impressive for us was the way in which the students demonstrated improved academic skills, which was reflected in their summer term GPA," she said. "For five credits across these 30 students, they averaged a 3.67 GPA with the support that was provided."

Probation also carries nonacademic consequences, including loss of financial aid, Germana said. Even if affected students stay enrolled, the loss of funds can force them to take fewer classes and slow their progress through their programs.

"We covered some balances for some of these students to help promote their retention, because they had been so successful as far as their GPA was concerned," Germana said.

Stony Brook will continue the SARP program this summer and aims to slowly increase the number of students it serves, Germana said. For 2025, the goal is to enroll up to 50 students and put a more robust financial aid plan in place.

SARP has also inspired ideas for other student support programs, Germana said. Stony Brook is now working on a pilot to provide needs assessments for a wider swath of students and another one to offer campus employment to students on probation.  

Brown University plans to launch a series of new admission recruitment efforts with the goal of increasing "admitted students from a diverse range of backgrounds," the Ivy League institution said in December.

The new programs include more funding to match financial aid offers students receive from other colleges and to expand grants for low-income students to visit the Rhode Island campus. They are part of a multiyear initiative as admissions continues to evolve nationwide, according to a message from the provost's office.

The news comes after Brown reported a sharp drop in racial and socioeconomic diversity among incoming first-year students this fall, its first cohort admitted after the U.S. Supreme Court barred race-conscious admissions in 2023.

In September, Brown became one of the first institutions to publicly share new student demographics following the Supreme Court's decision.

Among incoming first-year students, the share of students from historically underrepresented backgrounds fell to 18% — down by 9 percentage points from the previous cohort, according to the university.

At the time, an undergraduate admissions official said Brown had mitigated an even bigger drop in diversity through proactive outreach, including having admissions staff visit more community-based organizations and partnering with other colleges for recruitment travel. 

However, at least one student pushed back on this assessment, arguing in an op-ed that Brown doesn’t do enough to diversify its student population and criticizing the university's standardized test requirements and use of legacy admissions practices.

Moving forward, Brown is seeking to expand its diversity recruitment efforts.

The university will create six new jobs designed to promote student diversity — five regionally-based admissions positions focused on local recruiting and an alumni relations position to boost engagement between alumni volunteers and potential students from underrepresented communities.

Donations will in part fund new recruitment programs and positions, according to Brown officials.

University officials are also reevaluating how they communicate with prospective students, their families and the community organizations that serve them.

New outreach materials will focus on accessibility and career resources, in addition to support services once students arrive on campus, Brown said. It will also distribute new admissions programming for guidance counselors that explains its "individualized admissions process that considers the experiences and context of every applicant."

Francis Doyle III, the university's provost, and Patricia Poitevien, interim vice president for institutional equity and diversity, said Wednesday that prospective students and their support networks should feel confident in Brown’s commitment "to providing a diverse and inclusive environment that is welcoming to students from all backgrounds."

"Year over year, we will evaluate our efforts to determine how the entire admission pipeline — including recruitment, selection and yield — results in the enrollment of students who can make the strongest contribution to Brown's academic mission by fostering an environment of diversity and inclusion," they said. 

The efforts will involve the university's admissions and alumni relations offices, as well as its legal department, and equity and diversity office.

Brown will also lean heavily on its alumni network. In addition to the new alumni relations position, the university aims to use its pool of roughly 750 alumni volunteers to engage prospective students and similarly work with affinity groups.

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By ezCater

At one time, the promise of free pizza was enough to lure students to any campus event, but the culinary landscape in higher education has transformed dramatically. Today, students arrive on campus with more sophisticated palates — and a wider variety of dietary needs and cultural preferences.

This shift presents new challenges for campus professionals responsible for food ordering. Balancing tighter food budgets with the logistical demands of feeding students for both on and off-campus activities requires thoughtful planning, creative solutions and high-quality meal options.

While it's not always easy, it's worth the effort. Food has the power to build connections, spark conversations and strengthen communities. The following insights can help campus professionals offer meals that draw students in while simplifying the logistics of organizing meals for campus events.

The power of food to foster student engagement

Nothing brings people together quite like good food — and for student events, it's the secret ingredient to sparking conversation and engagement. From feeding hungry athletes, to drawing crowds to alumni events with irresistible spreads, the right food choices can really impact attendance. Plus, by serving up allergen-friendly and culturally diverse food options, you're making sure every student gets a seat at the table and feels included.

“Food builds community by bringing diverse groups together,” says Sarayu Sundar, Associate Director for Student Experience at Rice University. “We have nearly 40 organizations within the business school, so as you can imagine, there is never a day when there isn’t a student event happening. And you can’t have a student event without food.” With such a diverse group of students to feed, the school’s administration needs to find options that fit just about every appetite. 

Meeting students’ diverse dietary needs

Food that’s quick and convenient is no longer enough for many students. According to a recent Student Voice survey, 40% of students want fewer ultra-processed foods at campus events, and one in 10 report having dietary restrictions. This means that allergen-friendly, culturally diverse and nutritionally balanced meals aren't just “nice to have.” Instead, they are now important keys to student satisfaction.

These changing preferences have prompted universities to rethink their approach to student dining. Take Texas A&M University, for example. It prides itself on offering food options that reflect its students’ values and health priorities. This is especially true when it comes to their student-athletes, who need nutrient-rich meals to meet the intense demands of training and competition. “Our goal is always making sure we’re feeding the players the best food to fuel them for pregame, and providing the best options for recovery post game,” says Courtney Gallagher, Assistant Director of Performance Nutrition.

Off-campus catering solutions

Of course, campus life often extends beyond university grounds, and reaches a multitude of audiences, with students and staff frequently needing meals for student activities, clubs and events. With multiple people placing orders, managing expenses can become disorganized and inconsistent application of tax-exempt status adds to the complexity. Students and younger professionals also want intuitive, app-based ordering solutions that mirror what they use outside of work. Meeting these off-site dining needs requires careful coordination and reliable partnerships.

Jacksonville State University faced this challenge with their athletic program, particularly during tournament season when teams travel across multiple states. They needed a reliable delivery platform that specializes in helping organizations like universities feed large groups — and found that in ezCater. 

“ezCater ensures our team eats well even on the road,” says Matthew Boone, Track and Field Coach. How? The platform gives teams access to fresh, healthy options from local restaurants in different cities — so students can enjoy consistent, nutritious meals during away competitions. “Beyond boxed meals, we try to do a more substantial dinner, so having access to local caterers in an unfamiliar area that I wouldn’t be able to find on my own has been really helpful,” says Boone.

Simplifying the catering process

While students (and staff) may be familiar with delivery apps for their personal use, ordering for universities is a whole other ballgame. They need functionality that solves everyday challenges faced by universities. 

One of those main challenges is ensuring that universities’ tax-exempt status is honored on every order, which can be arduous. With ezCater, colleges and universities can upload tax certificates once and apply them automatically to every order.

Another source of stress among universities — particularly finance and procurement professionals — is tracking spend across departments. Rice University knows this well.

“Everything obviously needs to be tracked,” explains Taylor Adams, Co-President of the Entrepreneurship Association. “We all have budgets, and as business students, we need to make sure that we are adhering to those budgets.” So for every catered meal, the students needed to save and turn in the receipt — which isn’t always easy since receipts easily get lost or damaged.

After struggling with manual processes, Rice switched to ezCater’s streamlined approach to coordinate meals for student organizations. “The results of using ezCater are really obvious,” says student experience director Sundar. When Rice Business created an account with ezCater, she uploaded the university’s tax exempt status on the account and now vendors automatically see that tax-exempt status on every order, preventing back-and-forth negotiations with restaurants.

“What we were doing [before] was not working for us,” Sundar adds. “ezCater came in just like a magic wand, solving all of our food needs.”

Smart solutions for campus catering

For campus professionals, feeding students and staff means more than just placing orders — it means balancing dietary needs, managing complex budgets and coordinating logistics across departments. But the right tools can ease the burden. Learn how ezCater can help streamline your school’s ordering and invoicing, while providing diverse, inclusive catering options to please all palates.

A free community college program in Massachusetts helped drive a 12% enrollment increase among adults ages 25 and older in fall 2023, representing an additional 2,635 students compared to the year prior, according to a Boston-based nonprofit focused on college affordability. 

An analysis from the Hildreth Institute found that 70% of MassReconnect participants came from households earning less than $80,000 annually, which is slightly less than the state’s median income. And the racial diversity of grant recipients closely mirrored that of the state’s overall student population.

But MassReconnect could make several improvements to boost student outcomes, the analysis found. These include improving year-to-year persistence rates and increasing the share of students who complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid.

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey campaigned on free community college for nontraditional students when she ran for office in 2022. The idea eventually became MassReconnect, which launched in August 2023.

To be eligible, students must be at least ages 25 or older, have lived in Massachusetts for at least one year, and lack an associate or bachelor's degree. They must submit the FAFSA or the state equivalent, though the program does not have income restrictions.

In fall 2023, just over 4,500 students received MassReconnect grants. Among those students, 46% were new enrollees while the rest were existing students who became eligible for the program. MassReconnect students accounted for a 9% year-over-year enrollment increase in fall 2023, representing 2,423 students. 

However, the Hildreth Institute found that over a third of students who could have been eligible for MassReconnect in fall 2023 missed out because they did not complete the FAFSA. Within that group, just over half identified as non-White, suggesting racial disparities in FAFSA completions, according to the group. 

The completion gap could also indicate that students 25 and older “are less likely to be familiar with the FAFSA,” the Hildreth Institute said. It added that the state should work to understand potential barriers, like the need for application assistance, to help address this gap.

The state had lauded recent gains with FAFSA completion rates. 

In July, Healey's office credited MassReconnect with a bump in Massachusetts FAFSA completion. Among students 25 and older, 86% filled out the form in fall 2023, up from 79% the year prior. Those gains came ahead the U.S. Department of Education's bumpy rollout of the updated form, which sowed confusion among families and colleges. 

MassReconnect is a last-dollar program, meaning it covers tuition and fees for participants after all other federal and state aid has been applied. It also provides a $1,200 allowance for books and supplies.

In fall 2023, 43% of MassReconnect recipients were eligible for Pell Grants, the Hildreth Institute found. The federal grant is open to students who demonstrate significant financial need. 

During the 2023-2024 academic year, the maximum Pell award was $7,395. The average tuition and fees for Massachusetts' community colleges for the same period was $6,846.

That means the state may not be footing the tuition bill for its Pell Grant recipients.

"Since the Pell Grant often covers these tuition costs entirely, there’s usually little left for MassReconnect to cover," the report said. It added that the program’s books and supplies allowance may have been able to help Pell-eligible students cover additional costs.

Higher-income students likely received a disproportionate portion of the program's funding, as they did not first have federal aid lowering the price of their attendance, the Hildreth Institute found.

However, the nonprofit noted this isn’t inherently a bad outcome.

"It’s essential to recognize that many non-Pell-eligible students still come from moderate-income households and often experience unmet financial need," the report said.

Separate research has found that a household's income level is not always reflective of its wealth — and the security it brings. This is especially true for Black and Latine families, who have disproportionately low levels of wealth, which includes savings and assets and is often passed down generationally.

The Hildreth Institute also warned state leaders that, without proper guardrails, MassReconnect could siphon off students from the state's four-year institutions.

"There is concern that the promise of free college may attract students to transfer from four-year institutions to community colleges, potentially enrolling in programs that don’t fully match their academic aspirations or career potential," the report said.

These recommendations come as Massachusetts' free college efforts are expanding. This year, the state expanded access to free community colleges for students younger than 25. 

Massachusetts is one of several states leading the free college movement after previous efforts at the federal level fizzled. Future nationwide free college policies under the incoming Trump administration appear unlikely.

Michigan launched a similar free community college program for adult learners with no postsecondary credentials, Michigan Reconnect, in 2021. The state temporarily lowered the program's age requirement from 25 to 21 in 2023 before ultimately expanding free community college to students of all ages this year.

A statewide effort in New Jersey to bring back students who left college before completing their credentials has spurred reenrollment for over 8,600 stopped-out students, according to a November announcement from the state higher education secretary’s office. 

Eighteen colleges will receive $1.6 million in grants to help stopped-out students cover things like unexpected expenses and application fees, the office said. Colleges will also be able to use the funds to create digital resources, specialized advising and in-person events for students. 

The secretary’s office announced it is working with Ithaka S+R, a consulting and research group, to study statewide initiatives to reenroll adult students, who are typically considered ages 25 and older. 

Interest in reenrolling stopped-out students has grown as colleges stare down the demographic cliff, a sharp decline in traditional-age students expected to start in 2025 due to declining birth rates during the Great Recession. 

The stopped-out student population is large. The U.S. had 36.8 million working-age adults with some college but no credential in mid-2022, a 2.9% increase over the year before, according to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. In New Jersey, nearly 750,000 residents have completed some college but not earned a credential. 

In March 2023, New Jersey officials tapped ReUp Education — a company that works with colleges to contact stopped-out students and coach them through the reenrollment process — to work with 17 of the state’s institutions on the initiative. Since then, New Jersey has expanded the initiative to 22 of its public colleges. 

The state officials say their reenrollment efforts complement the state’s goal for 65% of working-age residents to have a credential by next year. The state’s attainment rate for this population reached 58.9% in 2022, according to a tracker from Lumina Foundation. 

So far, the reenrollment initiative has led to over 350 students graduating who had previously stopped out, according to Tuesday’s announcement. 

New Jersey isn’t the only state reporting results from burgeoning reenrollment initiatives. 

In 2021, North Carolina lawmakers allocated $97 million to launch Project Kitty Hawk, an ed tech nonprofit devoted to reenrolling students who had stopped out of the University of North Carolina System. After launching in May 2023, Project Kitty Hawk had reenrolled nearly 2,800 students by late August. 

Similarly, an initiative called California Reconnect began in 2022 to reenroll stopped-out students across the state. During the program’s first year, over 5,700 former students were contacted and 8.4% reenrolled, according to a December announcement. 

Seven campuses joined the pilot phase, and officials said last year they were on track to expand to another 13 institutions in 2024. They plan to add 10 more next year.

Johnson & Wales University on Tuesday announced four three-year bachelor’s degrees that will begin enrolling students in fall 2025, becoming one of the latest institutions to gain approval for the burgeoning program type. 

The private Rhode Island university's new degrees require 90 to 96 credits versus the usual 120 credits for a four-year bachelor’s degree. Johnson & Wales said the programs will help students “enter the workforce quickly and with less financial burden.”

To trim down the credits required for a bachelor’s degree, students will either take no electives or fewer than those enrolled in traditional four-year programs. The three-year degrees still require students to take the same core general education credits and major study classes as their four-year counterparts. : 

Three-year bachelor’s degrees have been gaining momentum. Advocates say they can save students both time and money, though some higher education experts have expressed concerns that officials may trim liberal arts or general education courses from bachelor’s programs to create truncated degrees. 

At Johnson & Wales, officials plan to debut three-year bachelor’s programs in computer science, criminal justice, graphic design and hospitality management. Students can apply immediately to the programs for enrollment in fall 2025. Workplace experiences during the academic year and summer will count toward the program’s requirements, according to the announcement. 

The programs will be available in person at the university’s Providence campus. The three-year bachelor’s degrees in hospitality management and computer science will also be available online. 

University officials chose majors for the three-year bachelor’s degrees that were both in demand and have a high degree of technical skill, Matt Montgomery, a Johnson & Wales spokesperson, said in an email. They also focused on programs that were “well-established and successful offerings” for the university. 

“Offering three-year bachelor’s degree programs with just 90 credits allows more students to begin their career journeys sooner — and with a lower financial obligation,” Johnson & Wales Chancellor Mim Runey said in a statement. “This is what parents and students have been asking of higher education.”

The university gained approval in September from its accreditor, the New England Commission of Higher Education, to offer the three-year degree programs. 

The commission also approved three-year bachelor’s programs at Plymouth State University, in New Hampshire, and Merrimack College, in Massachusetts, under its innovation policy in April, NECHE President Lawrence Schall said in an email Thursday. The commission plans to monitor initiatives approved under the policy, including through on-site evaluations. After these reviews, the commission may determine that initiatives should end or allow them to continue.   

Efforts to launch three-year bachelor’s degrees have also gained traction in other parts of the country. 

Brigham Young University-Idaho and Utah’s Ensign College, both of which are owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, won approval from their accreditor last year to begin offering a limited selection of three-year online bachelor’s programs. The degrees, which are now available, eliminate elective credits but keep general education courses. 

BYU-Idaho and Ensign are part of the College-in-3 Exchange, a collective of institutions piloting three-year bachelor’s programs and sharing ideas on redesigning traditional undergraduate degrees. 

Meanwhile, Utah’s higher education board gave the green light in March for the state’s colleges to create three-year bachelor’s degrees, though it will still need to approve individual programs.

That same month, Indiana Gov. Eric Holcomb signed a bill into law requiring each of the state’s public four-year colleges to offer at least one three-year bachelor’s program by July 2025.

In 1992, Democratic strategist James Carville famously quipped “It’s the economy, stupid” as the theme to reach voters. This is now the very trope (minus the word stupid, of course) that today’s academic leaders should use to explain college's return on investment. 

For years, educators have relied on clear and convincing research to show that college degrees significantly improve adults’ employment prospects and earnings potential. But there are many personal and societal benefits a college degree imparts. Data on other areas of the college graduate’s life — their financial security, access to critical benefits and healthy behaviors — should also be used to make a broader and more compelling case for higher education’s value proposition. 

Additionally, American society at large benefits from a citizenry that has attained postsecondary education. Because college graduates earn higher wages, they pay more taxes at the local, state and federal levels. They are also much less likely to apply for and receive social support benefits, such as unemployment benefits. And they’re more likely to be civically engaged, vote and be philanthropic. 

Below are several benefits associated with earning a college degree that college officials can use to explain the ROI of higher education. 

Earnings

In general, those with a college degree earn more annually and throughout their lifetime compared to those who have not attended college.

In 2021, the median income of bachelor’s degree recipients who were working full time was $29,000 — 65% higher than those who only received a high school diploma, according to a report last year from the College Board. Other data shows the lifetime earnings of a college graduate will exceed that of a high school graduate by $1.2 million. 

Meanwhile, the earnings gap for workers between the ages of 22 and 27 with a bachelor’s degree versus those with only a high school diploma has been increasing for decades. According to recent data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, that gap grew even larger in 2023 — $60,000 for college-educated workers vs. $36,000 for those with high school diplomas. 

It’s important to note that this data does not imply a simple cause-and-effect relationship. We know that the attainment of the college degree is correlated with other variables, including parents’ degree attainment, family socioeconomic status, and the individual characteristics of the students, such as academic abilities, motivation and grit.

Employment opportunities

College graduates have significantly more job opportunities and security. 

From 2002 to 2022, the College Board report shows that the unemployment rate for workers with at least a bachelor’s degree was approximately half of that for high school graduates. 

More recent unemployment data reflects this two-decade trend, showing that the unemployment rate in 2023 for bachelor’s degree holders was 2.2% versus 3.9% for those with only a high school education. College degree recipients also weathered the pandemic-related unemployment storm better than those without a degree.

However, the gap in unemployment rates between workers with and without bachelor’s degrees is not uniform across all racial and ethnic groups. The gap is widest for Black workers (5.5 percentage points), followed by Asian workers (4.7 percentage points), Hispanic workers (2.6 percentage points), and White workers (2.5 percentage points), according to the College Board report.

Employment-related benefits

College-degree earners are much more likely to have access to and participate in job-provided health insurance and retirement plans than those without degrees, according to the College Board report.

Nearly half of full-time workers in the private sector with bachelor’s degrees, 45%, have access to a retirement plan, compared with 38% of those with only a high school diploma. Of the college-educated workers, 89% participate in these programs versus 81% of workers who only completed high school. 

Similar trends are found in the public sector. Three-quarters of full-time, public sector workers with bachelor’s degrees are offered retirement plans, compared with 71% of workers with only high school diplomas. College-educated workers were five percentage points more likely to participate in those plans than the other group, 95% versus 90%. 

Similarly, 66% of full-time employees with four-year degrees were covered by employee-provided health insurance in 2021, compared with 53% of full-time workers who only graduated from high school.

Healthy habits and longevity

College-educated adults are more likely than those without degrees to develop healthy habits that correlate to longer lives.

For instance, adults with bachelor’s degrees or higher are almost four times less likely to smoke than their counterparts who only have a high school education, according to the College Board report. College-educated adults are also roughly twice as likely to engage in weekly vigorous exercise.

In 2021, the life expectancy for bachelor’s degree holders was eight-and-a-half years higher (83 years old) than that of high school graduates (75 years old).

Poverty, public assistance and taxes

Given the earnings premium college-educated workers often enjoy, it should come as no surprise that both the poverty rate and participation in public assistance fall as educational attainment increases.

In 2021, 4% of bachelor’s degree holders lived in a poverty-level household — roughly three times less than the percentage of high school-only graduates (13%) who lived in those households, according to the College Board report. During that same year, four-year college graduates were also much less likely to receive Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits or housing assistance.

This confirms the government pays significantly less to support college graduates than those who only graduated high school. Meanwhile, those with bachelor’s degrees paid 86% more in 2021 taxes than graduates of high school only.

Voting, civic engagement and philanthropy

A healthy and vibrant democratic economy depends on its members to vote, become and stay civically engaged and be charitable. Research convincingly demonstrates that college degrees move an economy forward in each of these areas.

In the last presidential election, 25- to 44-year-old adults with at least a bachelor’s degree turned out to vote at a rate more than thirty percentage points higher than their peers who only held a high school degree — 77% versus 46%.

These differences hold true when it comes to volunteerism, according to the College Board report. The percentage of bachelor’s degree holders who participated in such activities was 40%, 21 percentage points higher than high school-only graduates, 19% of whom volunteered.

In addition to using their time and talent to vote and volunteer, college graduates also give more cash donations to various organizations.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics tracks contributions across several types of organizations, including charities, religious organizations, and educational institutions.

College graduates annually make higher cash donations to all three types of these organizations compared to their counterparts without college degrees. 

Across these three organization types, bachelor’s degree holders made annual cash donations roughly 3.5 times higher than those who only finished high school, according to an analysis of BLS data from a 2012 Lumina Education report.

The takeaway

Facts matter. Using data-driven examples to expand the conversation about a college degree's financial return should serve universities and their stakeholders well as we move into this election and continue the work of educating the next generation of leaders.

When the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against race-conscious admissions last year, experts predicted diversity at some institutions would take a hit. Now, data from several selective institutions is showing just that. 

That includes the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which reported smaller shares of underrepresented students in its incoming class. Just 5% of MIT’s incoming first-year students were Black or African American, down from an average of 13% over the past four years. Amherst College, in Massachusetts, also reported steep declines in racial diversity among its incoming students. 

The ruling only directly affects a small band of selective colleges, as most institutions accept the majority of their students. Still, experts have expressed concerns that the decision will dissuade underrepresented students from higher education.

As the effects of the Supreme Court's ruling become clearer, here is what experts told Higher Ed Dive that colleges can do to foster diverse student bodies.

Remain calm

Though some institutions have posted alarming numbers, the result is a mixed bag overall. Some selective institutions — including Duke University, in North Carolina — have maintained or even increased their shares of incoming Black and Hispanic students. 

One year of data may not provide enough data to draw conclusions, experts said. Colleges may only fully understand the Supreme Court decision’s effect on their student bodies once they have more enrollment data. 

“It’s really going to take a couple of years to get a sense of the true impact of both the ruling as well as new strategies that schools have implemented to try to maintain a diverse class of students,” said Bryan Cook, director of higher education policy at the Urban Institute, a left-leaning think tank. 

Other factors likely affected enrollment this year. The bumpy rollout of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid may have discouraged some students from applying to college. The share of high school seniors completing the form dropped by nearly 9% this year, according to data from the National College Attainment Network. 

State policies restricting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts at colleges may also have deterred would-be applicants, Cook said. 

However, data from states that banned race-conscious admissions policies years ago paints an alarming picture of what may lie ahead. 

In California, research has shown that the end of race conscious admissions in 1998 deterred students from racial minority groups from applying to institutions in the University of California system. The percentage of students from those groups at the system’s selective Los Angeles and Berkeley campuses were immediately cut in half. 

Expand the applicant pool

The Supreme Court decision may have had a chilling effect on student applications by making some students feel unwelcome in higher ed, said Madeleine Rhyneer, vice president of consulting services and dean of enrollment management at education consultancy EAB. 

But selective colleges can still focus on increasing diversity in two areas: encouraging students to apply and getting them to enroll once accepted. 

“You can’t use race when you’re deciding who to admit,” she said. “But you can absolutely be totally race-aware as you’re building your funnel of prospects and qualified inquiries.”

College officials can adopt several strategies to welcome students from underrepresented groups. 

When they visit high schools, they can prioritize those with larger shares of Black and Hispanic students, Rhyneer said. When buying student data from organizations like the College Board, admissions officials can be thoughtful about where they are focusing.

College officials can also remove barriers in the application process, said Wil Del Pilar, senior vice president at EdTrust, a nonprofit organization focused on equity in education. Multistep applications, fees and standardized testing requirements can all discourage low-income students and students of color from applying, he said. 

“If you don’t have diversity in your pool, you’re not going to have diversity in your class,” Del Pilar said.

Explore financial aid programs

Tuition or financial aid initiatives can encourage applications, but they may not work for every institution, experts said. A few universities that have largely maintained the diversity of their incoming classes recently started ambitious financial aid programs, although it’s difficult to attribute that success to any one factor. 

Duke announced last summer that it would offer free tuition for students from the Carolinas whose family incomes were $150,000 or less. The share of the incoming first-year class identifying as Hispanic or Black increased by one percentage point for each group, to 14% and 13%, respectively, per Axios.

The selective University of Virginia expanded a similar program late last year, covering tuition for Virginia families who earn less than $100,000. The share of Black students in the incoming first-year class decreased by about one percentage point, to 7.2%, but the share of Hispanic students increased by a little under 2 percentage points, to 9%. 

Bentley University, a private Massachusetts institution that accepts a little under half of its applicants, has focused its financial aid initiatives on first-generation students. The university will provide an award to match tuition at the University of Massachusetts Amherst for first-generation students from the state whose families earn under $135,000.

Carolina Figueroa, Bentley’s vice president for enrollment management, credits the effort with helping increase the university’s share of Black and Hispanic students. 

The percentage of the incoming first-year class identifying as Black increased two percentage points from 2021 to 2024, now standing just under 6%. The share of the class identifying as Hispanic increased 8 percentage points in that same time, now standing at almost 19. 

In addition to the tuition initiative, Bentley has also partnered with community-based organizations that serve students from backgrounds underrepresented in higher ed. After identifying students who meet the university’s academic qualifications, Bentley will fly them out with chaperones to see the campus. The college has also added a new assistant provost position to focus on academic advising and student success. 

“There’s no use to us in bringing a student in if they can’t be successful,” Figueroa said. 

Increase yield rates

In addition to increasing applications, institutions can work to encourage students from underrepresented backgrounds to enroll once admitted. 

Many institutions already have admitted students’ weekends. Similar events specifically for students from different backgrounds can help them and their families feel welcome at an institution. Colleges can also run events in different languages for families who aren’t fluent in English, Rhyneer said.

“This is another kind of signaling, that we care about you, we care about who you are and your background,” she said.

Ultimately, institutions will need to continue trying new things to see what works for them and their students, experts said. 

“What a lot of schools are going to have to do over the next couple of years is experiment and try different approaches,” said Cook. “There’s no silver bullet.” 

Stopped-out college students expressed confidence that they have the skills to return to higher education — but concerns over the cost, according to a new survey from UPCEA and online education company StraighterLine.

A large share of the roughly 1,000 respondents, 88%, said they had basic academic skills needed for college, such as math and critical thinking. And 86% said they could competently use technology for research and coursework.

But a majority of students, 58%, also said they could not afford tuition and education expenses with their current financial situation.

Facing the rapidly approaching demographic cliff — an expected dropoff in high school graduates starting around 2025 — many colleges are pivoting to reengaging students who attended college but left before earning a credential. Officials see significant enrollment potential among this group, as the nationwide pool of stopped-out students is large and growing.

By July 2022, 36.8 million adults under age 65 had some college but no credential, up 2.9% from the previous year, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center.

The new survey from UPCEA and StraighterLine, conducted in June, sought to provide data on what motivates this group and how colleges can convert interest in higher education into enrollment. 

Over half of respondents, 53%, said the opportunity to increase their salary would motivate them to reenroll in a degree program. A smaller share, 44%, said earning a degree would fulfill a personal goal, and 38% named a career change as the driving factor. 

To engage stopped-out students, colleges should meet them where they are by using their favored communication methods, researchers said.

A majority of prospective students, 86%, would prefer colleges reach out by email when following up on an information request, the survey found. Just 42% said they would want to communicate with an institution over the phone, and 39% preferred text messages.

Chatbots — a communication tool increasingly favored by college officials — ranked lowest, with only 6% of stopped-out students expressing an interest in this mode of communication.

For an initial contact, most surveyed students said they would be willing to share their full name and email address with an institution.

But colleges often use initial contact forms to collect an excess amount of personal information, which can dissuade students from reaching out, researchers said. Only 59% of respondents said they would be immediately comfortable sharing their address, a common request.

Some higher education institutions have seen success with programs designed with stopped-out students in mind. The University of North Carolina System, for example, has reenrolled some 2,800 stopped-out students through Project Kitty Hawk, an ed tech nonprofit devoted to helping the network’s colleges support working adult learners.

LOS ANGELES — Amid ongoing enrollment challenges, colleges are increasingly looking for new pools of applicants. Transfer students offer one way for colleges to grow their student bodies, but institutions must offer them the right supports, according to Judy Johnson, assistant director of admissions and transfer at the Minnesota Private College Council.

Research shows that just 16% of community college students transfer and earn a bachelor's degree within six years — despite a majority of these students expressing an intent in attending a four-year institution.

Institutions can, and should, make their campuses accessible to transfer students through their practices and policies, Johnson told college administrators Sept. 26 at the National Association for College Admission Counseling’s annual conference. Johnson previously worked as a transfer specialist at Augsburg University and St. Catherine University, both of which are in Minnesota. 

"You do not need to be the enrollment manager to do this. You do not need to be the registrar, the head honcho," Johnson said. "You do not need power, but you do need initiative.”

Check your default settings

Whether intentionally or not, some colleges make transfer students their lowest priority through their policies.

For example, colleges typically give students with the most credits priority for class registration, meaning juniors and seniors get first pick. But one institution Johnson worked with gave transfer students the lowest registration priority — placing them after even first-year students.

"It destroyed their schedules because classes they needed were filled," Johnson said. "If they come in as a junior, they should be able to register with the juniors."

Another college packaged financial aid offers for the entire first-year class before those for transfer students, leaving the transfers in limbo until as late as July. Star students decided to enroll elsewhere because they weren't able to wait any longer, Johnson said.

Help transfer students graduate on time

College admissions officers interested in increasing transfer student enrollment and success must review their course catalogs to look for ways to improve. "Anything that relates to transfer students in that catalog is a policy," she said. 

A course audit can ask important questions, such as if transfer students could reasonably complete every required course in two years.

Class availability can be another hurdle. Some faculty plan their upper-level courses on a four-year rotation, limiting options for students who don't begin there as first-year students, Johnson said. She advised departments to revamp schedules to ensure students arriving on campus as juniors can take the necessary courses to graduate on time.

College administrators also need to proactively link incoming transfer students with on-campus services, according to Johnson.

"When students come in as a junior, they should be getting internships that year," she said. "I needed them to connect early with that career office."

Get faculty members on board

Johnson encouraged conference attendees to make faculty members partners in creating a welcoming environment for transfer students.

The first step is communication. Faculty are not typically aware if students are transfers and will assume those in their class have been at the institution for the entirety of their education, she said.

To combat this, college admissions officers can send instructors a notification each semester identifying the transfer students. In turn, Johnson said, faculty could get in the habit of sending a welcome message to the transfer students.

A significant portion of transfer students come from community colleges. But they — and their former institutions — often face negative stereotypes among college employees, Johnson said.

In one case, for instance, faculty in STEM fields expressed to Johnson a distrust of the scientific labs at their local community colleges. In response, she arranged a tour of the facilities, and seeing the labs for themselves settled the concerns.

Helping create a welcoming environment for transfer students could fuel enrollment — potentially an attractive option for faculty members who are worried that falling headcounts will lead to academic cuts.

"Go to the faculty that are most scared that their major is not going to make it," Johnson said. "Faculty will become transfer-interested if they are scared their department's gonna close. They will be enthusiastic about getting transfer students and then propose solutions." 

Miyaka Mackie went straight to college after she graduated from high school. She started at Fayetteville State University in North Carolina, but quit after a little more than a year.

That was 28 years ago. Since then, Mackie married, had four daughters and finished her associate degree at Richmond Community College. In 2020, she enrolled at the University of North Carolina at Pembroke with the intention of finishing her bachelor’s degree, but health issues forced her to stop going. 

This fall, Mackie reenrolled at UNC Pembroke as a junior. She has 13 more classes to take before she finishes her degree in sociology.

“I don’t care if I’ve got to take one class at a time,” she said. “I’m going to finish.” 

Mackie, 46, is among almost 2,800 former University of North Carolina System students who have reenrolled after stopping out. A minister and full-time administrative assistant, Mackie attends classes online in the evenings after work.

“I want the degree as a personal accomplishment,” Mackie said. “I love my job, but I’ve spent half my life working on this degree.”

In 2021, the North Carolina General Assembly allocated $97 million to start Project Kitty Hawk, a nonprofit ed-tech startup that would contact students like Mackie. The initiative launched in May 2023, and, as of late August, Project Kitty Hawk had reenrolled almost 2,800 students who had started college at one of the network’s universities but left without finishing their credentials. Most of those students are from North Carolina counties that are considered underserved by higher education, according to Andrew Kelly, director of Project Kitty Hawk and former executive vice president for the UNC System. 

The initiative came about after North Carolina officials realized the state needed more workers with college degrees, said Kelly. The UNC System has 17 separate institutions, including 16 universities and one high school.

The former students Project Kitty Hawk reaches out to are part of a growing nationwide population. In 2022, about 37 million working-age adults in the U.S. had some credit but no credential, up almost 3% from 2021. 

Projects similar to Project Kitty Hawk are underway in other states, including California Reconnect, a coalition currently focused on re-enrolling students from 13 public colleges. Over the next two years, the initiative aims to broaden that scope to 30 higher education institutions in the state. 

College officials nationwide have increasingly focused on enrolling stopped-out students as they brace for the demographic cliff, a decline in high school graduates expected to start in 2025 due to declining birth rates during the Great Recession. 

“We can’t rely on students coming out of high school to earn degrees,” Kelly said. “What about these folks who already have some credit?”

Project Kitty Hawk partners with ReUp Education, one of several companies that work with colleges and universities to contact former students and coach them through re-enrollment. ReUp Education counselors reached out to 103,000 former students from ten universities in the UNC System. Of those students, 40% had stopped out within the past five years, 35% stopped out between six and nine years ago, and another 25% left college more than 10 years ago.

Reenrolled students brought in about $4.5 million in tuition for the system last year, Kelly said. That figure might be an underestimation, he added, because it doesn’t include some student fees. 

Because many reenrolled students don’t need a lot more credits before they can graduate, UNC System officials expect to see another $5 million in tuition from the current population of reenrolled students over the course of their studies.

Most reenrolled students registered at UNC Pembroke, UNC Greensboro and Western Carolina University. The most common fields of study for returning students are business, health sciences, social sciences, interdisciplinary studies and computer sciences.

A new approach for reenrolled students

The UNC System hasn’t historically done a good job serving adult students, Kelly said. Part of Project Kitty Hawk includes adding more online courses, which appeal to reenrolled students who are older and may be working jobs or taking care of family members. 

“This is all about providing individuals with an opportunity that enables them to experience greater labor market advancement,” Kelly said. “Some careers require a degree.”

It isn’t realistic to expect a reenrolled adult student to show up for in-person classes during the day, said Asher Haines, associate provost of UNC Charlotte’s professional studies school. 

While most undergraduate students at UNC Charlotte are enrolled in primarily campus-based programs, older returning students are often drawn to fully online programs, he said. UNC Charlotte saw 286 students re-enroll last year. This year that number went up to 333. Of those returning students, 18% chose fully online programs, and those online students are, on average, 11 years older than the campus-based students, according to Haines. 

Over the summer, he said, the university hired 20 additional academic advisers in part to serve the growing number of reenrolled students. These advisers reach out to students to explain how to transfer credits from other colleges and military experience, change majors, manage their time and get academic support.

The university also offers an Adult Student Ambassador Program for returning undergraduates. Students ages 25 and older serve as mentors to help reenrolled students find the social and academic support they need to adjust to being in class and stay until graduation.

“These students are juggling other life priorities,” Haines said, “and often school isn’t number one.”

Mackie’s instructors have been flexible about extending deadlines when emergencies come up, she said. When her daughter had to go to the hospital on the day an assignment was due, Mackie’s instructor told her not to worry and to turn her work in when things were settled.

“They gave me the extra time that I needed,” she said. “That meant a lot.” 

Many students who leave college before completing their credentials do so because they struggled to understand the institutional system, said Katy VanVliet, senior vice president of learner services for ReUp Education. 

ReUp Education counselors text and email former students to see if they would like to consider reenrolling in college. What often ensues, VanVliet said, is a long series of conversations to coach students through the process.

“We ask them what got in the way of them finishing the first time and then what’s motivating them to reenroll,” VanVliet said. “The timing has to be right. It doesn’t do anyone any good to come back to school only to stop out again.”

It can take as many as 60 communications with a ReUp Education counselor before a former student reenrolls, VanVliet said. And it isn’t unusual for counselors to stay in close contact with reenrolled students all the way through graduation. Some have weekly check-ins with counselors.

Common questions students have had, VanVliet said, related to transferring credits from other schools, bringing up their GPA and dealing with financial holds blocking them from registering, which could be because of an old parking ticket or library fee.

“We aren’t academic advisers or financial planners,” she said, “but we do help bring the language of higher education to first-generation college students who don’t have an understanding of how the system works.”

Some feedback from reenrolled students is important for universities to hear, VanVliet said. Many universities, for example, provide scant information online for students considering reenrolling.

“People don’t feel welcome back if there’s no place for them to click,” she said.