Student Success Strategies for Higher Education Institutions

1. Student Success Strategies That Work Nov. 27, 2018

2. Agenda • Student Readiness • Affordability • Meeting Students Where They Are

3. Are We Student Ready?

4. Student Readiness • Understanding the student population, the environment from which they come, AND the environment in which we operate • Matching the reality of students ‘readiness for college with colleges’ readiness for the students • We already know, our students are: • First-generation college attendees • Adults returning to school • Parents • Traditional and Non-Traditional • Sometimes with financial means and often without financial means to provide for their education

5. Assessing Student Readiness • How do we define student readiness at my institution? • How does that look in practice? • How do I measure it? • Are our student outcomes a true measure of the efforts we have made toward student readiness? Does our reality match my vision? Are we high-touch?

6. Table Discussion • Talk with the peers at your table about how your institution defines student readiness? • Appoint a spokesperson to write your response on the nearest flip chart and speak for the group • Include in the conversation: • Some of the unique challenges you face at your institution • Innovative strategies you have used to address those challenges

7. Self-Assessing Student Readiness What we need to know: • Are there enough resources? • Are there enough teachers? • Do I have the right facilities? • What do I need to do to provide an environment for student success? What if the answer is no to any of these questions?

8. How Are We Addressing Affordability?

9. Addressing Affordability • Ensure that students understand and have access to all of the options for financing their education • Get creative: • How are we using our real estate assets? • What partnerships am I forming at the state and local levels? • Ask tough questions: • What’s the root cause of the problems faced by my development officers?

10. Self-Assessing Affordability Strategies • Where can we control costs? • What is the average student income? • How can we use funds to reduce loans? • What do we really want? • What gets us started? • What does not move us closer to what we really want? What else should we be asking?

11. Are We Meeting Our Students Where They Are?

12. Using Technology to Reach Students Where they Are • What we know Our students use virtual sources to access resources and services that have traditionally required physical presence • What we need to know Are we effective in our use of technology to ensure that students can access the resources and services they need?

13. Self-Assessing Our Technology Reach • Is our website easy to use to find information? • Are our social media assets relevant, engaging, and informative? • What platforms are we on? • Are our students using our social media assets? • How do we know? • What’s our long-term social media strategy? • Do we offer online workshops for student service? • Do we make use of video subscription services?

14. Share Your Action Plan for Student Success • Say it in a sentence: • My top three of my goals for student success are….? • Which goal is most achievable? • Which is most challenging? • One objective measure for student success I use is…? • My most pressing issue affecting student success is….?

15. Questions?