By Dr. John Haller, Vice President of Enrollment Management & New Student Strategies, University of Miami
Recently, I attended a dinner where a conversation ensued about measuring the value or ROI of higher education. The topic turned to college completion rates relative to measuring completion or the outcomes associated with attaining a degree. There is a similar notion that millions of learners drop out of higher education without a degree – insinuating that higher education is failing. Can we, as an industry, do better? I think for sure – yes.
That said, addressing the topic of completion, from my perspective, is a two-part story.
The Value
The first involves the student lifecycle and what we in higher education are doing to ensure student persistence. I am likely a broken record on the topic, but I think many institutions miss the student success priority as it relates to institutional mission, an alternative revenue stream, and word-of-mouth reputation. The more learners persist, the greater the current tuition revenue stream is maintained, taking pressure off the need for more new learners to generate tuition revenue. Not that this is or should be a primary driver, but, as an aside, because of the weight put on persistence in the US News ranking methodology, working to increase this metric also influences an institution’s score.
Related to this, facilitating higher education outcome objectives can come from flexible transfer equivalencies so learners do not lose credits when moving from one institution to another. At multiple institutions I experienced cases where foundational academic courses such as calculus and English were pedagogically constrained such that transferability was nearly impossible resulting in learners losing ground upon transferring. This phenomenon influences completion as well as current student swirl while fueling frustration.
Also related is the role of student debt in higher education. Philosophically, I believe learners should have some skin in the game from a student loan perspective, but not such that loan debt adversely impacts their ability to live overburdened with debt post-graduation. Regarding financial aid packaging, philosophically, I also believe in hybrid financial aid approaches that include a merit-based approach with the lion’s share being allocated to meeting a family’s demonstrated financial need where possible. This allows institutions to enroll learners from middle or upper-middle incomes whose families may not qualify for need-based financial assistance (but cannot afford the full cost of attendance) while still enrolling learners from across the socioeconomic spectrum. These approaches also serve to facilitate student persistence to completion.
While a more expensive notion, indexing financial aid as tuition increases also facilitates completion. Given the expense associated with this initiative, institutions can also implement targeted micro-grants to high-achieving difference-making current learners with increased demonstrated financial need who are at risk of withdrawing from an institution. Similarly, institutions can implement completion micro-grants for learners close to completing their credentials who have left the institution. Providing a one or two-class return grant to complete their credential influenced graduation rates at two institutions that I served. Developing financial literacy programs to help learners understand the importance of payment plans or loan indebtedness can also influence completion. Ramping up federal or non-federal work study offerings is another opportunity to assist learners with the cost of attendance, also facilitating completion.
Measurement
The second part of the story involves how college completion is measured. Learners attend different types of institutions for different reasons. At some institutions, a learner’s goal is a professional certification. At others it may be a badge credential allowing for professional advancement. This does not involve earning a bachelor’s degree nor an associate degree. In the above examples, measuring a learner’s non-degree completion as a failure would be inaccurate as the learner achieved their educational objectives. The trick here is how to track and measure different completion metrics of learning relative to different learner achievement goals. This comes with a level of sophistication in an institution’s student information system that allows for tracking and measurement of student achievement goals, something we are now seeing with comprehensive learner records and learning and employment records.
So…do we have work to do in higher education to improve completion objectives? Absolutely. What I shared above are some different approaches that can assist in this important endeavor.
To learn more about strategic enrollment management planning and comprehensive learner records/learning and employment records, visit AACRAO Consulting online or contact us at consulting@aacrao.org