Brief Highlights Value of Building Multifaceted Student Support Programs

A new brief from MRDC discusses the value of multifaceted student support programs to address college completion barriers and improve graduation rates.

Veterans Need Colleges to Keep Some Pandemic-Driven Changes

The flexibility that colleges and universities introduced during the pandemic provided an unexpected benefit for student veterans that shouldn’t be thrown out if and when the world can go back to normal, write Warrior-Scholar Project CEO Ryan Pavel and Amy Bernard of the Bush Institute. 

Virtual Learning Can Be a Gateway to Increasing Equity in Higher Education

Much remains uncertain about what the fall 2021 semester will bring, but it’s increasingly obvious that expanded online offerings will be a welcome development—both now and for many years to come. Read more from Joseph I. Castro, chancellor of The California State University.

Bringing Jobs and Workers Together in the New Skills Economy

Bridging the disconnect between learners and employers requires a new approach to help open opportunities for people who have historically been underserved by the current system. Can blockchain help fill these gaps?

Supporting the Attainment of Native Students in Higher Education
Recently, the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education released a case study to share how Native American-Serving Nontribal Institutions have successfully developed and implemented practices to advance American Indian or Alaska Native students’ persistence and academic success on their campuses.
Innovating Transfer Through Regional Partnerships: Houston Guided Pathways to Success

Regional partnerships between two- and four-year institutions, like Houston GPS, are increasingly a critical means to bolster transfer and degree completion. Starting with seven institutions, it has grown to include 13 two- and four-year institutions with an aggregate enrollment of more than 300,000 students in the Houston-Gulf Coast region.

Regional Data-sharing Agreements: The Central Florida Education Ecosystem Database

Higher education is increasingly embracing the use of big data to increase and assess the effectiveness of institutional policies and practices and to drive needed change. The Central Florida Education Ecosystem Database (CFEED) offers one promising model for regional data-sharing agreements that can increase educational attainment.

Innovating the Transfer Pipeline Through Regional Partnerships

Collaboration between two-year sending and four-year receiving institutions is key to improving community college student transfer and graduation rates. The Central Florida Educational Ecosystem Database and Houston Guided Pathway to Success are two innovative models for achieving this goal.

Learner Records: If You Build It, Will They Use It?

There’s promising evidence that easier connections across higher education and work—especially innovations that allow learners to completely unbundle education—can improve economic mobility and equity in outcomes.

Small Colleges Are Essential for U.S. Economic, Social Recovery

Keeping small colleges and universities functioning through the pandemic matters. Mary B. Marcy, president of Dominican University of California, writes about the steps we can take to ensure these institutions also can thrive after the pandemic is over.

Looking Through a New Lens

The pandemic has brought with it a lens that allows for better vision of what is vital to student success. AACC President Walter Bumphus writes that that lens is a gift, and now is the perfect time to use it to rethink, redevelop, and re-explore how we provide education.

Love Can Save Higher Education From Itself

What does it mean to build a college on love? Russell Lowery-Hart, president of Amarillo College, explains.