Bridging Higher Education Policy to Practice

This past fall, I had the opportunity to attend the Strada Foundation’s State Opportunity Index event in Washington DC as part of some advisory work I was engaged with in association with the foundation.  One of the principles discussed at the conference involved higher education access leading to completion to opportunity.  I heard someone wiser than me recently say, “access without completion is a broken promise” – truer words were never said. 

Similarly, this past fall, I’ve had the opportunity to present and be a part of a number of student success conferences – The National Conference on Students in Transition, National Symposium on Student Retention, Symposium on Transforming the Post Secondary Experience, and Student Success US.  Some of this is the result of the good work I have been involved in with others in this space.  Major shout outs here to Dr. Kim Allen-Stuck at Saint Joseph’s University and Darby Plummer, MS, at the University of Miami, each who led student success efforts at these institutions. 

At both Saint Joseph’s and Miami, our work focused on advancing completion to opportunity by involving and partnering with the career development areas at the respective institutions.  For instance, at the University of Miami, we launched a First Year Directions (first year seminar course), that involved an introduction/orientation to the career center where students could learn about resources kicking off their professional exploration.  Also, for students who had a less than a 2.0 first-semester GPA, they could take part in an academic enrichment program where the resources of the career center were introduced providing students with a professional look ahead.  At Saint Joseph’s, we launched a dedicated first-year experience that involved work with the career center.  As Dr. Allen-Stuck shared with me when she spearheaded the initiative, “all the opportunities are here, we just have to package it in one place” – her coordinating and leadership efforts made it happen. 

From an access to completion perspective, while some will disagree, I believe hybrid merit- and need-based financial aid approaches provide opportunities for students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds to enroll.  Also though, high achieving students from middle income backgrounds, who do not qualify for need-based aid, can also realize a reduced cost of attendance via merit scholarships.  I have experienced successes in this approach at two institutions.   To get to the completion and opportunity space, working to index financial aid over the course of a student’s experience can help achieve this outcome.  Knowing not many institutions have the financial resources to accomplish this, at both Saint Joseph’s and Miami, we launched a current student achievement award micro-grant targeting students with demonstrated financial need who had been active contributors to the university mission.  The limited funds extended to these students helped impact the institution’s overall persistence.   

At the Strada Foundation’s State Opportunity Index event, there was also meaningful discussion about workforce development in higher education – doing improved work in linking the ROI of higher education to the public domain.  Some states have begun linking longitudinal data on students graduating in specific majors to post-secondary earnings data.   Work in this space will also assist in communicating a message of the value of higher education.  I’ve heard the narrative over and over, “we just have to do a better job of telling our story”.  While true, we also must do a better job of providing linkages to the value of higher education – not just earnings ROI, but lifelong career preparation and greater civic engagement. 

The next step involves connecting the good higher education policy work being done to practice work at institutions – providing a bridge between policy and practice.  While trying not making this about me, this is where I think my next career journey could lay – helping create these bridges.  With a thirty plus year career in higher education, working to provide access to higher education and delivering on student success initiatives leading to outcomes – this is where I believe I can add value.  My work at Human Capital Education as well as at other organizations and associations can help institutions in this space.  It can help achieve their institutional missions while becoming more sustainable by taking new and different approaches to strategic enrollment management and institutional strategy.  I welcome and am excited about the opportunity to help.  Put me in coach – I am ready to play.  😊