Value as a Model for Student Success

An InsideHigherEd podcast on “Reasons to Be Optimistic About Student Succes Efforts” references Clearinghouse data where first-year student persistence in higher education improved by approximately one percentage point from the prior year.  The podcast also describes four pillars of student success based on a InsideHigherEd literature review – academic life, health and wellness, college experience, and life after college.  The academic life pillar is grounded in a student’s feelings about the quality of education and instruction.  Health and wellness includes mental health.  The college experience intersects with feelings of student belonging.  Life after college involves both career preparation or experiences tied to post graduate goal attainment. 

While referenced in the podcast, the importance of student finances tied to affordability and financial aid were not discussed as one of the four pillars. If included, I am proposing the model below as a way to segment and think about student success comprehensively.  Together with student finances, ultimately, what students are looking for in their college experience is institutional value.  For what I (or my parents/guardians) are paying, am I having a quality and positive learning experience that interests me leading to a desired post-college outcome?  Do I feel that I matter and am cared for and/or about leading to student belonging and wellness?

Note that student finances as a pillar also include the degree to which an institution provides services that assist students with the cost of attendance.  This could be the degree to which demonstrated financial need is met via financial aid, if merit scholarships are awarded to high achieving students or those with special talents, financial payment plans, limiting the amount of loans awarded in a financial aid package or via loan forgiveness, as well as the level of counseling provided via financial literacy.

In the model, each of the five pillars meaningfully intersect, meaning, they are mutually interdependent.  No one pillar is more important than the other, however, I placed Student Finances in the center because if the institution is not affordable, and the student cannot afford the cost of attendance, none of the other factors really matter.

While I referenced above the intersection between academic life and life after college, is what a student is learning valuable relative to his/her post-college goals, if a student does not feel a sense of belonging outside of class, their health and wellness will be negatively impacted while also impacting the academic experience.  If a student’s life after college path is largely rudderless, this will impact academic life leading to less than optimal health and wellness.  If a student is not healthy or feeling mentally or physically well, their academic life and outside of classroom college experience will be negatively impacted.  If a student’s college experience outside of class is poor – such that they do not feel cared about/for or a sense of belonging, his/her academic life and health and wellness will suffer.  Again, each of the pillars intersect.

In actuality, the pillars are less pillars and more concentric circles that make up a Venn Diagram, inspired by one of my favorite authors Adam Grant.  Taken together, these five factors make up the essence of whether or not a student feels the college is of value – and worth continuing to attend.

Institutions who value student success will operate most optimally in this space by taking on the five factors holistically with representatives responsible for each area working together, sharing information – quantitative and qualitative – across their respective areas to identify students who may be stumbling in one or more of the five areas.  It is a little bit of a connect the dots meeting group.  For example, within the Student Accounts/Bursar area, “Bob did not complete his payment plan”.  Student Life speaks up and says, “Bob and his roommate have not been getting along”.  And then, someone from Academic Administration pipes in, “Bob missed two classes this week and his grades were dropping last semester”.  Voila!  The institution has just connected quantitative and qualitative dots on student success and realized it takes a village.  😊