As the “normal” higher education experience continues to evolve, to better serve students colleges and universities must not only work closely together across systems and regions, but they must also collaborate with K-12, employer, and community partners. These essential collaborations, when effective, can result in an interconnected ecosystem of learning opportunities that seamlessly connect students to careers.

At the August convening of the holistic credit mobility acceleration cohort, participants discussed the opportunities and challenges of cross-sector collaboration within their own context and projects. The cohort consists of 12 state higher education and university systems, as well as institutional consortia, that are working to identify best practices, policies, and technologies to advance credit mobility.

Holistic credit mobility is a conceptual framework that encourages higher education systems and institutions to better serve the rapidly growing population of students who move college level learning and academic credit to and between higher education institutions. The framework challenges institutions to avoid requiring students to repeat college-level learning, provide as much information as possible about how past learning will apply to a credential before a student transfers, and help students chart the shortest path from their past learning to a credential. Holistic credit mobility cannot be achieved without collaboration across the sectors where learning occurs and the employers where the learning will be applied.

Cross-sector collaboration in credit mobility projects and partnerships must be:

  • rooted in trusting relationships,
  • anchored by a clear shared vision of student success,
  • actively participated in by staff and faculty, not solely organizational leadership,
  • And backed by a communication, sustainability, and measurement plan.

Anyone who has built a partnership across organizations, or even internal departments, will acknowledge that these “musts” are easy to say, and very, very hard to achieve. Higher education already struggles with staffing and resource constraints, and partnerships can easily slide down the list in priority level. Cross-sector collaboration can also suffer from competing priorities, siloed organizational cultures, unclear ownership, and process misalignments.

Kristin Brooks, strategy director for Complete College America, shared actionable strategies with cohort members to help them initiate, sustain, and navigate tensions within their partnerships. These included establishing regular communication rhythms and methods to facilitate both formal and informal collaboration, as well as adopting flexible goal alignment that can respond to changing realities on the ground. A guided workshop helped participants assess the status of existing partnerships and plan how they could be deepened.

A powerful transfer dyad: York Technical College and Winthrop University (SC)

A presentation from Amanda James, associate vice president for enrollment and dean of admissions at Winthrop University, and John McGill, assistant vice president of academic pathways at York Technical College, gave cohort participants a view into the impact of a high-functioning cross-sector collaboration. In 2017, York Technical and Winthrop leadership and staff committed to transforming the transfer student experience between their institutions from “buffets” to intentionally built “pathways.”

Over the course of the last eight years, they have built and grown their collaboration to support student mobility between their institutions and have engaged cross-sector partners in K-12 and the regional workforce. They established meta majors that share four semesters of common, transferable, major-applicable courses at York Technical and 42 guided pathways. The York Technical to Winthrop Bridge Program provides transfer students guaranteed admission upon completion, scholarships, and access to Winthrop facilities, tutoring, athletics, and cultural events. In addition to these programs, they have boosted early transfer messaging to students and streamlined financial aid processes. As a part of their participation in the holistic credit mobility cohort, York Technical and Winthrop are expanding their work to Associate of Applied Science (AAS) to bachelor’s degree pathways.

Amanda and John encouraged participants to maintain momentum in their partnerships by leveraging data for continuous improvement, sharing technology, advising on infrastructure, and fostering a cross-team culture across all levels.

Considerations from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO)

Corey Gheesling, associate vice president at SHEEO, shared a national perspective on credit mobility and cross-sector partnerships with cohort participants. He cited three areas where federal actions are increasing the urgency to design systems using holistic credit mobility practices:

  • Workforce Pell Grant expansion
  • Accreditation reform
  • And sub-120 credit hour bachelor’s degree pilots

Short-term programs must meet several criteria to be eligible for Workforce Pell, one of which is that programs must be able to build toward a credit-bearing certificate or degree program. Gheesling noted that local and state workforce boards may serve as strong collaborating partners to identify opportunities to develop or expand programs that may qualify for Workforce Pell.

Institutions and systems should closely monitor how accreditation reform efforts could impact credit mobility and student success efforts. They are encouraged to share feedback with their state higher education leadership and discuss possible changes with cross-sector partners. And finally, several states are experimenting with three-year bachelor’s degrees and other innovative curricula to boost access and reduce time to the workforce. Gheesling highlighted these innovative pilots as a key opportunity for learner mobility-focused collaboration.

The acceleration cohort will continue meeting throughout the year, with the session in October focused on communication strategies. A holistic credit mobility playbook featuring actionable strategies and recommendations for colleges, universities, and systems will be published in mid-2026.