Topic: Access to higher education
Upcoming Event
March 19, 2025
Conducting a Higher Education in Prison Needs Analysis
Varied Approaches and Perspectives
Join the New England Board of Higher Education’s New England Prison Education Collaborative on March 19 at 3pm ET for a virtual workshop on “Conducting a Higher Education in Prison Needs Analysis: Varied Approaches and Perspectives.” This workshop aims to equip such stakeholders as departments of corrections, state higher education executive officers, and program providers with the tools and knowledge needed to conduct a needs analysis and gauge barriers to increasing access to higher education in prison and student…
Blog Post
February 14, 2025
Supporting First-Year Success
Insights from the Kessler Scholars Program
The first year of college can be an exciting but difficult transition period for many students, marked by new academic demands, administrative processes, and social experiences. Many first-year students experience feelings of imposter syndrome, isolation, and financial strain and have difficulty balancing coursework with other responsibilities, all of which can contribute to attrition. These challenges are even more pronounced for students from underrepresented backgrounds. First-generation students, in particular, face additional obstacles compared to their peers with college-educated parents. They often…
Blog Post
February 5, 2025
Adult Learner Community of Practice Launched
Over 50 Institutions Across Pennsylvania Participating
In December 2024, Ithaka S+R, in collaboration with the Pennsylvania Department of Education, launched the Adult Learner Re-Engagement Community of Practice. Already, institutions across Pennsylvania are demonstrating their commitment to developing innovative solutions for re-enrolling adult learners. A total of 93 representatives from 51 institutions, including public and private colleges, occupational training providers, community colleges, and universities, have joined this year-long engagement. The group encompasses a wide variety of offices and roles, from academic affairs and admissions to adult…
Blog Post
January 30, 2025
Understanding the Relationship Between NC-SARA, Online Enrollments, and High-Value Credentials for Online Learners
With support from the Joyce Foundation and Strada Education Foundation, Ithaka S+R is launching a new research project to understand how the creation of NC-SARA has affected student enrollment in online programs and the extent to which credentials for online learners are valued in the labor market. This project builds on prior Ithaka S+R research that used institution-level data to explore the relationship between NC-SARA and online enrollments.
Past Event
February 5, 2025
Institutional Debt, Administrative Holds, and Student Enrollment
In this session at the 2025 Transfer Convening at UNC-Charlotte, the Adult Learner Re-Engagement team, Ithaka S+R’s Liz Looker and Jonathan Barefield, will present findings from research in North Carolina. We partnered with the UNC System Office and individual institutions to conduct mixed methods research on institutional debt and administrative holds for stopped out students in the state. Specifically, we found that the vast majority of stopped out students owe less than $2,000, and that existing hold policies have disproportionately…
Blog Post
January 21, 2025
Policies to Improve the Effect of the Endowment Tax on the Public Good
In 2017, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act imposed a 1.4 percent excise tax on net investment earnings of a set of private colleges and universities that meet certain conditions. Currently, the excise tax applies to private colleges and universities that have at least 500 students and assets per student greater than $500,000, in practice reaching highly selective, high-endowment schools.[1] In 2023, 56 institutions were subject to the tax and paid a total of $380 million.[2] The stated…
Blog Post
January 14, 2025
Supporting Adult Learners and Boosting Degree Completion in Tennessee
Announcing a New Project
Ithaka S+R is excited to announce a collaboration with the Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) and the Tennessee Higher Education Commission (THEC) to better understand the challenges faced by Tennesseans with some college but no credential who have been prevented from continuing their education due to administrative holds and past due balances, often called stranded credits. TBR governs the College System of Tennessee, the state’s public community and technical colleges. As a leader in state strategies to promote…
Upcoming Event
February 25, 2025
John Dewey 90 Years Later
How Liberal Arts Strengthens Democracy
The value of higher education generally, and a liberal arts education in particular, is viewed with heightened skepticism. While there are many inspiring anecdotes about the value of a liberal education, it is increasingly important for the sector to produce high quality, evidence-based research on the post-graduation outcomes of such an education, and around its civic value in particular. In this session, you will hear from researchers addressing these questions, including Ithaka S+R’s Elizabeth Pisacreta. The session is scheduled…
Past Event
February 18, 2025
44th Annual Conference on The First-Year Experience
In this session at the 44th Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience, Ithaka S+R’s Ifeatu Oliobi will join the Kessler Scholars Collaborative’s Kristen Glasener to present findings from a multi-institutional, mixed methods study that examines how participation in a comprehensive, cohort-based support program influences success outcomes for first-generation, limited-income (FGLI) students. We explore students’ experiences in the Kessler Scholars Program, which supports FGLI college students at 16 institutions through financial aid and robust, evidence-informed programming. Drawing on surveys, focus…
Blog Post
January 7, 2025
Higher Education in Prison and Return to Title IV (R2T4)
The July 2023 restoration of Pell grants for incarcerated students was a watershed moment for increasing access to higher education in prison. But with this change came a complex set of administrative and regulatory issues confronting both prison education programs and students. Return to Title IV (R2T4) rules create risks for all Title IV Federal Student Aid recipients, not just incarcerated learners. If a student receives Title IV funding and withdraws during the semester, the college or university may have…
Upcoming Event
February 22, 2025
Transfer Explorer
Education in Motion: Connecting Careers, Community, and Change
At the SCTEA Education in Motion Conference, Ithaka S+R’s Betsy Mueller will introduce participants to Transfer Explorer, a new national credit mobility website hosted by ITHAKA. The website launched in late 2024 in partnership with systems and institutions across Connecticut, South Carolina, New York, and Washington. Transfer Explorer lets students explore how courses and credits they have earned, or may take in the future, will transfer between institutions and count towards a degree. Aiken Technical’s Chad Crumbaker, Horry-Georgetown Technical’s…
Research Report
December 19, 2024
Tailored Support for First-Year, First-Generation College Students
Findings from an Evaluation of the Kessler Scholars Program
Established and emerging Kessler Scholars Programs at 16 colleges and universities are embedded in and supported by the Kessler Scholars Collaborative, a nationwide network that guides program development and implementation, facilitates practice sharing across institutions, and provides students with opportunities to connect with other first-generation scholars across the country. Ithaka S+R’s multi-year mixed-methods evaluation aims to assess the long-term relationship between program participation and students’ college experiences and psychosocial and academic outcomes, in order to support program improvement and maximize…
Blog Post
December 17, 2024
Higher Education at a Crossroads
Reflecting on the 2024 Complete College America Annual Convening
Complete College America’s (CCA) 2024 Annual Convening, hosted in Indianapolis this past month and framed around going “All In” on college attainment, brought together an array of postsecondary practitioners, leaders, and researchers focusing on student mobility and outcomes. At the conference, Martin Kurzweil and I led a strategy showcase focused on the Holistic Credit Mobility project, a cornerstone of our continuing efforts to support increasingly mobile students. In collaboration with CCA, Ithaka S+R is in the final stages of…
Blog Post
November 15, 2024
How the American Talent Initiative Is Using Communities of Practice to Advance Student Success in Higher Education
The American Talent Initiative (ATI) is dedicated to addressing longstanding disparities in bachelor’s degree attainment for low- and moderate-income students by fostering collaboration among research, philanthropy, and educational entities. Since 2016, ATI membership has grown to include over 135 high-graduation-rate institutions, enrolling more than 18,000 additional Pell Grant students since the project began. A key strategy in ATI’s approach has been the adoption of Communities of Practice (CoPs) to assist member colleges and universities in achieving their socioeconomic diversity…
Past Event
December 4, 2024
State-Based Solutions for Addressing Institutional Debt
SHEEO Communities of Practice
At the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) Communities of Practice: Supporting Student Loan Borrowers event in Washington DC, Brittany Pearce will join SHEEO Associate Vice President Dustin Weeden and Ohio Department of Higher Education Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Success Christopher Kacir to discuss state-based solutions for addressing institutional debt. The session will take place on December 4 at 12:45pm ET. See the event agenda to learn more.
Blog Post
November 12, 2024
Improving Re-Enrollment for Adult Learners with Some College, No Degree
Announcing a New Project with the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education
As states and postsecondary institutions work to achieve critical degree attainment and workforce development goals, establishing policies and practices to effectively support adult learners who have some college but no degree is crucial. Through the statewide “Some College, No Degree” initiative, the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education (OSHE) is working to increase adult learner re-enrollment and degree completion in the state. Beginning fall 2024, the New Jersey OSHE and Ithaka S+R are working together to…
Blog Post
November 1, 2024
Paying It Forward
First-Generation Higher Ed Professionals Empowering Current First-Gen Students
A Conversation with Dr. Shakima M. Clency, Adan Hussain, and Christin Kloski of the Kessler Scholars Collaborative. The Kessler Scholars Collaborative supports and connects more than 1,000 Kessler Scholars across 16 institutions, transforming the college experience and supporting degree attainment for first-generation and limited-income students. The Kessler Scholars Program follows a cohort-based model. This means that, in addition to financial support, Kessler Scholars at each institution receive academic, professional, and personal guidance to help them not just access higher…
Blog Post
November 1, 2024
Pennsylvania Adult Learner Re-Engagement Community of Practice
New Project Announcement and Call to Participate
Higher education institutions currently face the unique challenge of maintaining enrollment in the face of demographic cliffs and changing attitudes towards the value of higher education. One area where institutions may see growth is in re-engaging their own pool of stopped out students who are now adult learners with some college credits and no credential (SCNC). The recent regulation limiting transcript withholding by the US Department of Education creates an opportunity for institutions to identify clear pathways for their stopped…
Blog Post
October 29, 2024
New Research Examines How State Bans on Transcript Withholding Have Impacted Institutions
In July 2024, a new set of federal regulations significantly limiting transcript withholding for students who owe a balance to their institution went into effect. Predating this policy, 13 states created their own rules prohibiting or limiting this practice. These policies varied across states with some creating blanket bans on transcript withholding and others only banning the practice in limited circumstances, such as when a transcript was needed by employers or the military for education verification. Ithaka S+R partnered with…
Blog Post
October 28, 2024
Turning Debt into Credentials
The Ohio College Comeback Compact Continues to Benefit Adult Learners, Institutions, and Northeast Ohio
After a successful pilot year and transition to full program implementation, the Ohio College Comeback Compact continues to show growth and positive student outcomes for adults with some college but no credential who departed postsecondary education with past due balances. With continued generous support from Lumina Foundation, The Kresge Foundation, and the Joyce Foundation, Ithaka S+R is pleased to continue partnering with the eight public colleges and universities in Northeast Ohio for the third year of the Compact.