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Topic: Access to higher education

Blog Post
October 6, 2026

Evaluating the Petrie Foundation’s Student Emergency Grant Fund at CUNY

There are growing concerns about the affordability of earning a college degree, yet most discussions focus on tuition and fees. While sticker prices, or published tuition and fees, have increased significantly over the past two decades, the amount students actually pay, known as net price, is lower today than it was 20 years ago. For many students, however, especially adult learners and those from low- and moderate-income backgrounds, college affordability is about more than just tuition and fees.
Research Report
October 6, 2026

Addressing College Affordability through Emergency Aid

A Study of the Petrie Foundation’s Student Emergency Grant Fund at CUNY

The Carroll and Milton Petrie Foundation’s (Petrie Foundation) Student Emergency Grant Fund provides participating New York City colleges and universities with money to disburse grants to students experiencing financial hardship to help cover non-tuition expenses. Among the participating institutions are 20 City University of New York (CUNY) campuses, each of which operates and administers the program locally.
Blog Post
September 29, 2026

Announcing a National Cohort Exploring Students’ Perspectives on Basic Needs Insecurity

We’re excited to announce that 15 colleges and universities are participating in Understanding Postsecondary Students’ Perspectives on Basic Needs Insecurity, a three-year research initiative led by Ithaka S+R with support from ECMC Foundation. By centering students’ perspectives, this project helps institutions better understand how undergraduate students define and experience basic needs insecurity and how their experiences and perceptions influence help-seeking behavior.
Upcoming Event
November 4, 2026

Building Regional Partnerships Across the Adult Learner Ecosystem

A Practical Design Framework

Effectively supporting adult learners requires a coordinated approach that connects outreach, re-enrollment, and ongoing support across institutions and partners. This panel and interactive workshop at the 2026 Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) Conference presents a practical design framework developed through a six-month, multi-institution planning process in Southwestern Pennsylvania. Attendees will leave with a practical planning template and facilitation tools to build regionally aligned adult learner strategies that increase credential attainment, strengthen workforce pipelines, and advance economic mobility.
Blog Post
September 10, 2026

Evaluating the Promise and Value of 90-Credit Bachelor’s Degrees

Earning a bachelor’s degree is still one of the surest routes to economic mobility. But affordability concerns, changing student needs, and a shifting labor market are raising the pressure on states and colleges to demonstrate that a degree is really worth it. In response, an increasing number of states are authorizing bachelor’s degrees that require as few as 90 credits, rather than the 120 credits or more that most bachelor’s degrees require. Their stated goals are to help students earn…
Past Event
September 17, 2026

Building College-Community Partnerships for Reentry

How can colleges and community organizations work together to better support reentry? With funding from ECMC Foundation, Ithaka S+R embarked on a project to make higher education after reentry more accessible by fostering partnerships—working directly with a cohort of 10 college programs and 10 community organizations. On September 17 at 12:30-1:30 PM ET, join a webinar that will share actionable takeaways, tools, and exercises…
Past Event
October 8, 2026

From Experience to Credit

Learning and Opportunity Within and Beyond Incarceration

For over 36 million Americans, Credit for Prior Learning (or CPL) provides a pathway back to higher education by awarding college credit for learning gained outside the traditional classroom. Could CPL help justice-impacted learners make progress toward a degree?  Ithaka S+R and College Unbound are collaborating on a project to expand access to Credit for Prior Learning for students with lived experiences in carceral settings. On October 8 at 3:00-4:30 PM…
Past Event
August 20, 2026

Rethinking Who Pays for College

Need-Based Aid, Public Funding, and Employer Co-Investment

Developed in partnership with Strada Education Foundation, this session examined how need-based financial aid, state and federal investment, and emerging models of employer co-investment can help close the college affordability gap. Elizabeth Pisacreta presented findings from Ithaka S+R’s research on targeted state financial aid, which produced new insights about how states do (or don’t) direct financial aid to degrees and programs that are aligned with their specific labor market demands.
Research Report
August 20, 2026

Beyond Access

Policy and Collaboration in Addressing Student Basic Needs Insecurity

Students’ ability to succeed in higher education is closely tied to their access to food, housing, technology, transportation, mental health, and other essential support. While a range of public benefits programs and institutional initiatives aim to address these basic needs, access to support is often shaped by a complex and fragmented policy environment. State and federal policy related to basic needs has a direct impact on the support students can access.
Past Event
August 27, 2026

How State and Federal Divestment is Resegregating Higher Education

This webinar, hosted by the Alliance for Higher Education, brings together leading scholars and researchers to discuss how recent state and federal policy decisions have affected efforts to expand educational opportunity in higher education. Ithaka S+R’s Dylan Ruediger will join the conversation alongside Laura Hamilton, Jackie Pedota, Kaleb L. Briscoe, Melissa Salazar, Rebecca Perdomo, and Liliana Garces. The session is scheduled for August 27, 2026 at 1pm ET. Register to attend.
Blog Post
August 5, 2026

PanelPicker Is Open for SXSW EDU 2027

Vote for Sessions on Microcolleges, Learner Success, and AI Literacy

Each year, we look forward to bringing innovative projects and research to SXSW EDU 2026, where we connect, learn, and collaborate with an active and engaged community. This year, we’re proposing three sessions—a panel, a presentation, and an interactive workshop—that explore timely topics across higher education, from nontraditional colleges and learner-centered educational pathways to AI literacy.
Past Event
September 15, 2026

Back to School Summit

Ithaka S+R Senior Advisor Catharine Bond Hill will be speaking at the 25th annual Back to School Summit 2026, from September 15-27 in New York City. The Summit focuses on the future of education, skills and workforce development, convening leaders across higher education, business, government, investment and technology. Learn more and register here.
Blog Post
July 15, 2026

Building the State Case for ASAP Replication

From Evidence to Action

The City University of New York’s Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) model offers one of the most rigorously tested initiatives available, proven to double graduation rates at CUNY and replication sites across the country. With support from ECMC Foundation, Ithaka S+R has worked with the CUNY ASAP replication team over the past year to build a suite of resources that help states and systems explore the benefits of CUNY ASAP by identifying the model’s potential to address the state’s…
Blog Post
July 14, 2026

Strategies for Improving Outcomes for Part-Time Learners

Our new report, Part Time, Full Potential: Strategies for Improving Outcomes for Part-time Learners, supported by Arnold Ventures, examines who part-time learners are, the barriers they face, and where targeted research and reform could have the greatest impact on improving their outcomes. …
Research Report
July 14, 2026

Part Time, Full Potential

Strategies for Improving Outcomes for Part-Time Learners

Part-time students represent about one-quarter of all undergraduate students at four-year institutions and nearly two-thirds at two-year institutions, yet they complete credentials at roughly half the rate of their full-time peers. These gaps are driven primarily by constraints due to work schedules, caregiving obligations, and limited financial aid, rather than by student characteristics or motivation. Added to this, the systems meant to support postsecondary success are largely designed for students who can attend full time.
Past Event
July 14, 2026

Financing Program Sustainability and Scale

A Conversation with CUNY ASAP Replication Partners

At the Student Financial Aid Research Network 2026 Conference, Bethany Lewis and Ioana Hulbert will highlight findings from a forthcoming playbook on financing student success program sustainability and scaling, featuring case studies with both ASAP and non-ASAP programs. Diana Strumbos will then moderate a panel with leaders from three ASAP replication sites to discuss the opportunities and challenges they have faced in their pursuit of on-going funding and how systems and states may strategically design programs to maximize possible funding…
Blog Post
June 24, 2026

The Geography of Postsecondary Pursuit

Strengthening Enrollment, Support, and Workforce Outcomes for Rural Learners

About 60 million individuals—roughly 19 percent of the US population—live in rural areas. Rural students graduate high school at higher rates than the national average (90 percent, compared to 87 percent nationally), yet only 19 percent of them go on to obtain a postsecondary degree, below the national average of 33 percent. Fewer rural students enroll in college, and when they do, they are more likely to drop out before obtaining a credential. That’s why Ithaka S+R recently launched the…
Past Event
June 25, 2026

Exploring Online Enrollment Trends in the Era of State Authorization Reciprocity

At the Midwestern Higher Education Compact M-SARA Annual Meeting, Ini Umosen will present findings from Ithaka S+R’s recent reports related to State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (SARA), “Exploring Online Enrollment Trends in the Era of State Authorization Reciprocity” and “Examining Employers’ Perceptions of Online Credentials: A Discrete Choice Experiment.” The session is scheduled for June 25, 2026.
Blog Post
June 12, 2026

Welcoming Ithaka S+R’s 2026 Summer Interns

Ithaka S+R is delighted to welcome four summer interns who will contribute to projects across our higher education research and advisory portfolios: Jennifer Butler, Beza Taddess, William Redding, and Brianna Zichettella. Jennifer Butler, a PhD student in sociology and social policy at Princeton University, will join the American Talent Initiative (ATI) team, contributing research and content development on topics related to bachelor’s degree attainment, access, persistence, and student success. Beza Taddess, a PhD student in sociology at Princeton University…
Past Event
June 13, 2026

“I just wanted to take a different path”

On the Cultural Assets that Sustain First-Generations in Higher Education and the Workplace

Behind every data point about first-generation student success is a story of resilience, negotiation, and aspiration. This session at the NASPA Conference on Student Success in Higher Education will bring those stories to the forefront through findings from a qualitative study of graduate, first-generation, BIPOC library professionals. Grounded in Yosso’s Community Cultural Wealth framework, we will invite attendees to rethink first-generation identity through an intersectional, strengths-based lens and explore how these insights can inform more inclusive programs, services, and support…