This fall, Maryland Gov. Wes Moore and the philanthropy Arnold Ventures announced $20 million in new grants to lift up 3,000 youth and students across the state. A portion of that funding will implement the highly successful Accelerated Study in Associate Programs student success model at four Maryland community colleges.
Pioneered by The City University of New York, the model, known as ASAP, has more than proven its worth over the past two decades. ASAP students graduate at twice the rate—roughly 50%—of CUNY students who don’t participate. Nearly seven in 10 enroll in a bachelor’s degree program within four years of graduating from CUNY.
Research also shows that the program is narrowing graduation gaps across all student demographics. ASAP’s evidence-based model that increases economic mobility has now been replicated in eight states, including in California, North Carolina and all 34 campuses of The State University of New York system.
The ASAP model has succeeded partly because it offers comprehensive support of students’ financial, academic and personal needs. It covers students’ tuition and textbook expenses, provides advisors who provide high-touch academic and career support, and lays out structured academic pathways so students can start strong and finish on time.
But success comes at a price. CUNY pegs ASAP’s annual cost at an additional $3,440 per student—an amount out of reach for most cash-strapped and underfunded colleges. Maryland sought millions in private dollars to help launch ASAP for a limited number of learners at only a quarter of its public community colleges.
While it’s critical to make investments like these to reduce the number of college stop-outs who now number 43.1 million nationwide, states and college systems must find cost-effective ways to scale support to every learner on their path to graduation.
Moving seamlessly between education and work
The good news is that institutions can make sustainable changes that can have a significant impact without having to spend millions of dollars to replicate other student success models.
These changes include a one-time investment of building guided and stackable credential pathways that ultimately lead to a bachelor’s degree. Institutions should lay out the most direct pathway to a credential, inform students of the proper sequence of courses, and ensure that classes are available when students need them.
Research from Ad Astra has found that nearly 60% of degree-seeking students are blocked from completing their programs because one or more required courses aren’t offered when students need them. When students cannot earn the credits they need to stay on track, their odds of staying in school and graduating decline.
In addition to building complete and navigable program pathways, institutions should award credentials—certificates, certifications and associate degrees—as students progress and ensure that these credits are transferable. This allows learners to move seamlessly between education and work as their situations change.
By stacking credentials, institutions can save students time and money by allowing qualified students to start the next credential program without having to repeat courses.
Staying or stopping out
Institutions should design schedules around the busy and complicated lives of the learners they’re serving. Some learners aren’t able to go to campus multiple days each week because they have unpredictable work schedules or lack affordable child care or reliable transportation.
Flexible schedules that blend in-person and asynchronous online instruction can solve for these problems, while scheduling classes during school hours can make it easier for single parents of school-age children to attend.
Requiring students to attend on-campus classes just one or two days each week can increase college opportunities for students who live farther away. And if student-parents with dependent children only have to pay for child care one or two days per week instead of four or five, scheduling that minimizes on-campus attendance can save them thousands of dollars annually at no cost to the school.
Coaching and advising should be woven into the fabric of the institution. To maximize student success, it’s crucial for colleges to have dedicated full-time academic and career advisors who ensure learners get the support they need to pass their classes, complete their program and find careers that put their new credential to work.
But institutions should encourage everyone—from the chancellor to the front desk receptionist at each campus building—to be a coach. It costs nothing for faculty and staff members to answer student questions, offer an encouraging word and help students find the proper resources to overcome any barriers they encounter. Supporting students should be everybody’s job.
Finally, institutions should provide emergency aid to help financially insecure students cover small but unexpected expenses that might derail their academic progress. A recent report reveals that nearly one in five college students “certainly” or “probably” could not come up with an extra $500 from any source if an unexpected need arose in the next month.
While class schedules are predictable once the term starts, car repairs, job schedules and illnesses are less so. In many instances, a grant or no-interest loan of a few hundred dollars can make all the difference between a student staying in school or stopping out.
