Student success doesn’t occur in a vacuum; COVID-19 and the move to fully remote instruction has caused many non-academic barriers to be especially disruptive. Not to mention the recent political climate surrounding racial justice can leave students, particularly students of color, feeling especially vulnerable.
The complex lives of students can shape their successes, but also their challenges as they struggle with access to technology and mental health care, maintaining a sense of belonging, basic needs insecurity, or racism. Other students are also facing new work obligations or increased family care responsibilities.
Campuses and private companies have scaled up technology support and many college communities are rising to the occasion with extensive mutual aid efforts. But institutions can’t rely on the generosity of the community alone and must prepare to support struggling students beyond the immediate crisis and into a new semester that is likely to bring further pandemic-related disruption and political activism to campus.
How is my campus supporting sense of belonging, engagement, and basic needs security in a remote world?Use this audit to evaluate the policies and practices in place at your institution to support historically underserved students. Please note, across the entire audit, “student success staff” refers to any individual charged with supporting students and may include advisors, financial aid staff, or student workers.
Consider which practices your institution has already adopted as you go through the statements below. If many of the statements are not reflective of your institution's current practices, we recommend you focus your efforts in this area by downloading the PDF or sharing this page with colleagues to start implementing change on your campus.
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