I was a Pell Grant recipient. It wasn’t enough.
This essay expands on an article by the author that originally appeared in the EAB Daily Briefing. When I was a sophomore, a professor held up an extra copy of the textbook and offered to lend it to “anyone poor” for the semester. My mind raced with questions. Do I take it? Do I reveal that…
Forget the games—give students smartphone apps that will benefit them
A version of this article originally appeared on LinkedIn through our #100SuccessStories Campaign. Every Thursday, I spend an hour reading with Janae, a 4th grader at a local D.C. public school. As with many kids her age, it can be challenging to keep Janae focused on the latest Diary of a Wimpy Kid for a full 60…
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MoreHow four schools engaged their entire campus for greater student success impact
As part of the Student Success Collaborative research team, I’ve followed our partner case studies closely. Lately, I’ve noticed something new. In previous years, most student success initiatives started—and ended—in the advising center, or were focused on niche groups of students. Efforts to expand participation in student success faced skepticism from other offices and a…
What student success leaders got wrong, and what they discovered instead
Back when I was in college, I naively believed that students usually became “stop-outs”—withdrawing enrollment from school temporarily—because they couldn’t keep up with the academic work. It took seeing the impact that mental health and family crises could have on my peers, and then my own life, to change my thinking. After seeing those who…
Is your student success strategy ready for the next decade?
In the aftermath of the Cold War, the US military coined the term VUCA (which stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity), to describe new and unstable environments. Since then, the term has been widely adopted in strategy and management circles—but I would posit it’s also very relevant to us in higher education. VUCA environments…
These three activities could help improve post-graduate outcomes
It’s an all too common story: Around the middle of senior year of college, students become overcome with a sudden, acute dread that the “real world” is imminent. Despite a hazy enthusiasm for post-college life, many are blanketed with fear—especially those students who took out student loans and are now expected to pay them back.…
How to get first-generation student support right
It’s Thanksgiving as a first-generation college freshman. Your friends have all gone home but you’re stuck on campus because, like many first-gen students, you don’t have extra cash to spend on a plane ticket—it’s going toward tuition, or books, or food. But if you’re a first-generation student at Florida State University, you’re not spending Thanksgiving…