How California State University, Fullerton Narrowed Their Equity Gap and Saw a $29.4M Return on Student Success Investments
California State University Fullerton
About
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The Challenge
At CSUF, decentralized advising and support offices lacked standard processes to train staff or direct students to needed resources. Faculty were not sufficiently engaged in collaborating with success staff to fully support students. Additionally, equity gaps between traditional and underrepresented student populations were concerningly wide.
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The Solution
CSUF built new Student Success Centers across campus, where staff use Navigate to monitor and connect with students, as well as engage and supplement faculty in supporting students outside the classroom. They also assessed procedural inequalities that disproportionately affect students of color and hired new specialists that use Navigate to improve key outcomes.
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The Results
By working to understand and remove barriers to completion, CSUF lowered the equity gap between underrepresented minority (URM)1 and non-URM students by 7 percentage points. CSUF also used Navigate campaigns to see a $29M+ return on investment in three years.
Impact Highlights
$29.4M+
Total return on investment from Navigate reenrollment campaigns in three years
7 percentage points
Smaller equity gap between URM and non-URM students for 2013 cohort vs. 2008 cohort
Equity Gap Revealed Need for Investment
Support Structure Not Set Up to Adequately Serve All Students, Contributing to Growing Gap
Advising and Student Support Services Lacked Structure and Coordination
Equity Gap Revealed Need for Investment
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Implement EAB Navigate
- Appointed Student Success and IT leaders as cochairs of Navigate implementation team
- Leveraged EAB Consultant as a go-to partner to all offices in the advising community
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Improve Physical Space to Serve Students
- Established new Student Success Centers at all CSUF colleges, designed offices for efficiency
- Showcased diverse staff backgrounds with profiles in waiting area
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Engage Faculty in Student Success
- Formally recognized faculty for their impact in academic advising
- Shared students’ stories about the impact of faculty conversations outside the classroom
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Audit Procedural Inequalities
- Examined data on higher rates of account holds among African American students
- Surveyed students about account holds, revealing that different populations interpret these in distinct ways
Results
135%
Increase in notes posted in Navigate, 2016 to 2018
$181
Student-initiated semesterly fee that funds Success Centers
331%
Increase in Navigate staff and faculty users, 2016 to 2018
Registration Holds Are a Barrier to Completion
New Efforts to Address Barriers
Previously, advisors and staff placed holds preventing students from reenrolling or graduating, often without giving students a clear path to fix the situation.
New Specialists Use Navigate to Tangibly Impact Student Success
- Retention Specialists contact non-enrolled students for the upcoming term prior to the start of classes
- Graduation Specialists conduct workshops where seniors learn how to qualify and apply for graduation
New Efforts to Address Barriers
- Run appointment campaigns for various student populations, from the most vulnerable to the highest-achieving
- Monitor assigned caseload with filtered watch lists to prioritize students in need of support and send highly targeted student communications
- Share Notes with appropriate colleagues about important student
information
A Massive Return on Investment: Supporting Students with Navigate
Multiyear Reenrollment Campaigns Add Up to Thousands More Students Retained
$19.7M
Total tuition revenue from 3,465 reenrolled students
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$13.3M
Tuition revenue for a second year, based on 77% retention rate
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$3.6M
Cost to employ 10 retention specialists for four years
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$29.4M
Total return on investment from Navigate reenrollment campaigns
Student Success Initiatives Help Drive Progress Toward Closing Equity Gap
