College Completion Strategy Guide

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Strategies to Boost College Completion

What do we know about student success? These briefs synthesize research on prominent policies and programs designed to increase graduation rates.

July 2022 | Strategies to Boost College Completion

Dual Enrollment: Increasing College Access and Success Through Opportunities to Earn College Credits in High School

Tolani Britton

When high school students can enroll in college courses, they are more likely to enroll in and persist in college; however, access to such opportunities is distributed inequitably. This brief offers recommendations for increasing access to and equity in such courses for students of color and students from low-income backgrounds.
July 2022 | Strategies to Boost College Completion

Using Corequisite Remediation to Help Students Progress to College-Level Courses

Trey Miller, Paco Martorell

Postsecondary institutions across the country are adopting corequisite remediation—which enrolls students directly into college-level courses and provides them with aligned and concurrent support—as an alternative to stand-alone developmental (remedial) courses. This brief summarizes insights from the latest research.
July 2022 | Populations to Consider

Supporting Black Women’s Success in Postsecondary Education

Michael Steven Williams, Marjorie Dorimé-Williams

Although policymakers and institutions have increasingly disaggregated college completion data by race and gender to create targeted forms of support, the complex and intersecting challenges that Black women face in college often remain overlooked. This brief highlights opportunities to address the challenges Black women face in postsecondary education.
June 2022 | Strategies to Boost College Completion

Helping Students Meet Basic Needs to Support Their Success

Bryce McKibben, Atif Qarni

Many college students have difficulty meeting their basic needs for food, housing, childcare, and health care, which can interfere with their ability to concentrate on their studies, remain enrolled, and eventually graduate. This brief explores the interventions that can help students meet their basic needs and the emerging evidence behind these interventions.
June 2022 | Populations to Consider

Evidence-Based Practices to Improve Outcomes for “Posttraditional” Learners

Education Strategy Group

College students who enroll full time directly after high school are often considered “traditional.” But their experience is not the norm—a large proportion of undergraduate students are older than 24, work full time, or have children. This brief shares recommendations for helping these “posttraditional” learners succeed. 
June 2022 | Reform Costs & Implementation

Under Audit: Equity Audits in State Higher Education Finance

Sophia Laderman

State higher education funding is strongly linked with college completion. However, states often distribute funding inequitably, providing fewer resources to institutions that predominantly serve students of color and those with low incomes. This brief explores “state finance equity audits,” which states can use to assess and correct inequities in funding.
June 2022 | Reform Costs & Implementation

Creating Stronger Student Success Interventions Through Financial Forecasting

Austin Slaughter

Leaning on a robust body of evidence, this brief offers suggestions to policymakers, college administrators, and researchers for forecasting the financial impact of new interventions in postsecondary education, based on the interventions’ costs and their ability to keep more students enrolled, generate tuition revenue and state funding, and improve outcomes.
May 2022 | Strategies to Boost College Completion

Multiple Measures Assessment and Placement Promotes Community College Student Success

Federick Ngo, Dan Cullinan

Multiple measures assessment is a more reliable method than a single placement test to assess whether incoming students have the literacy and numeracy skills required for college-level courses. This brief summarizes the research on multiple measures assessment and offers recommendations for states interested in its implementation.
May 2022 | Strategies to Boost College Completion

Boosting College Completion Rates by Reforming Developmental Education

Susan Bickerstaff, Erika B. Lewy

A large proportion of students in public colleges are assigned to developmental education, which is intended to prepare them for college-level courses. However, research suggests that colleges’ typical developmental education policies may hinder students’ academic progress. Here are three recommendations for reforming developmental education based on a decade of research. 
May 2022 | Strategies to Boost College Completion

Career Pathways: A Strategy to Boost College Completion and Economic Mobility

Julie Strawn

Career pathways programs, which offer education and training in targeted industry sectors, have emerged as a strategy colleges can use to help people earn credentials and obtain jobs with family-sustaining wages. This brief offers recommendations drawn from rigorous research for how states and colleges can implement effective career pathways programs. 
April 2022 | Strategies to Boost College Completion

Comprehensive Approaches to Student Success: An Evidence-Based Approach to Increasing College Completion

Alexander Mayer, Kate Tromble

Research demonstrates that states and colleges can dramatically increase graduation rates, despite the considerable hurdles many students face. This brief shares recommendations based on one of the strongest bodies of evidence in higher education: research on multiyear programs that combine high-intensity advising, financial aid, and real-time data.
April 2022 | Populations to Consider

For the Tribal Nations: Practices and Policies to Increase Completion at Tribal Colleges and Universities

Jameson David Lopez

Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs) are well positioned to provide educational experiences aligned with Native American students’ goals. This brief highlights the important role TCUs play in Native American communities and offers policymakers recommendations for supporting TCUs in increasing college completion for Native American students.
April 2022 | Strategies to Boost College Completion

Advising as a Strategy for Achieving Equitable Student Outcomes

Alexa Wesley Chamberlain, Amelia Parnell

Holistic advising (which offers students personalized, seamless, and timely support) is critical for increasing college persistence. However, adopting holistic advising means committing to collaborative, data-informed, and student-centered decision-making—which requires resources. This brief offers recommendations for how states and colleges can make these targeted investments to serve students more effectively.

Supporters

We are grateful to the following organizations for their generous support of the College Completion Fund Project, which includes the work described here and additional work related to the College Completion Fund.

Arnold Ventures
Ascendium Education Group
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
ECMC Foundation
The Joyce Foundation
The Kresge Foundation
Lumina Foundation

Contact

Interested in learning more about the College Completion Strategy Guide or the College Completion Fund Project? Email us at [email protected].