Strategies Used by Community Colleges and Third-Party Vendors

Community colleges use various strategies to re-engage, re-enroll, and support adult stop-outs. Similarly, third-party vendors employ different models in partnership with individual colleges, college systems, and state agencies to help bring adults back to school. We document several of these strategies and interventions found in the gray literature. In addition to institutional examples from the literature, we include examples gathered through interviews with college administrators and experts in this field.

We found that community colleges seeking to re-enroll adult learners use multi-channel outreach to reconnect with stop-outs, often partnering with organizations like InsideTrack,¹ ReUp,² and CollegeAPP.³ These organizations focus on supporting colleges and universities to reach and re-engage American adults who started college but never completed their degree. Colleges have also introduced academic supports such as personalized advising, flexible scheduling, and accelerated programs to help adult learners return and persist. In addition, many offer targeted financial incentives, scholarships, emergency aid, flexible payment plans, and debt forgiveness to reduce barriers and encourage re-enrollment.

While these strategies are well-documented in the literature and were mentioned in our interviews with college administrators, evidence of their overall effectiveness remains limited. Few evaluations of adult student re-enrollment strategies have been conducted. According to Justin Ortagus, a professor at the University of Texas at Austin, adult re-enrollment programs are expensive to implement and costly to evaluate at scale in rigorous ways. Where possible, we include studies from publicly available sources that assess the effectiveness of adult re-enrollment interventions.

A key theme from our landscape analysis is that colleges have had to shift their culture and institutional policies to effectively re-enroll adult learners. Terah Crews, CEO of ReUp, noted, “The majority of policies at institutions were written with an 18-year-old in mind, even at community colleges, which tend to be more adult-oriented. We have to acknowledge that colleges are balancing the need to focus on traditional students with how to best attract and serve adult students, often without additional resources.” Colleges increasingly recognize that they need to take a holistic look at how their policies and processes hinder adult students from re-enrolling and persisting. Some institutions created task forces to reduce barriers for adult learners, while others designated staff members to examine policy changes and foster a campus-wide culture that supports adult learners.

Community colleges focused on re-enrolling adult learners are taking proactive steps to connect with potential students. The college administrators we interviewed use a variety of communication methods—mail, phone calls, text messages, emails, and postcards—to reach prospects, especially those who have previously stopped out. Research shows that adults respond best to personalized, trust-building communication that acknowledges their reasons for leaving school and provides clear steps to return, though skepticism about scams can make building rapport slow.⁴ Some colleges partner with reputable organizations like InsideTrack and ReUp for individualized outreach. Institutions with limited budgets often prioritize “near-completers,” using data to target students most likely to re-enroll, such as those with more credits or recent attendance. Randomized trials indicate that value-based text messages and tailored coaching can modestly boost re-enrollment.⁵

Stop-outs in a 2024 California study reported receiving little to no communication from their college after leaving. Some recalled only a generic email about re-enrolling, which offered minimal guidance for their circumstances. Many believed that more personalized messages could have shortened their time away and supported quicker completion.⁶ These students expressed a strong preference for individualized contact, which is communication that seeks to understand why they stopped out, explains the steps to return, and connects them to relevant resources.⁷ They also emphasized that the most effective outreach reflects their life situations and highlights tools to help balance academics, work, and family responsibilities.⁸

Prospective adult learners respond to outreach that focuses on how programs offered at the colleges are directly connected to available jobs. For example, Pitt Community College (PCC) in North Carolina collaborated with employers and local economic development agencies to host a “Better Skills, Better Jobs” fair in 2021.⁹ More than 400 prospective adult learners attended. The event focused on the types of jobs that students could access after completing career and technical education (CTE) programs. Given the event’s success, PCC hosted a similar event in 2022, which reached an additional 447 adults. The event also served as an advising opportunity, allowing students to speak one-on-one with college staff about credentials and degree requirements needed for jobs. PCC demonstrates how messaging campaigns about the financial benefits of CTE programs can increase engagement with potential adult learners.¹⁰

Third-party organizations such as InsideTrack often find it easier to engage potential re-enrollees. In fall 2022, Wake Technical Community College in North Carolina partnered with InsideTrack, a nonprofit organization that supports colleges in boosting adult student enrollment. The collaboration reached about 10,000 adults to introduce them to Wake Tech’s programs. Of those who applied to the college due to the outreach, roughly 60 percent ultimately enrolled. Wake Tech’s president noted that running a similar enrollment campaign independently would have been significantly more costly for the college.¹¹ Several college staff members told us that limited data and staff capacity often make it impractical to conduct large-scale outreach independently, so partnering with third-party vendors with more resources, technology, and data capacity is a sensible approach.

According to InsideTrack, while it is easier to reach out to potential students by phone or text, they have become increasingly wary of scams and spam. Colleges, vendors, and other organizations trying to engage adult learners know that some recipients perceive their messages as fraudulent, particularly those regarding “free college” programs, which can sound too good to be true. According to InsideTrack, building a genuine relationship with stopped-out students and personalizing outreach and coaching is the most effective way to overcome this skepticism. This process can take time, sometimes years.

It is not always feasible for community colleges to reach out to every stopped-out adult student. For instance, Harford Community College in Maryland faced a limited outreach budget and grant funding that required it to focus on near-completers. It excluded students with financial holds and prioritized those with 45 or more credits, creating a more manageable list of about 500 former students to contact. InsideTrack advises colleges to apply similar re-enrollment screening criteria, drawing on available institutional data, to identify the most promising stop-outs. To support this process, it developed a checklist of re-enrollment screens that any community college can use.¹²

ReUp, an organization that partners with colleges and state systems to re-engage adult learners, also uses data to prioritize stop-outs for outreach. In an 18-month partnership with the City University of New York (CUNY), it implemented an automated system to rank stop-outs for proactive coaching: Those with higher scores received outreach sooner, while those with lower scores were contacted later. While ReUp prioritized initial outreach based on the volume of the stop-out lists, all learners received outreach and had equal access to ReUp’s services and coaching. This prioritization allowed staff to assist more students overall.¹³ Eligible stop-out students were identified through a combination of data methodologies and then received targeted outreach and support from ReUp. Analysis showed that students who had stopped out more recently, completed more units, and had mid-range GPAs were more likely to re-enroll. Students who ultimately returned also had higher response rates to emails and text messages and were more likely to schedule meetings with coaches. ReUp tested multiple communication methods and found that automated emails and texts sent by coaches generated the most engagement.¹⁴

In a randomized controlled trial, a sample of students in California received emails and text messages informing them that they could opt in to an opportunity to connect with a coach for help re-enrolling in college. These students had previously received California state grants but had not completed a college credential. About 8,000 students opted in to the study. Students assigned to treatment were offered the opportunity to work with an InsideTrack coach. Students who opted in but were assigned to the control group received information about the steps required for college re-entry, including websites they could visit, but were not offered a coaching opportunity. About half of the students assigned to the treatment group actually connected with their coach. The study found no evidence that treatment assignment increased college enrollment in the following fall semester. However, coaching began in March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Thus, the effect of coaching on college reentry in an unprecedented pandemic may be very different than effects under different conditions.¹⁵

In another randomized study at Delaware Technical Community College, a sample of over 3,000 pre-allied health students who were enrolled in fall 2019 and/or spring 2020 received text messages encouraging them to re-enroll. Some students were stop-outs and others were current students who received the text messages encouraging them to continue enrolling without disruption. Half the students were randomly assigned to receive texts that prompted recipients to consider why they wanted to pursue an allied health career, what they had already gained from college classes, and what drove their career goals. Overall, there was a significant, positive 3-percentage point impact on fall 2020 enrollment for text recipients. However, the impact on fall 2020 enrollment for stopped-out students (who were enrolled in fall 2019 but not spring 2020) was 13 percentage points.¹⁶ The intervention was particularly effective for students who had already stopped out, in other words, whereas current students saw a smaller benefit.

Colleges use a mix of personalized advising, flexible scheduling, and accelerated programs to help adult learners re-enroll and succeed. Dedicated advisors guide returning students through every step, from financial aid to course selection, offering consistent one-on-one support. Moreover, flexibility is key: Many institutions offer online classes, evening and weekend options, hybrid courses, and shorter, eight-week terms. These strategies give adult students multiple entry points, more manageable schedules, and tailored guidance, making it easier to balance education with work and family responsibilities.

A 2023 report from InsideTrack advises institutions that prioritize supporting adult learners to provide dedicated advisors to guide students through financial aid, course selection, and registration, since “the goal is not to get through a queue of students as fast as possible, but to ensure every student gets access to the information they need through the conversation.”¹⁷ Returning students have pointed to one-on-one advising, especially with the same staff member, as being helpful for their academic and career choices.¹⁸

We spoke with several college administrators who offer dedicated advisors for adult learners. At Harford Community College, the most experienced advisors are assigned to support adult students. They are involved in every stage of the student’s academic journey, from re-enrollment to completion, and they aim to resolve issues directly rather than referring students to other departments. Funding from NC Reconnect, the state’s adult re-enrollment initiative, has enabled Haywood Community College to provide stipends to some academic coaches who focus exclusively on adult learners.¹⁹ These dedicated coaches ensure that students receive clear, thorough answers to their questions, rather than being passed from office to office. They help returning adult students with academic and non-academic challenges, such as financial aid, tutoring, and access to other resources.

Colleges have also implemented flexible scheduling and accelerated programs to better support adult students. A California study of adult learners who had previously stopped out, re-enrolled, and were either close to graduation or had completed their degrees found that being entirely online was a key factor in their ability to return and finish.²⁰ These students also cited the benefits of eight-week terms, also known as accelerated schedules, which offered more frequent entry points and greater flexibility than traditional 16-week semesters.²¹

Research shows that accelerated programs at community colleges are linked to higher average grades and lower withdrawal rates, particularly among minority, adult, and lower-income students.²² In addition to online classes and accelerated programs, some colleges have experimented with evening, weekend, and hybrid courses to offer more options for adult learners. At Haywood Community College, for example, flexibility extends beyond course formats. The college held an orientation for adult learners at 5 p.m., which was its most attended session. It also offers advising times outside of regular operating hours during the registration period, giving adult learners more opportunities to meet advisors around their work and family commitments.

Community colleges are using financial incentives to remove barriers and motivate adult learners to return, offering scholarships, emergency aid, flexible payment plans, and even the discharge of small debts. A Florida study found that pairing re-enrollment texts with a tuition waiver increased adult re-enrollment by nearly 30 percent.²³

The cost of attending college often prohibits adult stop-outs who face financial and time pressures from returning.²⁴ Some stop-outs have outstanding debts to their former colleges, such as unpaid course fees, parking tickets, or library fines, which hinder re-enrollment. Many states, including Ohio and Tennessee, have implemented re-enrollment programs that offer financial aid and/or institutional debt cancellation for adults seeking to return to school.

Institutions have also introduced scholarships for adult learners, emergency financial aid, and flexible payment plans, and offered to pay off small balances to encourage re-enrollment. For example, Haywood Community College used funding from NC Reconnect to settle minor debts like bookstore charges and other common fines. The program director said that paying off small balances was one of the easiest to implement and most effective strategies for reducing barriers to re-enrollment. Similarly, Harford College used grant funding from its state, Maryland, to cover textbook costs and provide scholarships to incentivize adult students to return.

Colleges in states without statewide adult re-enrollment programs are also prioritizing financial incentives. At York Technical College in South Carolina, the Reconnect program offers scholarships covering a full program that must be completed within 15 months. Former students who haven’t attended in the past two semesters and haven’t completed a credential are eligible to apply, unless they have financial holds or are in default on student loans. Results suggest the program contributed to a more than 20 percent increase in enrollment and a 15 percent rise in applications, including those for re-enrollment. Students in the Reconnect program performed at or above the general student population, with 78 percent persisting from fall to spring.²⁵

Pueblo Community College in Colorado launched a “Return to Earn Program,” providing returning students with a one-time $2,000 scholarship and individualized enrollment support. Participants must have earned at least 25 percent of the credits required for graduation and have no financial holds. The scholarship can be used for current or past balances, but it is awarded only after successful completion of the first returning term.²⁶ Since its launch in 2016, 450 students have graduated through the program, with 90 percent passing their first semester back with a “C” average or better.²⁷

Our Bringing Adults Back playbook featured Mt. Hood Community College’s efforts to incentivize students to re-enroll. Mt. Hood reduced the outstanding balances that students owed to the college, allowing it to lift registration holds. The college invested $107,000 in this effort, aimed at 685 students. Of this number, 285 re-enrolled for the following term. This increase in enrollment resulted in a nearly $400,000 return on investment, and it helped increase Mt. Hood’s 2022 fall enrollment for the first time in five years.²⁸

A randomized controlled trial involving 27,028 stop-outs from five large Florida community colleges explored the impact of re-engagement strategies. Eligible students had a GPA of at least 2.0, a minimum of 30 accumulated credits, and no enrollment holds. The control group received no messages. One treatment group received text messages with re-enrollment information and a link to a site addressing financial aid and enrollment questions. A second group received the same information plus a tuition waiver for their first course upon re-enrollment. Among former students aged 25 and older, the second treatment (text and tuition waiver) resulted in a 29.8 percent increase in re-enrollment. Information texts alone did not significantly affect re-enrollment for this group.²⁹