Recommendations

Recognize the potential of comebackers of all ages to graduate

Comebackers have the drive and potential to complete their degrees at any age, particularly if they see clear connections between degrees and employment and are supported before they re-enroll and while they are in college. Data suggest that there is a peak of interest that leads to degree completion for comebackers in their 40s, and colleges and funders should recognize this group. The longstanding deficit narrative of stopping out as failure and wastefulness is counterproductive. Government agencies, elected officials, higher education and civic leaders, and employers already recognize the value of a degreed workforce, yet do not message this broadly and consistently. Especially now, when employment will be key to recovery from the COVID-19 economic fallout, adult learners will need to hear they are valued and see a clear path forward. Nonprofits, states, and colleges should create messages that speak to comebacker potential and use a growth mindset to urge comebackers to re-enroll in college and finish their degrees.

Target state and institutional outreach to potential completers

States and colleges should follow the examples of Mississippi, Indiana, Tennessee, and many other states that have created campaigns targeting potential completers to encourage them to return to college and finish their degrees. Individual colleges like Wayne State University, University of Akron and the University of Memphis also have programs targeted at reengaging adults who may have stopped out. These institutions are reaching out to students who have been stopped out for a number of years. As one student put it, “for me, the Office of Adult Focus at the University…are very supportive….Also, they have some scholarships specifically for adult learners there.” These campaigns include features like direct outreach to stop-outs, financial aid to return to college, and coaching. This type of support and encouragement make a big difference for returning adult students.

Eliminate punitive policies tied to student institutional debt

Reforms should include waiving financial holds and more institutional debt forgiveness. Institutional debt not only keeps students from completing their degrees the first time around, it prevents them from going back to finish. One comebacker told us: “Initially they said, ‘Oh, you would definitely qualify possibly to get a scholarship to help pay towards your education,’ but it wouldn't help pay for post-dated, back tuition. That was the biggest barrier.” Wayne State’s innovative Warrior Way Back program should serve as a model for other colleges. The program provides forgiveness of a balance up to $1,500 for students who have not attended class at the college for at least two years, as long as they remain at the university for at least three semesters, earning passing grades.

Waive application fees

It may seem like a small amount of money, but application fees can be a barrier for an adult living paycheck to paycheck. Any out of pocket expense can be a major setback to this population. Providing application fee waivers can be a relatively low-cost way to show students that you want them to return to the college. This practice was a hallmark of the Graduate! model when it was launched in Philadelphia and has been adopted across the Network.

Ensure adequate software and hardware

We heard mixed feelings from comebackers about online classes. Many appreciated the flexibility this modality gave them, but many also found it hard to be motivated in an online environment. However, with the advent of COVID-19, many more returning students will need to take classes online. This makes possible resource inequalities even more pressing. States, colleges, and the federal government should explore sustainable ways to provide laptops and stable internet access to comebackers who want to continue their education.

Move all applications and enrollment processes online

Making comebackers walk around campus to re-enroll is frustrating under normal circumstances and downright dangerous during a global pandemic, and can be a significant barrier for returning adult students. When the college puts up these types of barriers, it makes comebackers feel discouraged and unwanted. One returning student told us, “I would always call the registrar's office and they would always say, ‘well, that person's not in right now.’ I ended up getting so frustrated. I took a day off of work and…I talked to every person in that department.” Colleges should put all enrollment systems online and conduct user testing to ensure that the systems are usable and staff are being responsive to prospective students. Forcing this population to produce high school transcripts is also a significant burden. One student told us, “I actually had to physically go to the board of education and sign the paperwork….to get high school information from years back and it was a process.” Colleges should accept previous college transcripts in lieu of old high school records.

Be able to answer key questions

Available staff and, to the extent possible, websites should help students answer the following questions quickly and easily:

• How many credits have I earned?
• How long will it take me to graduate?
• How much will it cost me?
• What can I expect to get out of it?

This can seem deceptively simple. Unfortunately, it is all too rare. As one student described it, “that was pretty labor-intensive for me, pursuing recruiters in each of those schools, and finding out what it was they could offer me, submitting transcripts.” Another said, “I was confused…I created a checklist and just things that I needed to work on.” Some colleges do not even make it clear how much it will cost. A comebacker told us, “I just looked at all the different schools and all the different programs and all the different tuition and book fees….Some of the websites do have the things online, like tuition fees and costs. Some don’t. Just very time-consuming.” On top of basic information about progressing through their courses, many returning students would like to know what kind of labor market return they can generally expect. Colleges should consider accessing and clearly sharing labor market outcomes for their programs.

Design financial aid programs to support comebackers

Money is a huge stressor for adults trying to return to college. It is worth re-emphasizing that the lower down the socio-economic ladder adults were, the less likely they were to graduate and the more they needed their degree to create a stable life for themselves and their families. As one comebacker put it, “I was not making a lot of money to sustain my family…[it] literally feels like you're in the water and it's at your nose level. I'm making it, but how can I live an abundant life?” States and colleges can help alleviate this stress by providing grant funding for comebackers to supplement the federal Pell Grant. Programs like Tennessee Reconnect and the Arkansas Academic Challenge Scholarship provide scholarships to help address the cost of returning to college. Schools can also help. We have already brought up the University of Memphis and the University of Akron. Purdue University’s Span Plan also provides scholarships to non-traditional students. This can be particularly valuable for those swirling in the higher education system, using up their eligibility for other financial aid programs. As one comebacker put it, “I got to my last semester of my undergrad, [but] when I went back, I'm out of my Pell Grant and my subsidized and unsubsidized [loans].” Comebackers are also often unaware that they are eligible for financial aid but need to fill out the FAFSA, and, like younger students, they note that the FAFSA forms are challenging to complete.

Improve employer education benefits

More than half of comebackers we surveyed worked for employers who offered benefits (57 percent), but only a quarter used them. Given the importance of financial resources to these students, this lack of uptake tells us that these benefits must be flawed. Worse, comebackers’ access to employer education benefits is very much tied to the nature of their jobs. Lower-wage and younger workers had the least access, while the higher a comebacker’s income bracket the more likely he or she was to have access to employer benefits and have used them.

Employer education benefits are mostly paid as reimbursement to students. One comebacker said, “there were employer benefits towards education, but you had to pay up front and then you had to pass and then you will be reimbursed. You weren't always reimbursed the whole amount.” Employers should consider tuition policies through an equity lens and ensure that lower-paid employees, who would most benefit economically from completing their degree, take full advantage of the benefit.

Employers should also make their benefits clear and transparent. One comebacker said, “when I first looked into it, it was a little bit vague….It's a little bit of a process to where you have to gather up…transcripts. It's a little bit of work and I think that's what might discourage some people from doing it.” Another told us, “the job that I'm at now, it reimburses you as long as you get good grades….If I do good they'll reimburse me, but I have to work for them for three years after that…[or] I'll have to pay it back.”

Encourage faculty mentoring of comebackers

Colleges should consider setting up programs that encourage faculty to form mentoring relationships with returning adult students. With a small stipend for the professor and institutional support in matching the faculty member with the returning adult, colleges could reinforce what comebackers said was the biggest key to their success: supportive faculty relationships. This type of mentoring could be facilitated through department chairs, with the support of the non-traditional student office. We know this kind of awareness and relationship-building would produce results. Adult students bring a wealth and variety of life experience to the classroom, and faculty, informed by such a program, would be more likely to invite these perspectives and integrate them into class discussions. As one comebacker noted,

I think that having professors that ask us to include some of our experiences in our academic responses….They understand that we can read and synthesize the research we’ve done and probably regurgitate that into a paper, but that also we can apply that to some real work-based situation, or some real experience-based situation, and that is seen as valid synthesis of that information as well, and not just the traditional citing someone else’s document. I appreciate that. That again, adds to my own engagement and interest in the course, just to be able to, in real-time, interpret it as being relevant to my work.

Improve coaching and support through to graduation

One in 10 adults who connect with a Graduate! Network program is already enrolled in school who find themselves at risk of stopping out and are seeking guidance and support outside of their schools. Among the top reasons why enrolled students said they were at risk for stopping out was that they found themselves in an unsustainable financial position and needed additional assistance to stay enrolled. Other reasons currently enrolled students cited were concerns about their declared major, academic struggles, thoughts about transferring to another school, or uncertainty about their job prospects after graduation. One comebacker said, “just being in contact with the counselors over and over again…[was] constantly motivating,” particularly the “suggestions [for] how to approach time management.” Another pointed out that “they have a system…where you can actually choose a time if you need to speak to someone about registering for classes or if you have just a general question….That really helped me a lot.”

Maintain engagement with students who have stopped out

The best way to get students to a degree is to help keep them from dropping out in the first place, and improved guidance is key. But comebackers have periods of not being enrolled that do not indicate a complete stop. Colleges should maintain communication with students who are not currently enrolled to keep them engaged and looking to that school when they are ready to return.

Embed certificates into degree programs

Changing degree design can help people progress through their program and connect to the workforce more quickly, especially if they are changing career. The BYU-Pathway program is a good example; it has created a degree where students, instead of only earning a bachelor's degree at the end, earn three certificates and an associate degree along the way.

Be clear about which certificates accelerate degree completion

Not all non-degree credentials can be applied toward a degree, including those offered by colleges and universities. Two in five comebackers, including those who have not yet re-enrolled in a degree program, had earned, were working on, or were considering a non-degree credential. Comebackers tended to view non-degree credentials as an accessible and cost-effective way to boost their economic and career prospects, unlike degrees, which many said they were pursuing as a personal goal.

Thinking about credentials as a pathway to a degree requires students to research the value of each credential to the college that interests them. Comebackers expressed frustration around what they felt was the undervaluation of non-degree credentials by colleges. One said,

if you’re working in some kind of public service or civil service, the chances are those people have tons and tons of certifications and credentials that have never been converted into college credit. I think that it does a disservice to those people providing community work like that, that we cannot find a way to equate [sic] that training and those certifications into some sort of college credit….We’ve dedicated hundreds of hours to training and have gone through validation processes, and been credentialed, and certified, and marked qualified in a lot of areas that no university that I found was willing to accept on its own, without me jumping through a lot of other hoops.

Recent findings by Burning Glass Technologies shows value in stacking technical credentials on top of degrees as arbitrage for a better paying job, rather than using credentials to build toward a degree. Colleges should clearly note which credentials are stackable toward a degree and which do not translate into credit toward a degree.

Design degree completion programs for faster graduation

Many comebackers have an excess of college credit and lots of real-world experience but have not managed to meet the criteria for a degree from any previous college. One way to help them is to create a completion degree program with flexible requirements that allow them to fit their previous college and work experience into that structure and more quickly earn their degree. It can also help when degree completion programs provide accelerated courses to fill in the requirements students may not have met. For example, the Bachelor’s of Science in Organizational Leadership and Learning at the University of Louisville is designed to take into account the full range of experience that adults bring to the table through recognition of credit earned at other colleges and knowledge gained outside of the classroom. It also provides eight-week accelerated classes. This kind of design can be incredibly helpful for returning adults. One comebacker told us, “I feel like these eight-week evening classes are really designed for non-traditional students and that they are understanding of the fact that we do have careers in addition to the school that we're taking on.” More and more programs also allow students to move fluidly between in-class and remote participation. One student said, “you can come to class or you can work from home online….I like to see the professor, ask questions, talk to them. That's me, that's the way I'm used to learning.” This person appreciated the fact that “you don't necessarily have to be in class, or if you have a circumstance where you can't come to class.” Such programs are becoming more common across the country.

Award credit for learning outside the classroom

Adult students bring a wealth and variety of life experience to the classroom, and faculty do well when they invite these perspectives and integrate them into class discussions. As one comebacker noted,

I think that having professors that ask us to include some of our experiences in our academic responses—whether it’s a discussion post or a paper—they understand that we can read and synthesize the research we’ve done and probably regurgitate that into a paper, but that also we can apply that to some real work-based situation, or some real experience-based situation, and that is seen as valid synthesis of that information as well, and not just the traditional citing someone else’s document. I appreciate that. That again adds to my own engagement and interest in the course, just to be able to, in real-time, interpret it as being relevant to my work.

Recent research has shown that PLA increases completion and reduces time to degree for students. The comebackers we spoke to really appreciated having their learning recognized and some were frustrated with a lack of information about the opportunities for PLA. One comebacker noted that the schools are “really honoring that we are still working in a career field in some way; that's been good. I appreciate that a lot.”

Some comebackers pointed out the difficulty in accessing those opportunities. One said, “I kept trying to figure out, ‘I hear that you guys have tests for experience [so we can] test out of different classes’….I wasn't really given the options to test out. I had to ask for them. I had to push.” Another comebacker said, “I found during my researching process they would mention that they gave some credit for work experience and life experience. When I looked at what those processes actually were, they were very labor-intensive, very financially intensive. For those of us using G.I. Bill or something, we cannot use those benefits for that kind of equivalency.” This student found that the promise of PLA “really turned into, it was more of just a byline on the promotional materials and in practice; there wasn’t any really good way to do that.”

Building PLA systematically into more college programs and connecting students to them through degree design and good advising, is key to serving returning adults well.

Honor as many old credits as possible

Many colleges are stingy with the credit they offer for classes at other colleges, particularly if that attendance was years ago. Colleges should try to be more generous with their students. They should also be more transparent. One comebacker told us, “going back, I didn't know what was going to transfer from the community colleges…what would transfer over, and it was like pulling teeth to be able to get [that information]”. Another told us about the difficulty of being able to reach someone with an answer, like “counselors from local schools,” and “getting…some pushback as far as how outdated some of my credits were or what transferred over,” which “just had me discouraged about the whole process.”