Institutional Recommendations

Students and colleges faced many unprecedented challenges during the pandemic. Most colleges made a rapid pivot to deliver education online, many adopted different grading policies, and all had to implement safety policies and practices that changed frequently and quickly. Many colleges suffered enrollment losses and students struggled to keep up with their academics. Institutions' budgets were strained, and as discussed in prior sections, federal and state dollars became integral and continue to be important for colleges' survival.

Moving out of the crisis, institutions should keep several innovations they adopted during the pandemic and implement some changes to ensure higher education is safer, higher quality, and more accessible than before the pandemic. These recommendations are largely policies institutions can implement independently, or in tandem with state and federal dollars or initiatives. Because change at the institutional level can often happen faster than at the state or federal level, colleges are in a key position to ensure the new normal is more equitable than before the pandemic.

Carefully Consider OPM Contracts

To establish an online presence, many colleges are looking for support from outside companies that specialize in the business. At the same time, with more schools considering online education as a way to diversify their enrollment and revenue pools, the pandemic may lead to more distance education in the long term. In looking to the future, many colleges appear to be considering online program management companies (OPMs). Online program managers are third-party companies—contractors to the institution—that agree to develop and maintain online programming. These OPMs have seen increased interest from colleges. But colleges considering an OPM partnership need to be careful.

While some OPMs may deliver a platform that works for students and faculty, others promise the moon and deliver only shoddy quality offered by sketchy providers. This has even led to the collapse of some colleges. Colleges should consider three broad aspects of an OPM contract before signing: (1) the institution's capacity to take on such a contract, (2) the terms of the contract, and (3) the quality of the contract. Colleges can use New America’s 2020 guide, Considering An Online Program Management (OPM) Contract: A Guide for Colleges, when entering into contracts with OPM companies to help them analyze their own contracts or guide their consideration of an OPM partnership to ensure both the institution and students are protected.¹

Keep Online Student Supports

Many colleges shifted their advising, career, and support services online during the pandemic. Academic counselors, mental health counselors, career coaches, and other student support professionals no longer met with students in person, which allowed for much wider access to services and more flexibility for students. As we found from the many interviews we have conducted over the course of this project, students could schedule appointments that fit their schedules much more easily than when these services were only in person.

Institutions should capitalize on this innovation and ensure that online support service options remain available after the pandemic. Doing so is especially important considering the greater proportion of students with caregiving or work responsibilities in higher education as a result of the pandemic. Instead of struggling to schedule an in-person appointment in a busy work, school, and personal schedule, students can get the help they need much more easily if these supports have an online option available.

Invest in and Expand Mental Health Services

Even before the pandemic, mental health was a serious issue for students. But the pandemic resulted in increased mental and emotional distress. The isolation and challenges students and staff faced within and outside of higher education often negatively affected their performance and well-being. Across various student surveys and focus groups, students cited the urgent need for mental health services.²

Colleges can use some of their new federal funds to guide students toward community-based mental health resources or, preferably, by hiring mental health counselors and social workers. These counselors should also be trained to work with diverse student populations. Investing in the well-being of students should be viewed as part of the effort to get more students to graduation.

Ensure Students, Faculty, and Staff have Access to Free and Readily Available COVID-19 Testing and PPE, According to CDC Guidance

As colleges and universities make plans to return to in-person learning and activities, they must ensure that students, faculty, and staff have access to the tools necessary to make the return as safe as possible. Institutions invested significant amounts of money into making classrooms and other communal spaces safe during the pandemic, including improving ventilation as much as possible. But the return to pre-pandemic levels of in-person learning require additional steps to make the college community safe.

Institutions should ensure that students, faculty, and staff have access to COVID-19 testing that is easy to receive and free or affordable. Institutions should consider prevalence testing—testing members of the campus community who may be asymptomatic to understand the spread of COVID-19 on campus—if recommended by local, state, or federal public health authorities. In addition, institutions should provide high-quality PPE such as KN95 or N95 masks to those on campus who are unvaccinated or at increased risk of contracting COVID-19. It is also important to provide guidance for how faculty and staff can maintain and promote good ventilation in classrooms, offices, and meeting spaces.

Ease Access to COVID-19 Vaccination, Promote Vaccine Confidence, and Make Vaccination a Requirement for those Living on Campus

Institutions must make access to COVID-19 vaccines easy. Presently, all adult Americans are eligible to receive one of various COVID-19 vaccines authorized for emergency use. But many students and communities are hesitant to get vaccinated and/or have yet to receive their vaccine, which poses a potential threat to public health and institutional well-being in the fall and winter.

Colleges and universities should participate in efforts to increase confidence in vaccines and in local vaccination efforts. Colleges can lower barriers to access for students, faculty, and staff by making vaccines available on or near campus. Institutions must also help improve vaccine confidence by acknowledging and helping to combat the structural racism of health systems. Campuses must ensure hard-to-reach campus populations have easy and free access to vaccines and information about their safety. At a minimum, COVID-19 vaccines should be listed as one of the required vaccinations for living in a residence hall. Institutions should explore whether they can require vaccination of their students, faculty, and staff, either under emergency use authorization or once regular authorization is received.

Plan for Epidemics, Pandemics, and Other Emergencies in the Future

Epidemics, pandemics, and other emergencies such as natural disasters will happen in the future. In the past, emergencies (hurricanes, fires, incidents of violence, etc.) have pushed institutions to adjust their normal operations in the interest of students, faculty, and staff safety. Despite some emergency preparedness plans, higher education, like the rest of the country and world, was caught by surprise by the COVID-19 emergency and had to make decisions on the fly.

Institutions must have public health plans and protocols in place when the spread of illness threatens the health of campus and local communities or when they face other emergencies. These plans should include when to pivot on-campus operations online, what PPE to require, and which public health decisions to implement in consultation with recommendations of local health authorities. In addition, campuses must create a playbook that protects students who will face housing and food insecurity as a result of emergency campus closure.

Create an Institution-wide Communications Strategy so Information is Consistent, Helpful, and Timely

Staying on top of policy changes and health regulations, and communicating these to students, faculty, and staff, was a major challenge for institutions during the pandemic. Grading policies, the gradual return to in-person classes, payment deadlines, and other rules changed frequently and were not always communicated clearly. Students often felt confused about what guidance to follow and frustrated with their colleges.

Institutions can and should create institution-wide communication strategies so that important information is communicated as effectively and equitably as possible. These strategies can help in the case of emergencies, as well as to disseminate important policies that can help students succeed, such as transfer requirements or how to access important resources.³ These communication strategies can include the implementation of new or updated technology, a diverse communications team, and research into how students receive messages.

Use Behavioral Economics Concepts to Craft Messages that will get Students to Take Action

When colleges did communicate changes and requested students take action, these messages were not always crafted in a way that helped students do so. Students often received messages that implied they needed to take action but left them wondering how to do so. When colleges announced changes to an enrollment deposit or admissions acceptance date, for example, these messages may have left students wondering how to make their payment or accept their admissions offer in an ever-changing environment.

Creating messages based on behavioral economics concepts helps students act upon the information they are provided with, especially when guidance changes frequently.⁴ Messages can include links to help students complete a task, outline steps for completing a task later, or be sent to students at a strategic time. Implementing behavioral concepts can help students follow through, both in an emergency and during normal times, something that will be particularly important once students return to college in person or after having taken time off from school.

Ready a Contingency Plan and Teach-out Agreement in the Event of Closure

Many institutions are facing steep revenue losses due to the pandemic, but some were already experiencing budget deficits or other financial struggles. A precipitous college closure can leave students in the lurch, trying to figure out their plans with little, if any, guidance. In worst-case scenarios, students could be left with loan debt and no degree if their college suddenly closes.

Any institution, but especially an institution at risk of permanent closure, must take the necessary steps to have a contingency plan for a wind-down, including creating teach-out agreements with other colleges, not just teach out plans.⁵ Most accreditors require a teach out plan from an institution, a written document outlining what steps the college would take if it were to close. But a teach out plan is just that—a plan. Instead, a teach out agreement is a signed document between two colleges agreeing to collaborate, adopt student credits, and more in the case that one college closes.

Institutions can be proactive in protecting students in the case of closure by creating a signed teach out agreement with a partner institution. This takes a teach out plan from being a hypothetical idea to a signed contract, with action steps in collaboration with another institution. Additionally, it is critical that colleges communicate these plans and agreements to students in a timely enough manner so they are not left in the dark and they are able to plan for their continued education at another institution. Having a signed teach out agreement with another college is important in ensuring the institution is prepared for the worst case scenario and will not leave its students in the lurch.

Audit Transfer Policies

When it comes to implementing effective and efficient institutional policies, knowledge really is power: the more an institution knows about what makes it successful and what holds it back, the better it can improve its own internal processes. One way to do this is by collecting and analyzing information about existing programs or policies. A transfer audit can assist an institution in creating policies that make its transfer process more equitable for students and therefore more attractive to potential transfers. Colleges should consider what policies hold transfer students back, and which are no longer applicable.

For example, colleges should embark on a transfer audit with their institutional research offices to determine how many credits transfer students lose or have in excess. To conduct the audit, they must collect data on how many credits transfer students graduate with to understand if they leave with more credits than students who started at the institution. If transfer students are graduating with a surplus of credits, it could mean that the institution is doing them a disservice in terms of their money and their time. Schools should examine their general education requirements for transfer students and their transcript evaluation process to see if those areas can be improved to honor what transfer students have already completed. This audit can also determine the schools students tend to transfer from. Four-year colleges should work to build partnerships with these feeder schools, creating equivalency databases, degree pathways, and articulation agreements. These tools and policies will aid in creating a seamless transfer process. Once transfer students settle on campus, colleges should make sure they are supported so that they are retained. Surveying transfer students can reveal weak points in the transfer, orientation, and welcoming process.

Create a Smooth Transfer Process

Transferring institutions is a complicated process, as it is often not easy for students to navigate the multiple steps they must go through. Often, students end up losing valuable credits, a waste of time and money.⁶ Colleges need to address these hurdles if they want to improve their transfer policies to attract student transfers. Fortunately, there are several proven policies that can make transfer smoother and more equitable for students: guaranteed transfer credit acceptance, credit articulation transparency, and reverse transfer policies.

Many transfer students follow the path from a two-year to a four-year school. Higher education institutions and systems should consider enacting policies that guarantee transfer students will receive the credit for any of the courses taken for their general education core or their associate degree if they have completed one. Public institutions should agree to accept core lower-division general education credits from other publics within the same state and accept transfer students who enter with an associate degree within the state as having completed their new school’s general education requirements. These policies honor the work students have already done and sets them on the path to a timely graduation.

Getting credits into the new institution is only half the battle. Transfer students also have to ensure those credits count toward program completion. Institutions should provide transparency in this area so that students know what to expect when they do transfer. One way schools and systems can do this is by identifying equivalent courses across institutions and labeling them with the same course number. Common-course numbering is usually done for lower-division courses like English 101, which means that transfer students understand that any 101 course they take at one college will be the same at another. Similar to common-course numbering, course equivalency databases can map out similar courses at other institutions. Showing program alignment can help prevent students from losing some of their hard-earned credits when transferring.

Students sometimes transfer from a two-year college to a four-year college without completing their associate degree. Four-year programs, and university systems, can help students earn credit—and degrees—where they are due through a process called reverse transfer. Reverse transfer means that students are awarded their associate degree from their former school once they have completed the requirements for it at the four-year institution.

Provide Prior Learning Assessment Opportunities

As the face of the typical college student—and thus the transfer student—changes, institutions must be flexible. Nontraditional students often juggle additional responsibilities, balancing child care with work responsibilities. Some of them may already have some college credit. Others may be unsure where to even begin after time away from the classroom. One way institutions can address this is with prior learning assessment (PLA) opportunities, which award credit for college-level learning that happened outside the classroom.

However, many students are unaware of PLA and take-up rates for these opportunities are low.⁷ As Americans return to school to reskill or upskill because of the economic uncertainty set off by the pandemic, PLA can help make program completion cheaper and faster and it can attract students to return to college.⁸ Institutions need to be better at communicating PLA opportunities to students and help them see through the process by offering advising and support. Professors and teachers can be pivotal to this process, so faculty buy-in of PLA is essential. Institutions should also track and analyze PLA data to know what is effective and what areas need improvement. System leaders should work to ensure that proactive PLA communication and implementation plans are fully supported at all of the member institutions.

Accept Pass/Fail Transfer Credits

The online learning implemented in spring 2020 continued through to the fall semester, as some institutions remained virtual and many others offered hybrid learning modes. Partly because of the unexpected shift to online, and because of the additional stressors brought by pandemic learning, many institutions adopted pass/fail grading policies. Regardless of whether or not students chose their grading mode or it was implemented by their institution without their input, students who apply to transfer institutions or to graduate school should not be punished for having pass/fail credits on their transcripts. Those credits should be viewed as academically sound and not prohibit students’ admission or ability to receive institutional aid.

Include a Representative from the International Student Office in Decision-making

To maintain their legal status in the U.S, international students are required to enroll full time in an institution approved by the Student Exchange and Visitor Program (SEVP), a division of the U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that manages international students and the schools that enrolled them. These students must finish their programs within a certain time limit, and they cannot take more than one class, or three credits, per semester, online.⁹ Any changes to study programs can put international students at risk of losing their legal status.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, most colleges transitioned their entire programs of study online, putting international students at risk of losing their legal status in the U.S. It is critical for colleges and universities to include at least one international student officer who is knowledgeable about immigrant issues on the task force that deals with emergencies to make sure issues that concern international students are thoroughly discussed. Consulting with these officers will make colleges and universities better prepared to support international students during emergencies.

Support International Students during Disruption and be Clear about how Support will be Provided

For international students living on campus, their dorms are their only residence in the U.S. In the event of campus closure due to emergencies, colleges and universities should make arrangements so that students who cannot go home will be able to stay on campus. If students decide to go home, colleges should provide support such as transportation to the airports or storage for their belongings.¹⁰

Financial support to help international students cover extra living expenses that might be incurred in an emergency cannot be overlooked. In response to COVID-19, Congress allocated some of the CARES Act for colleges and universities to provide emergency financial relief to students. However, the Department of Education under Secretary Betsy DeVos limited the funding to only federal student aid recipients, effectively excluding international and undocumented students.¹¹ Faced with this limitation, many colleges found creative ways to support these students through fundraising, reaching out to alumni, and tapping into private sources such as the Institute of International Education Fund’s Emergency Student Fund.¹²

Such creative ways to help international students are encouraging; at the same time, students need to be informed about what support is available and how they can receive it. Colleges should be transparent about information such as what criteria make them eligible for support, when they will expect to know if they receive the support, or how long the support will last.¹³

Inform International Students Promptly of Changes to their Legal Status

Any changes to academic programs can affect students’ legal status in the U.S. Therefore, it is imperative colleges promptly inform and provide guidance to help students maintain their status in such cases.

The Trump administration caused a stir last summer when it decided to bar international students from continuing classes and remaining in the U.S. if their colleges remained online in fall 2020.¹⁴ While the directive was short-lived, it created enormous anxiety among international students still trying to navigate the raging pandemic.¹⁵ Colleges and universities publicly, and quickly, opposed this directive, and communicated to international students the colleges’ next steps. There were, however, two paths that colleges took: those that adopted new policies that let international students take some classes on campus to guarantee their legal status, and those that maintained their decision to stay online.¹⁶ Promptly informing students of the changes is helpful; at the same time, institutions should pursue policy solutions that would minimize the impact of campus shutdowns on students’ status.