Economic and workforce development tops policy priorities for state higher education leaders in 2024

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In a survey distributed in November 2023, the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) asked state higher education leaders to identify their top policy issues going into 2024. States face a multitude of higher education policy issues each year, with some topics consistently among the top priorities for policymakers while others represent emerging public policy concerns driven by the current higher education landscape. SHEEO’s report details the top 10 state policy priorities for 2024 according to state higher education leaders. The report also includes additional honorary mentions—topics consistently making headlines and generating important conversations among the higher education community. 

Economic and workforce development ranked as the number one priority for the second year in a row among higher education leaders. Last year, economic and workforce development tied with K-12 teacher workforce as number one. This year, K-12 teacher workforce fell to number nine. Governors and legislators throughout the country are looking to the state’s higher education system to train and educate the future workforce. SHEEOs have worked closely with their state business communities to develop educational opportunities and financial aid programs linked to in-demand jobs in their states.

Ranking number two for 2024 policy priorities is state operating support for public colleges and universities, rising from number four. The budgetary news in many states remains positive heading into 2024 legislative sessions, with continued surpluses and robust reserve funds. The sustainability of these surpluses, however, remains an open question. Diminishing federal relief funds, combined with sharp state tax cuts and growing needs for investments across state governments will put pressure on many state budgets in the year ahead. While state operating support for public colleges and universities has increased in most states over the past two decades, state operating support decreased in more than half of all states from fiscal years 2020-2022, when adjusted for inflation.

Rounding out the top five priorities are (3) higher education’s value proposition, (4) college affordability, and (5) state funding for financial aid programs. All top five issues ranked within the top 10 in 2023. Other issues in the top 10 include (6) public perception of higher education, (7) college completion/student success, (8) enrollment declines, (9) K-12 teacher workforce, and (10) adult/nontraditional student success. Tied for eleventh are FAFSA completion and institutional accountability/effectiveness in higher education. Both issues were new to this year’s report due to current events and headlines. 

“While this isn’t an exhaustive list of issues states are facing, it is telling for policy priorities for the year ahead,” said Tom Harnisch, SHEEO’s vice president for government relations. “Politically, we anticipate higher education will continue to face questions over relevance and value, along with more bills and messaging on hot button issues heading into the 2024 election cycle.”

The full State Priorities for Higher Education in 2024 report can be found online at https://sheeo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/Policy-Issue-Survey.2024.pdf. 

ABOUT SHEEO: The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) serves the chief executives of statewide governing, policy, and coordinating boards of postsecondary education and their staffs. Founded in 1954, SHEEO is celebrating its 70th anniversary in 2024. SHEEO promotes an environment that values higher education and its role in ensuring the equitable education of all Americans, regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic factors. Together with its members, SHEEO aims to achieve this vision by equipping state higher education executive officers and their staffs with the tools to effectively advance the value of higher education, promoting public policies and academic practices that enable all Americans to achieve success in the 21st century, and serving as an advocate for state higher education leadership.

New SHEEO report explores higher education executive officers’ views on college affordability and the role of a state-federal financing partnership

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A new report from the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) examines the views state higher education executives have on the federal government’s role in college affordability and policy proposals to make college tuition free. 

Growing concerns over student debt have led to a series of sweeping policy proposals from the higher education community over the last decade to align state and federal higher education financing policy. The existing framework, one in which states primarily subsidize institutions and the federal government primarily supports students, is increasingly seen as inadequate for making college affordable.

This new report includes results from interviews of state higher education executive officers (SHEEOs) and a survey of SHEEO membership. In their responses, SHEEOs expressed their concerns over college affordability but had a range of views on factors driving increased tuition prices, including inflation, labor costs, and declines in state subsidies.

SHEEOs welcomed greater coordination with the federal government through incentives and investments in state-driven college affordability plans, but federal tuition-free proposals received a mixed response. SHEEOs remain concerned about the sustainability of tuition-free programs and believe more targeted approaches, such as supporting need-based financial aid, could better withstand longer-term budgetary and political challenges. SHEEOs were also wary of burdensome federal mandates and would like flexibility in a partnership amid the wide variation in state political and economic contexts.

SHEEOs were generally in favor of some form of state-federal partnership to address college affordability. Seventy-four percent of surveyed participants wished to see greater coordination between the states and the federal government to make college more affordable.

“SHEEOs had differing thoughts on how a state-federal partnership should look,” said Tom Harnisch, SHEEO vice president for government affairs. “There was some consensus among participants that the ‘devil is in the details’ when it comes to states being incentivized to participate.”

Overall, SHEEOs’ perspectives shared concern for college affordability, the desire for a state-federal partnership that allows flexibility, and a preference for targeted tuition-free college policies over those open to all students.

Read the full report and learn more at https://sheeo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/state-federal_partnership.pdf. 

West Virginia’s Sarah Tucker named SHEEO Executive Committee Chair

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West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission Chancellor Dr. Sarah Armstrong Tucker has been named the chair of the State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO) Executive Committee.

Dr. Tucker is Chancellor of the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission (HEPC) and Chancellor of the Community and Technical College System (CTCS). She is the first person to simultaneously hold these two roles – and the first woman to serve as CTCS Chancellor. 

Tucker previously served the SHEEO Executive Committee as treasurer during 2021-22, and chair-elect during 2022-23.

“It’s with great pleasure we announce Dr. Sarah Tucker as the executive committee chair,” said Dr. Robert Anderson, president of SHEEO. “Dr. Tucker has been a great thought-partner and colleague to SHEEO throughout her tenure in West Virginia. Her depth and breadth of experience will continue to serve our community well, and we are thrilled to work with her and our entire Executive Committee in service of our students.”

SHEEO, the national association of the chief executives of statewide governing boards and coordinating boards for postsecondary education, works to assist its members and states in developing and sustaining excellent systems of higher education. The Executive Committee is responsible for shaping SHEEO’s federal priorities and strategies and for leading its communications with Congress, the U.S. Department of Education, and other federal agencies. 

“I am honored to serve as the new executive committee chair of the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association,” said Dr. Sarah Armstrong Tucker, West Virginia’s Chancellor of Higher Education. “There are remarkable achievements happening across the country that are paving the way for more people to continue their education and succeed throughout their lives. By bringing state higher education leaders together around policies and strategy, SHEEO creates even more of these opportunities. At a time when education and training are more important than ever, I am looking forward to serving in this role to help advance higher education on a national stage and bring even more new ideas to West Virginia.”

Dr. Tucker became Interim Chancellor of HEPC in April 2019 and Chancellor in June 2020. Under her leadership, West Virginia adopted its first-ever statewide dual enrollment program, launching as a pilot in 2023 to provide free college courses for high school students across the state. Under her leadership as CTCS Chancellor since 2015, West Virginia has made enormous strides in taking community and technical education to the next level. A hallmark of her championship on behalf of West Virginia’s students was the State Legislature’s passage of a free community college bill in March 2019. As a result of her hard work and state leaders’ forward-looking investment, the WV Invests program now provides students with last-dollar-in grants that cover the full costs of tuition and fees at the state’s nine community and technical colleges.

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The full SHEEO Executive Committee is as follows:

Officers:

Chair: Sarah Tucker, West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission

Past Chair: Ben Cannon, Oregon Higher Education Coordinating Commission

Chair Elect: Clayton T. Christian, Montana University System

Treasurer: Ginger Ostro, Illinois Board of Higher Education

Members:

Brian Bridges, New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education

Allison Garrett, Oklahoma State System of Higher Education

Shannon Gilkey, Rhode Island Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner

Harrison Keller, Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board

Chris Lowery, Indiana Commission for Higher Education

Dennis Olson, Minnesota Office of Higher Education

Noe Ortega, Massachusetts Department of Higher Education

Aaron Thompson, Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education

SHEEO and CUNY|ASAP kickoff inaugural learning community with NYC convening

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New York – Teams from five states came together this week with members of the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) and The City University of New York’s (CUNY) Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) | Accelerate, Complete, and Engage (ACE) National Replication Collaborative for the launch of a new college completion learning community. 

In early September, SHEEO and CUNY kicked off the new learning community, including five $50,000 state planning grants for Colorado, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, and Washington, to help states replicate a proven model for student success. The learning community will guide states in creating action plans to close equity gaps and increase college completion rates at their state’s community colleges. 

The convening, held Nov. 2-3, in Manhattan and on the campus of Borough of Manhattan Community College, provided an opportunity for peer networking and collective engagement in initial technical assistance activities to support strategic planning for state-scaled ASAP replication projects.

A fireside chat discussion held Thursday evening set the tone for the convening and the conversations to follow. CUNY Chancellor Dr. Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, The State University of New York (SUNY) Chancellor Dr. John B. King Jr., and Secretary of Higher Education Dr. Brian Bridges with the New Jersey Office of the Secretary of Higher Education, joined moderator Dr. John Lane, SHEEO vice president for academic affairs and equity initiatives, to discuss ASAP replication as an equity imperative. 

“CUNY’s successful Accelerated Study in Associate Programs has been replicated by 14 institutions across seven states, a testament to the program’s ability to help students on a nationwide scale boost graduation rates and ultimately increase more students’ economic mobility,” said CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez. “CUNY is pleased to work with the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association and other partners to replicate ASAP across five additional states and beyond, an effort that can be key to addressing the country’s persistent equity gaps in degree attainment rates.”

U.S. Department of Education Under Secretary James Kvaal gave a keynote address in support of completion and student success models like CUNY. Other sessions of the two-day convening focused on coalition building and making the return on investment case, aligning ASAP replication to state higher education priorities, planning for equity-based, state-scaled replication projects, and sustainable budgeting and productive funding models.

“State higher education leaders continue to identify completion as essential to statewide attainment goals, and CUNY ASAP’s strategies to improve completion, particularly among minoritized populations, will contribute to state planning to scale and sustain solutions,” said Dr. John Lane, SHEEO vice president for academic affairs and equity initiatives. “SHEEO is pleased to partner with the Accelerated Study in Associates Program and the states in the ASAP replication learning community to promote policies and practice that support student achievement through improved attainment.” 

The ASAP|ACE model was established by the CUNY system in 2007 and was designed to break down barriers to degree completion, particularly for CUNY’s low-income students. The model’s holistic, comprehensive suite of financial, academic, and personal services has served more than 88,000 CUNY students. The approach has been shown to more than double graduation rates for ASAP students over comparison groups in nearly every evaluation completed on the program. 

The SHEEO and CUNY College Completion Learning Community will continue to meet virtually through 2024 to establish a plan for next steps in initiating systems-scaled ASAP replication projects.For additional information, visit the SHEEO project website at
https://sheeo.org/project/asapcommunity/. To learn more about the CUNY|ASAP National Replication Collaborative, visit www.cuny.edu/asapreplication

SHEEO Communities of Practice: Exploring Multi-State and Multi-Sector Data Projects Call for State Teams

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UPDATE: Deadline extended! States interested in participating should submit a letter of interest by November 27, 2023.

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) is pleased to announce the next installment of its Communities of Practice project. This multifaceted project promotes the effective use of state postsecondary data systems and provides a forum for states to work on solutions to common issues with those systems. This work is funded through a grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).

SHEEO will hold the next in an ongoing series of Communities of Practice convenings on February 7-8, 2024, in Alexandria, VA. The Communities of Practice convenings are a valuable opportunity for states to connect with their peers and reflect in-depth on the capacities, uses, and barriers to their data systems. This two-day meeting will provide an opportunity for state data practitioners, researchers, and policy analysts across P20W sectors to explore the opportunities and challenges associated with engaging in multi-state and multi-sector data projects. The convening will also launch an ongoing network for participants to share best practices and shared experiences and to workshop strategies and solutions with their counterparts in other states.

The Community of Practice will explore:

  • The value, opportunities, and challenges of sharing and using cross-state and cross-sector data.
  • Ways to build better connections between education and workforce data and to support improvedindividual and economic outcomes within and beyond state borders.
  • The necessary technical, legal, and personnel conditions to foster successful multi-state and multi-system data projects and outcomes.
  • Examples of current multi-state and multi-sector data projects focused on employment outcomes,prison to education pathways, veterans’ pathways, credentials of value, and other cross-state andcross-sector priorities.
  • How to cultivate relationships and communicate shared vision and success across states andsectors.

Participants will include teams from up to 15 states, SHEEO staff, BMGF staff, and subject-matter experts. State teams should be comprised of three to four members from K-12, postsecondary, or workforce sectors, with representation from at least two of these sectors, who are responsible for data systems, research, or policy analysis. The BMGF will defray all travel costs related to attending the convening.

States interested in participating should submit a letter of interest by November 20, 2023. Learn more about this Communities of Practice and how to submit a letter of interest here.

New SHEEO brief details national and state impacts of FAFSA Simplification

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The changes mandated by the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) Simplification Act, passed in December 2020, represent a significant overhaul of the federal financial aid process. Through a grant-funded partnership between the State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) and the National Association of State Student Grant & Aid Programs (NASSGAP), SHEEO used national- and state-level data to explore and assess how FAFSA simplification will affect specific states, sectors, and subpopulations of students, both in regard to Pell Grant eligibility/awards and state grant eligibility/awards, as well as the unintended consequences of the FAFSA Simplification Act. 

The FAFSA Simplification Act includes several positive factors that will expand access to federal financial aid. However, some changes to the federal methodology may shift a student’s eligibility in ways that are not yet known. At the state level, need-based financial aid programs are often directly connected to the federal financial aid process because they rely on data elements from the FAFSA and model their eligibility requirements on Pell eligibility.

SHEEO explored the changes in the Student Aid Index (SAI), the new formula for determining aid, and how it compares to the previous Expected Family Contribution (EFC) formula. Crosstabulations were conducted for dependent students and independent students.

The results of this research suggest that at the national level, nearly 220,000 net students would gain Pell eligibility in 2023-24, equivalent to a net increase of over $617 million in Pell Grants. Coupled with the changes in Pell Grant awards for previously eligible students, total Pell Grant awards would be expected to increase by approximately $7.85 billion in 2023-24.

While most students will see expanded eligibility and award levels, some uncertainties remain. Students with more than one family member in college may experience increases in SAI relative to EFC, and corresponding decreases in Pell eligibility and award amounts. These students make up some of the approximately 56,600 students that are anticipated to lose Pell eligibility.

Simplification may also pose challenges for state grant programs. The results of this research at the national level suggest that many students will have lower expected out-of-pocket costs for postsecondary education as indicated by the lower SAI values relative to EFC. Pell Grants may fill a large portion of this additional need, but many students will have unmet financial need that can be fulfilled through state grants or federal loans. 

Read the full FAFSA Simplification brief online at https://sheeo.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/ImpactsofFAFSASimplification.pdf. 

Sean Baser joins SHEEO as senior policy analyst

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The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) welcomed Sean Baser this week as a new senior policy analyst. In his new role, Baser will provide support on a variety of projects and initiatives, including efforts to improve noncredit postsecondary education opportunities and state authorization, as well as the development and analysis of SHEEO’s membership report and Strong Foundations survey of postsecondary data systems.

Prior to joining SHEEO, Baser served as a graduate research assistant and research associate with the Board of Regents of the University System of Georgia. In this role, he provided quantitative and qualitative expertise by collecting and reporting data, conducting advanced statistical analysis, synthesizing academic literature and policy trends, and developing visualizations and dashboards to improve decision-making on a wide range of higher education topics (namely, strategic enrollment management).

Baser’s research interests lie at the nexus of education politics, policy, and governance. His recent work has focused on state authorization, interest groups, dual enrollment, community college governance, state-level changes to tenure policies, and the role of political nonprofits and “dark money” in education.

Baser earned an associate degree in business administration from Tulsa Community College in 2014, dual bachelor’s degrees in political science and management information systems from Oklahoma State University in 2015, and a master’s in education in higher education from the University of Houston in 2016. He is currently a Ph.D. student in the Louise McBee Institute of Higher Education at the University of Georgia.

Learn more about our team at sheeo.org/about/sheeo-staff/.

About SHEEO

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) serves the executives of statewide governing, policy, and coordinating boards of postsecondary education and their staffs. Founded in 1954, SHEEO promotes an environment that values higher education and its role in ensuring the equitable education of all Americans, regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic factors. Together with its members, SHEEO aims to achieve this vision by equipping state higher education executive officers and their staffs with the tools to effectively advance the value of higher education, promoting public policies and academic practices that enable all Americans to achieve success in the 21st century, and serving as an advocate for state higher education leadership. For more information, visit sheeo.org. 

SHEEO partners with The JED Foundation to launch inaugural Student Mental Health and Wellness Learning Community

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Five states receive grants to focus on whole-student support

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) has kicked off a new learning community to help members develop a statewide plan to support student mental health and wellness. Five states will be awarded $25,000 planning grants to design and implement mental health strategies and solutions that fit the unique context of their respective states.

With generous support from Lumina Foundation, SHEEO and The JED Foundation (JED) will partner with higher education leaders in Arizona, Louisiana, Oregon, Pennsylvania, and Texas on a 15-month project as they work through the development and implementation of policy recommendations to bolster institutions’ capabilities to promote and support student mental health and wellness effectively. Each state will receive planning grants as well as consultative strategic planning and technical assistance to create a sustainable model within each state’s distinctive environment.

The JED Campus Program is an effective and results-driven approach to improving student emotional and mental health while also lowering suicide risk and substance misuse. JED Campus Program, alongside the JED Equitable Implementation Framework, will be used as an anchoring guide for technical assistance to the SHEEO membership and state policymakers. The comprehensive strategic planning framework will enable participating states to build and strengthen their systems and policies and to collaborate with their institutions on programs and practices to promote emotional health and prevent suicide. 

“Students are facing unique challenges that often contribute to additional academic hardships,” said Rob Anderson, SHEEO president. “We are thrilled to partner with The JED Foundation in forming a new learning community to help our members develop strategies for whole student support.”

The SHEEO-JED Student Mental Health and Wellness Learning Community will provide a forum for states to reflect on what’s working, refine their strategies, and identify areas for cross-state collaboration. It will also help engage new policymakers and stakeholders in efforts to advance student mental health and wellness with special attention to underserved student groups that experience disparities in access to mental health care.

“This learning community will offer the essential support and expert guidance that states need to elevate the significance of student mental health and wellness. The JED Foundation is excited about the opportunity to collaborate with SHEEO in assisting these states with their vital and time-sensitive mental health initiatives,” said Zainab Okolo, senior vice president of policy, advocacy and government relations at The Jed Foundation.

The tools developed by JED use an equitable implementation lens that ensures the needs of marginalized and/or underserved students due to societal and structural inequities are considered and supported with targeted and intentional best practices. Lack of access to good quality mental health care is a significant barrier to educational achievement as it adversely impacts enrollment, re-enrollment, progress, and completion. A primary goal of the learning community will be to mitigate mental health inequities and promote a just design that recognizes historic discrimination and alleviates systemic bias. Specifically, the communities will identify strategies that effectively support students of color and students from low-income circumstances who face systemic inequities and experience pronounced disparities in mental health care access. 

For additional information, visit the project website at sheeo.org/project/student-mental-health/. 

About SHEEO 

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) serves the executives of statewide governing, policy, and coordinating boards of postsecondary education and their staffs. Founded in 1954, SHEEO promotes an environment that values higher education and its role in ensuring the equitable education of all Americans, regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic factors. Together with its members, SHEEO aims to achieve this vision by equipping state higher education executive officers and their staffs with the tools to effectively advance the value of higher education, promoting public policies and academic practices that enable all Americans to achieve success in the 21st century, and serving as an advocate for state higher education leadership. For more information, visit sheeo.org. 

About JED 

The JED Foundation (JED) is a nonprofit that protects emotional health and prevents suicide for our nation’s teens and young adults. JED’s evidence-based, comprehensive public health approach equips teens and young adults with the skills and knowledge to help themselves and each other, strengthens schools’ mental health and suicide prevention policies, programs and systems, and mobilizes community awareness, understanding, and action. JED is building a future where every high school, college, and community has a comprehensive, fair, and just system that protects emotional health and prevents suicide among teens and young adults. For more information, visit jedfoundation.org. 

SHEEO partners with City University of New York’s ASAP|ACE National Replication Collaborative to launch inaugural College Completion Coalition Learning Community 

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Five states receive grants to join new learning community

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) has kicked off a new learning community, including five $50,000 state grants, to help states replicate a proven model for student success. 

SHEEO and the City University of New York’s (CUNY) Accelerated Study in Associate Programs (ASAP) | Accelerate, Complete, and Engage (ACE) National Replication Collaborative are excited to announce their partnership to form a new learning community that supports replication of the CUNY ASAP|ACE model to increase community college completion rates at scale. With generous support from private funding, SHEEO and CUNY ASAP|ACE will partner with higher ed leaders in Colorado, New Jersey, North Carolina, Michigan, and Washington as they create action plans to close equity gaps and increase college completion rates at their state’s community colleges. Each state system will receive planning grants as well as consultative strategic planning and technical assistance to create a sustainable model within each state’s unique context as they explore scaled replication for future replication program launches. 

The ASAP|ACE model was established by the CUNY system in 2007 and was designed to break down barriers to degree completion, particularly for CUNY’s low-income students. The model’s holistic, comprehensive suite of financial, academic, and personal services has served more than 88,000 CUNY students. 

The approach has been shown to more than double graduation rates for ASAP students over comparison groups in nearly every evaluation completed on the program. A cost-benefit study conducted by the Center for Benefit-Cost Studies in Education (CBCSE) at Teachers College, Columbia University, found the program cost effective and that it realized a high return to taxpayers. Additionally, a recent analysis conducted by MDRC of the ASAP replications at three Ohio community colleges demonstrated increased earnings of program students by 11%, adding to the evidence base that the model has significant long-term impacts on participating students.  

“The replication collaborative supports our belief that scaling proven student success models across states is possible,” said Rob Anderson, president of SHEEO. “The CUNY ASAP model has already been replicated in several states, and we hope to give our members a chance to join this exciting effort.”

“CUNY has demonstrated that implementing the ASAP model at scale can meaningfully boost system-wide completion rates and produce notable efficiencies,” said Christine Brongniart, university executive director of CUNY ASAP|ACE. “We look forward to sharing what we’ve learned about scaled program implementation with other leaders who are committed to addressing equity gaps and transforming their state system’s completion culture.”

Much has been learned over the last several years about the most effective approaches to increasing attainment and their integral connection to state priorities. The College Completion Coalition Learning Community will provide a forum for states to reflect on what’s working, refine their strategies, and identify areas for cross-state collaboration. It will also help engage new policymakers and stakeholders in efforts to increase college completion and become more familiar with state college completion goals. A key objective of this project is to work with states to address racial equity gaps in attainment rates (with a focus on Black and Latinx students) through strategic scaling of the ASAP model. 

For additional information, visit the project website at https://sheeo.org/project/asapcommunity/. To learn more about the CUNY|ASAP National Replication Collaborative, visit www.cuny.edu/asapreplication.

About SHEEO

The State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) serves the executives of statewide governing, policy, and coordinating boards of postsecondary education and their staffs. Founded in 1954, SHEEO promotes an environment that values higher education and its role in ensuring the equitable education of all Americans, regardless of race/ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic factors. Together with its members, SHEEO aims to achieve this vision by equipping state higher education executive officers and their staffs with the tools to effectively advance the value of higher education, promoting public policies and academic practices that enable all Americans to achieve success in the 21st century, and serving as an advocate for state higher education leadership. For more information, visit sheeo.org. 

About CUNY

The City University of New York is the nation’s largest urban public university, a transformative engine of social mobility that is a critical component of the lifeblood of New York City. Founded in 1847 as the nation’s first free public institution of higher education, CUNY today has seven community colleges, 11 senior colleges and seven graduate or professional institutions spread across New York City’s five boroughs, serving 275,000 students and awarding 55,000 degrees each year.

Study finds state protection policies need improvement to reduce student harms associated with college closures

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A new State Higher Education Executive Officers Association (SHEEO) report shows that the association between student protection authorization policies and enrollment and completions after college closure is not overwhelmingly positive. 

A Dream Derailed? Investigating the Causal Effects of Student Protection Authorization Policies on Student Outcomes after College Closure is the third and final report from a collaborative research team of SHEEO and the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. The research seeks to quantify the impacts of college closures on students’ subsequent postsecondary enrollment and completion outcomes and to identify the policy levers states may have to support students who experience a closure. This final report incorporates the state authorization policy context to determine if policy interventions can improve the negative impacts of closures on students. It uses the treatment and control samples developed for the second report and adds a longitudinal dataset capturing state authorization policies related to student protections.

As outlined in the first report, A Dream Derailed? Investigating the Impacts of College Closures on Student Outcomes, more than 100,000 students experienced their institution closing without adequate notice or a teach-out plan from July 2004 to June 2020. As outlined in the second report, A Dream Derailed? Investigating the Causal Effects of College Closure on Student Outcomes, the data show college closures have an overwhelmingly negative impact on students, with students 71.3% less likely to reenroll within one month and 50.1% less likely to earn a credential than students who did not experience a closure. This third report focuses on the post-closure student protection policies that aim to reduce the harms associated with closure: collection of tuition recovery funds, payment of surety bonds, preservation and dissemination of student records, and creation of teach-out plans. As part of consumer protection, many states have enacted a mix of these policies.

Collectively, these four policies can provide students with tuition refunds, completion or transfer opportunities, and access to transcripts, all of which can assist students in recovering from an institutional closure. Among the four policies examined, student records policies tied to closure were the most common form of student protection across all states that had any institutional closures between 2004 and 2020. During this time frame, the largest percentage of states had no tuition recovery policy (79.3%), no surety bond policy (43.9%), no teach-out plan policy (47.3%), or a student records policy tied to closure (45.5%). Additional findings include:

  • Tuition recovery and surety bond policies have no positive correlation with reenrollment within four months after closure.
  • Student records and teach-out plan policies have a strong positive correlation with reenrollment that lessens over time. 
  • Tuition recovery and surety bond polices have no consistent positive effects on credential completion, type of credential completed, or time to completion for students who experienced a closure. 
  • Student records and teach-out plan policies may have some positive effects on the type of credential completed and time to completion, but results are mixed. 
  • The most encouraging results indicate that students are more likely to immediately reenroll in states that have records retention and teach-out policies in place. Both policies are designed to ease the transfer process for students after a closure, and results suggest the presence of both policies is more effective than just one.

“These findings reinforce how disruptive institutional closures are for students and suggest that states should consider stronger consumer protection policies and procedures,” said SHEEO President Rob Anderson. 

As currently designed, surety bond and tuition recovery fund policies do not allow students to receive a refund and utilize a teach-out option. This policy design requires students to make a difficult decision between reenrolling at a teach-out institution or receiving a refund. In this regard, the student protection policies counteract each other (e.g., students can only pursue tuition reimbursement if a teach-out opportunity is not pursued).

Surety bond and tuition recovery fund policies are designed to reimburse students for harm caused by closing institutions and are not designed to help students reenroll let alone advance toward the completion of a credential. Similarly, records retention policies help ensure students have access to transcripts and other records that will help aid the transfer process to another institution. Once students have transferred and their previously earned credits have been accepted, records retention policies do little to promote completion.

State agencies of higher education and institutions can play a key role in helping to minimize the negative impacts on students due to college closures. Several policy implications were outlined in the report, including that states should provide greater oversight of teach-out institutions to ensure that they are financially viable, offer quality educational opportunities, and provide program alignment to prevent students from having to retake courses. While the results that show that the presence of a student records retention and teach-out policies led to a greater likelihood of reenrolling within four months, the other results suggest that the consumer protection policies could be improved to better promote reenrollment within one year to improve the likelihood of completion.

For additional data resources and to access all three reports and an interactive data visualization, visit the project website at  https://sheeo.org/project/college-closures/. 

This series of three publications examining the impacts of college closure on student outcomes is supported by Arnold Ventures.