What Every College and University That Cares About the Success of Students from Low-Income Backgrounds Should Be Doing*
(in no particular order)
Based on what we have learned from working with Yes We Must Coalition members for 10 years, this list highlights the areas in which we feel comfortable helping individual institutions to increase equity for low-income students. There will undoubtedly be occasions when we need to bring in one or more of our members to demonstrate to others how they are meeting these challenges.
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- Offering faculty and staff development about the intersection of poverty, privilege, and education
- Ensuring education for all campus community members (including students) of the importance of state and federal policy issues for equity in education, including advocacy with policy makers and others as part of campus responsibility
- Providing credit for prior learning as a robust, academically-grounded and visible option
- Deploying at least one campus-wide strategy to address the high cost of course texts/materials
- Using methods to hear what low-income students have to say that go beyond surveys and course evaluations to using focus groups and interviews
- Offering online course and program options and access to the hardware and connectivity needed to enroll and succeed in them
- Providing faculty development and support for teaching online
- Employing systematic collection and disaggregation of data on student progress to understand barriers to completion
- Examining institutional origins and impacts of sticker-price tuition and ways to reset pricing for access and equity
- Evaluating the kinds and amounts of financial holds and ways to reduce them
- Reviewing financial aid distribution policies and practices with need as the single most pertinent criterion
- Implementing well-trained intrusive advising teams using clear academic pathways, early warnings and connections to campus and community services (mental and physical health services/childcare) with dedicated advisors for adult students
- Making available emergency financial intervention funds and support for basic needs for housing, food and transportation
- Developing relationships with local high and middle schools (and other community organizations) to provide services to promote college-going culture for all
*This list was composed from what we have learned from Yes We Must Coalition members who are private, non-profit colleges and universities committed to critically examining higher education to identify and remove barriers for students from low-income backgrounds.