Dear Colleagues –
As we step into 2025, I’ve been reflecting on some impactful milestones achieved by our partners this year. Seeing innovative and influential projects come to life is one of the most rewarding parts of my job, and I wanted to use this space to highlight a few examples of the remarkable strides made this year toward our shared goal of dramatically improving student outcomes.
- Lumen Learning
Advancements in the development of digital courseware continue to transform classrooms and drive equitable outcomes, working to meet students where they are in courses that often prematurely shut the door of opportunity for many in their pursuit of of a degree. Early research findings have confirmed that in courses using Lumen One, faculty are more likely to employ effective teaching practices, and both student and group participation is increased. And, with Arizona State University & Carnegie Mellon RealChem, students using courseware saw higher final exam scores in their Chemistry class – universally improving outcomes while closing equity gaps.
- National Scale Enterprises (NSEs)
An increasing number of postsecondary institutions are taking bold steps to close racial and economic gaps in student outcomes, including institutions with far-reaching national and even global influence. Our NSE portfolio supports higher ed practitioners in sharing learnings and strategizing about how to best meet the needs of their students. And this work invests in the efforts of five institutions - Arizona State University (ASU), Southern New Hampshire University (SNHU), and Western Governors University (WGU); and two emerging NSEs, University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) and Purdue Global. Enrollment at NSE institutions is growing faster for many of our focus student groups compared to overall student growth. For example, at WGU, enrollment increased by 38% year-over-year for Black students, 30% for Latino students, 10% for Indigenous students, and 20% for students overall. And they’ve also seen a steady climb in degrees awarded between 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 – with a 12.6% increase for Black students, 17% increase for Latino students, and 4% for students overall. Each of these institutions has a history of implementing innovative practices to better deliver for their students and we’re excited to see what the next few years holds.
- Dual Enrollment Equity Pathways (DEEP)
Our Education Pathways work has the potential to be a powerful catalyst for improving student outcomes to and through postsecondary education at scale. We’ve focused investments in this space on developing practitioner frameworks and analyses to help guide the field on implementing high-quality and accessible pathways. DEEP builds on proven strategies for successful dual enrollment partnerships, like The Dual Enrollment Playbook from the Community College Research Center and the Aspen Institute. It emphasizes applying guided pathways reforms and essential components of the early college high school model to scale individualized dual enrollment participation effectively. Findings show that across the country, around 70% of high school graduates head to college within the first year after high school. For students who participated in dual enrollment programs, that statistic jumps to 81%. And nationally, dual enrollment students are two percentage points more likely to complete a bachelor’s than non-dual enrollment students. Check out last months Pathways newsletter for more on how dual enrollment is accelerating students into college.
- Centering Value at Cal State University – Fullerton
Institutions like CSU Fullerton are committed to centering value in their work and are delivering strong economic mobility for their students (ranked by Washington Monthly as a “best bang for your buck college” in their 2024 rankings and by Third Way as a top 25 school in the nation on their Economic Mobility Index). CSU Fullerton is also in the top 5 nationwide for getting Latino students across the finish line. (I’ve had the opportunity to see their work firsthand multiple times throughout the last decade – including a visit in early November for a fun project. Stay tuned for more on that in 2025!)
These accomplishments reaffirm what is possible when we remain unwavering in our vision. By supporting the students who have historically been left behind, we build a stronger, more inclusive system that works for everyone. And our commitment to this work is resolute, because the stakes are too high to do anything less.
Thank you for your partnership and your leadership in 2024. Looking forward to continued collaboration in the name of student success in 2025.
Patrick Methvin,
Director, Postsecondary Success
Student Success US 2024
In October, Senior Program Officer for Postsecondary Success, Jamey Rorison moderated the keynote session at the Times Higher Ed annual Student Success US convening, hosted at UT Knoxville. The conversation, “Leading with the head and the heart: How institutions are increasing student success by becoming more value-centered and data-driven”, was an opportunity for the foundation to engage in a topic we care a lot about – equitable postsecondary value – and invited leading voices from the field to share how they’re tackling this work on their college campuses.
Dr. Valerie Kinloch, President of Johnson C. Smith University; Dr. Marcia Ballinger, President of Lorain County Community College; and Dr. Robert Vela, President of Texas A&M University-Kingsville talked about how their diverse institutions are taking a value-first approach to delivering better outcomes for students, how colleges and universities are reimagining the way they use data to improve value for their students, the value higher ed offers to its community, employers, and taxpayers, and much more.
What we’re reading
- The FAFSA is live, tested, and ‘already working’
From The Chronicle, the 2025-26 FAFSA is now open to all students! More than 167,000 students successfully completed a FAFSA during the beta testing period, which began on October 1st, and was put in place to combat some of the glitches from the 24-25 rollout. The Federal Student Aid office also increased their call center capacity by nearly 80 percent and has expanded its hours on nights and weekends to provide more support to students and their families throughout the application process.
- ‘Easy to just write us off’: Rural students’ choices shrink as colleges slash majors
Rural students already face limited access to higher education and limited choices in where they can choose to study. And now, many rural colleges are slashing academic programs, particularly in the humanities and sciences, due to declining enrollment and financial pressures. Check out this story from The Hechinger Report to learn more about funding challenges for rural-serving institutions.
What we’re listening to
- What Americans really think of higher ed
From the Changing Higher Ed podcast, our partners at New America analyze the findings from their 2024 Varying Degrees research and discuss the state of American public confidence in our nation’s colleges and universities.
- Bipartisan common ground on workforce training
A recent episode of The Key dives into a topic that has bipartisan consensus at the state and federal level: the importance of workforce development and training.
What we’re exploring
- Higher Ed Equity Network resource
As states and institutions of higher ed navigate today’s rapidly changing environment, the Higher Ed Equity Network (HEEN) developed a resource hub to offer insights and guidance for how schools can adapt policies and practices to best support their student populations and create environments where students can safely thrive in the pursuit of their educational goals.