Colleges and universities positively impact individuals, communities, and society—and through Discover the Next, higher education institutions have united with a common voice to tell that story of the value. A joint project of CASE, the American Council on Education, and the Association of Governing Boards, the campaign is funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

To date, more than 100 educational institutions have signed on as participants, making a direct effort to share stories about the ways in which their institutions have a positive impact in the areas of personal achievement, economic advancement, scientific innovation, and community connection.

Here, meet five Discover the Next participating institutions and, through their impact stories, see how they’re tackling issues of access and affordability. All have found that a holistic approach to providing student support services results in higher rates of retention, graduation, and student success.

 

Coppin State University

Wraparound services lead to success

Nekia Randall graduated from high school in May 1998, and 25 years later in May 2023, she earned her bachelor’s degree in behavioral science from Coppin State University, a historically Black university in Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.

Her cheering section at the graduation ceremony included friends and family, and most importantly, her 14-year-old son. She says they were all part of the village supporting her throughout her quest for a college degree.

That village also included her academic advisor and a host of other Coppin staff who surrounded her with support through a model of “wrap-around” student services. The goal of bringing student services together in a holistic manner is “100% retention and graduation,” says James Stewart, Associate Vice President for Student Development and Achievement.

At Coppin, student services teams from areas such as academic advising, tutoring, and career services work together to see and address the needs of the “whole” student.

“Perhaps a student needs coaching to speak with a professor. We provide that intervention before a struggle becomes a failing grade," says Stewart. "And we might help set them up with tutoring or mentoring. But always the end goal is empowering them to leave Coppin as problem solvers, and at the same time ensuring an engaged, joyful student experience.”

Randall says her academic advisor “believed in me more than I believed in myself sometimes,” which helped to get her across the finish line. She’d tried several times to attain a college degree and came to Coppin with the equivalent of several semesters of college credit. But juggling courses, full-time work, and single-parenting was tough.

“My advisor understood my situation as a nontraditional student and helped me with a plan to graduate in two years,” she says. “It wasn’t easy. There were days I picked my son up after school, took him to football practice, and grabbed dinner on the way to campus, where he did his homework while I had a class.”

In the 2022-2023 academic year, Coppin opened the Eagle Achievement Center, a new physical space that brought many students services under one roof, including Academic Advising, First Year Experience, Career Development Services, Military Services, international students programming, mentoring programs, writing and math labs, and the Summer Academic Success Academy. Randall used the EAC as her home base, checking in with her advisor or attending tutoring or career services all in home visit.

During her last year at Coppin, Randall lost her father, and that loss, with the pressure of being her family's  breadwinner and raising her son, became almost too much. But in the EAC she found “a place where my situation and struggles were recognized, where I knew I was more than a number or a grade. It was that extra layer of support to not give up.”

 “When the journey gets a little rough, as it does for us all sometimes, the EAC and our staff are here for them. We are the team designed and dedicated to their success,” says Stewart.

Stewart explains that the coordinated support starts with career placement, mapping what each student needs to accomplish each year.

“A lot of our students are first-generation or low-income, and they might not have the social capital to navigate choosing courses or getting involved on campus. We see those red flags proactively. And we’re here for high-achieving students as well … [keeping] an eye on them to make sure they are connecting with internships.”

Randall says her graduation day was one of the best days of her life.

“It was a feeling of achievement and celebration. I met the college president and the governor [Wes Moore]—the first Black governor of Maryland! I set an example for my son and made my family proud,” she says.

Advancement at Work: With a grant for $2 million from Truist Bank—the largest corporate commitment in Coppin’s history—Coppin established the Truist Hub for Black Economic Mobility within the Eagle Achievement Center.

“This partnership with Truist will advance students’ and community members’ abilities to receive support in navigating career pathways, professional development, and upskilling initiatives,” said Joshua E. Humbert, Vice President for Institutional Advancement.

 

University of Texas at Arlington

Easing the transition for military students

James Kumm joined the U.S. Army right out of high school. In his hometown in rural Colorado, college wasn’t presented as an option for most students.

“You went to work on the pipeline or joined the military,” he says.

Today, Kumm is the executive director of the Office of Military and Veterans Services—known as MAVS—at the University of Texas at Arlington, U.S. The Army veteran recently received his doctorate in educational leadership.

“I could never have imagined I would have an advanced degree, let alone a four-year degree,” says Kumm, who entered college when he left the Army by using federal education benefits for military veterans.

Since taking the position at UTA in 2017, he’s found his purpose in helping other veterans make the transition to college. At the time, the university had 17 offices and programs for military-connected students spread out across campus. Kumm centralized those services under the MAVS umbrella with one location where students get help with benefits, career services, peer mentoring, tutoring, and other support services from a staff of veterans, and also join military and veterans student groups. UTA has nearly 5,000 military-connected (active-duty, veteran, National Guard, and reserve, and their families) students or 11% of the total student population. Since 2020, Military Times has consistently rated UTA as one of the nation’s top four-year institutions for veterans and their families.

As Kumm explains it, “Everything we do is aimed at helping to ease the transition to higher education, to graduate, and to find meaningful careers. For our veterans especially, we are helping them chart a course into civilian life. When you are in the military, your identity is all about being a service member. When you leave the service, you have to figure out who you are, and how to translate those military skills in a new way.”

Kumm says that starts with a focus on belonging.

“We encourage them to engage with the campus community, and we connect them with resources, whether that be for mental health support or taking advantage of their education benefits,” he says.

Not surprisingly, Kumm finds it particularly rewarding when he can help a veteran maximize federal benefits to attain an advanced degree.

Advancement at Work: In 2022, Bank of America committed a $25,000 gift to UTA’s Veteran’s Edge, a MAVS program that provides peer support to approximately 800 incoming military-connected students each year.

“Peer support helps take away that feeling of isolation,” says Kumm. “It hits differently when you hear from someone who has been in your shoes who says, ‘Let’s meet for a cup of coffee.’”

Cal Poly Pomona

A summer start to college yields dividends

California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, accepts a diverse pool of students from varying incomes and backgrounds. First-year students at Cal Poly Pomona must take a three- to four-unit general education math course in their first year. Incoming students, who will need additional support to take on those courses are invited into the Bronco Scholars summer program, named for the school’s mascot.

“We want our students to be successful in college, and starting out as a struggling student is no way to do that,” says Terri Gomez, Associate Provost for Student Success, Equity, and Innovation.

When she helped develop the program in 2018, she knew she wanted it to have a name that celebrated the opportunity, rather than one that made it feel punitive.

“We’ve set this program up as a privilege, an incredible opportunity to pave the way for student success,” she says.

The program is free to students and includes tuition, books, and optional room and board. The scholars enroll in a for-credit algebra or statistics course, participate in transitional workshops to learn about campus resources, have access to peer math tutors and success coaches, and are provided learning tools such as calculators. Students in the six-week residential program also take an additional GE course, Introduction to Ethnic Studies. 

With funding from a Developing Hispanic-Serving Institutions Title V grant from the U.S. Department of Education and private donor funding, the program also provides training for faculty who teach the GE math courses, which allows for uniformity in curriculum across all sections of the courses.

“Entry-level math courses are typically taught by adjunct faculty and they are thrilled for the additional support that allows them to better respond to the dynamic in their classrooms,” says Gomez.

Bronco Scholars have a 90% pass rate in the math course and 95 % to 97% pass rate for the additional course on ethnic studies.

“Imagine what this does to the student’s confidence level,” says Gomez. “They get a head start in their credits, they know how to navigate the campus, and they have a support network ready go when the fall semester starts.”

This past summer, 154 accepted high school students participated, with 142 fully residential. Gomez calls the Bronco Scholars program the highlight of her career.

“I’m a professor of ethnic and women’s studies. To think I would find such joy in my career centered on math success still amazes me,” she says. “We’ve set these students up for success in college, which results in success in life and in their communities and for their families. This is the best of what we do in higher education.”

Advancement at Work: Cal Poly Pomona’s Kellogg Legacy Project Endowment is a multimillion-dollar philanthropic investment in the future of its students. The gift is aimed at strengthening student success programs, improving faculty teaching and scholarly innovation, expanding community relations, and supporting the university’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion.

 

Edmonds College

Seeing the whole student

Edmonds College in Lynnwood, Washington, U.S., established the Men of Color Scholars Program in 2021. In June 2023, the program was a finalist for Takeoff: Institutional Innovations for College Men of Color, a project led by the University of Southern California Race and Equity Center to support U.S. community college initiatives that support men of color. As one of 15 finalists out of 152 applications, Edmonds received a $75,000 grant to support and expand its program.

“We feature peer mentoring, and we bring in successful men of color as role models,” says Eduardo Torres, Assistant Director for the Center for Student Engagement and Leadership. “And we are fostering a sense of belonging by bringing students with like experiences together.”

While the goal of the program ultimately is graduation, retention is the priority.

“Men tend to be focused on their jobs, providing for their families,” explains Torres. “Many of our students are living paycheck to paycheck and focus on being the breadwinner of their families, rather than focusing on their degree and dreams. We help them see a different perspective, one with their chosen endgame to a different life, and we provide support to get them there while they continue to work.”

The Men of Color program is one piece of a holistic approach to student services at Edmonds. The Triton Resources Hub is a “one-stop shop” where students have access to a food pantry, community advocates, mentoring and tutoring, and emergency funding. 

“It’s the responsibility of the college to see the whole person,” says Yvonne Terrell-Powell, Vice President for Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging. “Ensuring our students succeed means looking at nonacademic barriers that are stopping them from reaching their goals. So we engage with them. We ask questions … and work with them to address their needs. And that supports a student’s sense of belonging and feeling valued and respected—which goes a long way toward academic success.”

Part of Edmonds’s holistic approach to student success involves a no-silos philosophy that includes engaging faculty, who are often the first to see red flags, and who can assist with connecting students to support services. The Edmonds student population ranges in age from 16 to 65, and students’ needs are individual—amplified, for some, by the pandemic.

“Students are coming in with more struggles,” says Torres. “They may have lost a family member or a job. They may have suspended their studies and don’t see a way back. Post-pandemic, we’ve come together as a college, faculty, and staff, to ask how we can better coordinate and enhance our services—from tutoring to mental health to assistance in filling out financial aid forms or finding permanent, safe housing.”

Advancement at Work: Edmonds College Foundation provides financial support for student success. One such scholarship is the Complete the Dream Scholarship for students who are in their last quarter and need financial assistance to graduate or complete their program or certificate due to unforeseen financial hardship.

 

Hood College

Full tuition for high-achieving, low-income students

Because of small, private, liberal arts colleges’ higher sticker price compared to public institutions, they are often not seen as a possibility for low-income students. 

Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, U.S., is seeking to change that with its Hood Advantage Program, which fully covers the cost of tuition, after federal aid and scholarships, for high-achieving Maryland students from low-income households (defined as those with annual incomes of $50,000 or less). The first “Hood Advantage” students began their college careers this fall.

“Access and affordability are priorities on this campus, and in fact are part of our strategic plan,” says Nikki Bamonti, Director of Admission.   

Thanks to donor support, 100% of Hood students receive aid, with 81% receiving need-based grants. The college awards more than $40 million annually to assist students with the cost of their degrees. 

“First-generation students and students from low-income households can tend to see the sticker price for a private college education and get scared away,” she says. “For that reason, we don’t just offer the scholarships and aid, we make marketing outreach and assistance with aid applications a priority.”

Hood partners with community organizations, such as the CollegeBound Foundation in Baltimore City, to get the word to populations of students who, because of their financial circumstances, don’t see college as an option. Admissions staff members at Hood have found particular success in partnering with the Student Homelessness Initiative Partnership of Frederick County, offering support services to students whose families are homeless to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid and other aid forms.

“We recruit one student at a time,” says Bamonti. “Our partnerships with the community have been particularly rewarding because we are finding those motivated, deserving students who are not in our prospect pool. When we can interact with them one-on-one, we can help them see college as achievable and in fact a way out of poverty.”

Those efforts show in a diverse campus community. 

“Our student body embraces ‘one Hood community,’” says Bamonti. “We work to help students acclimate to college life. And it’s amazing to see, once they are settled in, that where you came from doesn’t matter. It’s about the community you presently belong to, and all are on equal footing in the classrooms and residence halls.”

Advancement at Work: Hood alumna Cynthia Shafer Campbell (class of 1969) endowed a fund for book stipends to Hood Advantage students during their first semester.

“I was fortunate that my scholarships covered the entire cost of tuition, but not textbooks, which were expensive,” she says. “[Hood] Advantage students have worked hard to achieve academic success, and I am pleased to help them continue their education.” 

A United Voice for Higher Ed

Why Discover the Next Matters

 

 

Kinnari “Kin” Sejpal

• Vice President, Marketing and Communications, at University of Redlands, California, U.S.

• Member of CASE’s Commission on Communications and Marketing and Value of Higher Education Steering Committee

What drew you to get involved in Discover the Next as a committee member?
There was conversation on Twitter among many of my colleagues in marketing and communications about higher education and talent retention coming out of the pandemic. That led to more general conversations about higher education, including [those about] reputation and misconceptions. We talked about how we as institutional leaders need to band together around promoting the value of higher education. It’s not enough for us to just be addressing this in isolation on our own campuses.

How do we get there?
It comes down to finding compelling narratives in addition to social and economic mobility. The college years are the most transformative of a person’s life. It pains me to think of young people not having that experience. Education changes our outlook, and how we make an impact on society. We also have to change the narrative around affordability. The truth is, there are numerous scholarships and financial aid options available to make higher education accessible and affordable. Our role as communicators is to bridge the gap by conveying the possibilities to those who need assistance the most. 

Why is it important for marketing and communications teams to get involved with Discover the Next?
We know the value of speaking with one voice. It’s what we do on the institutional level all the time—projecting to the world the value of our institutions. We believe in the industry, and it is incumbent on us to think more broadly for the greater good. If the industry benefits, we all benefit.

A scene from University of Redlands’ 2023 commencement went viral on social media. Tell us about that.
One of our graduates, who was a first-generation student, handed her diploma and cap and gown to her parents and posted a video with the message that it was not just her graduation, but theirs as well. It went viral and was picked up by many news outlets. It struck a chord for so many first-generation students and immigrant families, me included, to see that acknowledgement of parents’ sacrifice to ensure their daughter received a college degree. It was very emotional.

What do you hope Discover the Next accomplishes?
Just like that viral video, I hope it can remind people why higher education has been the foundation of American and global society, especially developed society. I hope it brings to light in a renewed way that higher education can be a pathway to personal, professional, and societal benefit. And already I see it uniting this industry, which can tend to be very siloed. Yes, we compete for students, but on this issue, there is no competition. By uniting around the value of higher education, we are creating momentum on a topic that we have the power and opportunity to address.

 

Share Your Stories: Join Discover the Next or learn more at discoverthenext.org.