Since peak system enrollment in Fall 2010, Connecticut's twelve community colleges were faced with a 9% system enrollment decline by 2015. In the wake of reviewing how Financial Aid could have an impact on the negative trend, the system began discussions on revising the Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) policy to improve student success, enrollment, retention, and persistence efforts. Over a two year period from idea to practice, the system implemented a single SAP policy positioned to be nationally unique in both pace/qualitative scales, as well as embedded academic intervention strategies for at-risk students. This included nine months of buy-in from system partners, and fifteen months of implementation work as well. The driving focus of this change was to promote student success, address under-prepared students who experience early academic challenges, and to intervene on academic difficulty. Strategic partnerships with Academics, Financial Aid, and the Student Success Center was critical to the change management process. Key findings to be discussed include:

- Roadblocks to systematic change.
- Effects of the policy change to students and staff.
- Effect on enrollment and retention of financial aid students.
- Financial impact to the system.

This presentation also reviews SAP policies across the nation in research of trends in fixed vs. progressive standards related to qualitative and pace calculations in helping to shape what would work best for Connecticut community college students.

Submission ID:

M3.1278

Day:

Monday, November 12, 2018

Time: 

1:30 PM - 3:00 PM