Resources

Issue Brief

Unpacking Workforce Partnerships: Improving Structures for Learners

July 9, 2024

Higher education workforce partnerships can reduce the costs of completing a degree or credential and expand economic opportunity for learners. They also bring value to regional economic initiatives, employers, and institutions alike. This brief examines the landscape of these partnerships by providing a typology and discussing how they operate, as well as initial recommendations for policymakers and practitioners regarding how they can be structured using the lens of learner-centered design.

Issue Brief

Does Basic Needs Funding Improve Persistence Among College Students? Findings on How HEERF Dollars Impacted Student Persistence at SNHU

October 17, 2023

In this paper, CHEPP releases findings on the impact of HEERF dollars distributed during the pandemic at SNHU on student persistence. It finds that students were nearly 15% more likely to stay enrolled in the next semester if they received basic needs support. These findings suggest there is a tremendous opportunity to help today’s learners persist and succeed by offering broad basic needs support nationally. According to a 2019-20 survey conducted by the National Postsecondary Student Aid (NPSAS), nearly a quarter of surveyed students reported low or very low food security and eight percent reported experiencing homelessness in the prior month. As policymakers consider how federal policy can support learner success, funding greater basic needs supports appears to be critical to keeping learners enrolled and advancing social and economic mobility.

Issue Brief

Postsecondary CBE: A Primer for Policymakers

July 27, 2023

Competency-Based Education (CBE) holds the potential to unlock opportunity for millions of learners by offering them the option of demonstrating their learning, untethered from the 'seat time' required in completing credit hours. In a new primer for policymakers, CHEPP and the American Institutes for Research (AIR) unpack what CBE is, what CBE is, how it works, the potential benefits to learners, and how institutional practice is driven by federal higher education policy. The goal of this primer is to provide policymakers with valuable information about CBE as they consider how institutions of higher education can meet the needs of more learners across the country.

Issue Brief

Basic Needs Funding for College Students: What SNHU Learned During the Pandemic

October 18, 2022

Basic needs funding helped many learners stay enrolled in college during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the support gap for students’ basic needs predated the pandemic and is likely to remain for the foreseeable future. This research brief examines student need for accessible funding and explores critical questions about how best to facilitate basic needs support.