CSU second start offers “reparation” for dropouts

Nationwide, 38.6 million Americans have entered college and left without completing a degree. In California, about six million residents between the ages of 25 and 64 have college degrees but no diploma.

Recent research from the American Council on Education found that one in three college students has dropped out of college at least partially. Among students who missed classes for more than a semester, 40 percent cited poor academic performance as one of the reasons they dropped out. Over a quarter of low-income students (those with household incomes of less than $40,000) said that not performing as well as expected in their academic careers was a significant reason they dropped out, and a similar number of students of color said the same.

Grade reductions or GPA rollbacks can assist students who have dropped out of college early and wish to re-enroll and complete their degree.

This year, the California University State System is piloting a program called the Second Start program, designed to encourage students who dropped out of college years ago due to unsatisfactory academic performance to return to their university and complete a degree.

“We want to create quality educational opportunities and educate the citizens of California. For those students who felt like they would never be able to return to college, this is a second chance, a second start, a redemption,” said Brent Foster, the state university’s associate provost and dean of academic programs in the CSU’s Office of the Chancellor.

The background: About a year and a half ago, CSU convened a meeting of provosts, vice presidents for student affairs and the chancellor’s office to explore innovative ideas for student success. The system’s current policy on academic renewal has been a sticking point for many university provosts, explains Foster, who serves as program director.

“There was just very little flexibility,” says Foster. “A returning student who left with poor academic performance has to jump through hoops. The hurdles they have to overcome are so high that it is very difficult for them to return, which leads to the student leaving college thinking, ‘I’m never going back.'”

Of the students who have dropped out of CSU since 2016, 130,000 had poor academic performance, many due to extenuating circumstances that were not consistent with their academic ability.

To identify strategies for re-enrolling and supporting the graduation of these students, officials launched the Second Start pilot project to collect data and establish best practices to guide system-wide policy.

Fourteen of CSU’s 23 campuses (large and small across the state) have opted into the five-year pilot program and will receive $10,000 from the system to use as they see fit, such as building bases, conducting community outreach, or funding student scholarships.

And this is how it works: Representatives from participating colleges will reach out to students who are eligible to participate in the program to encourage them to re-enroll at CSU. Each college has its own committee to tailor the pilot to its campus population, Foster says.

To qualify, students must have left college at least three years ago and have an overall GPA of less than 2.0. After re-enrolling at the college they originally left, students pursue a bachelor’s degree and complete 12 units, achieving a GPA of 2.5 or better within 12 months.

Once learners have met the 12-unit threshold and 2.5 GPA threshold, they are officially considered Second Start students and their previous GPA is erased. Their previous grades will still be listed on their transcript, but their cumulative GPA will be reset to include only the most recent credits, Foster explains.

“That’s the part that allows them to be what I call a redemption program,” Foster says. “They can redeem themselves.”

CSU leaders worked with faculty members in the Academic Senate to determine eligibility and requirements for students. “That was super important—we didn’t want to override or overrule something as important as grade point average without getting faculty approval,” Foster says.

During students’ enrollment, colleges offer comprehensive support, which may include housing, assistance with basic needs, and forgiveness of small debts (such as library fees or parking tickets).

“There’s this desire to not only hold the hand of these students, but to make sure, as they first re-enter, that they feel comfortable establishing themselves back in higher education,” Foster says. For students who dropped out years ago, their lives are different and higher education looks different. “So when you return to college after an experience like that, you really need a lot more than someone to just say, ‘Well, you’ve been to college before, so take it away.'”

One important resource is personal advising to ensure that credits will count toward a student’s degree program. CSU also offers credit for prior coursework, which can benefit students who have worked or gained experience outside of the classroom while away.

Some colleges are considering implementing a faculty mentoring program that draws on the life experiences of professors who failed to meet academic requirements and eventually achieved success during their own education to encourage students on their academic journey.

What’s next: In the first year, CSU management expects approximately 400 to 500 students to re-enroll to participate in the Second Start program.

This pilot is not an opt-in process open to any former CSU student who wants to return to college, Foster makes clear, but rather a targeted approach to determine what might work in the future. The challenge will be to reconnect with students who have been away from their college for years and help them return to the classroom.

The administration is also working on behind-the-scenes details, such as being able to update students’ grade point averages with the Examinations Office, and implementing these initiatives on a larger scale.

The ultimate measure of CSU success is graduation, so each campus will tag learners on their path to graduation to collect data on obstacles they encounter. One of the challenges of the pilot will be tracking learners, as students who re-enroll will have different credits and will not be working toward their degree in a cohort model but will be spread out over multiple semesters.

Foster hopes the pilot project will be short-term so that within a few years, leaders can achieve the positive results needed to make policy changes and open up opportunities for more students across the country.

“I know there will be examples where students come back and say, ‘I would never have gone back to college without this program,'” Foster says. “‘Now I’ve gone back to college … but I’ve been very successful and now I want to go to graduate school and so on and so forth.’ I look forward to those moments.”

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