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ENGAGEMENT AND EXPERIENCEWITH DEGREES WHEN DUEAfter joining DWD’s first cohort in October 2018, Shasta College organized its DWDwork into four primary categories that are described in detail below: establishinga DWD team and DWD leadership; identifying award-eligible students and auditingdegrees; engaging students; and sustaining degree reclamation strategies.ESTABLISHING A DWD TEAM AND DWD LEADERSHIPBefore beginning DWD work, Shasta College securedadditional funding to devote to the initiative and, usingLumina funds, hired a coordinator for DWD who worked threeto five hours a week. The college developed a cross-functionalteam based on the guidance included in the DWD learningmanagement system (LMS). The team included the associatevice president of student services, dean of educationaltechnology and research, counseling staff, associate dean offinancial aid and admissions, transfer evaluator, ACE director,academic deans, a faculty member, and marketing andinformation technology staff. The goal of creating the teamwas to convene the diverse expertise needed to locate andcontact stopped-out students and ensure returning studentswould have a transition back to postsecondary education withthe fewest barriers.The coordinator served as Shasta’s DWD team lead. Shasta’sleaders attributed the momentum of the team’s work to thecoordinator. One of Shasta’s leaders reflected on how theproject progressed and highlighted her critical role:One team member said:I think our DWD team relied on the campus lead to serve as acoordinator. We relied on her being that linchpin between theproject’s bigger processes and . . . what the group needs to do.Each member could then go complete the piece they need tocomplete and come back together and feed that all throughour team lead.Given the many responsibilities of community collegeadministrators, Shasta’s decision to identify a clear teamlead to coordinate DWD activities was critical. This singleindividual in charge of triaging DWD work to the appropriatearea allowed the institution to remain organized and on-task.And although the DWD team lead coordinated the initiative’sday-to-day operations, it was the diverse expertise of thecross-functional team that allowed Shasta to move itswork forward.She herds the cats—looking at who we want to target andthen completing the data analysis; she really helps with thatlogistic support. She’s also the primary person that interactswith the DWD learning management system portal and thenwe work together on areas where we’re stumped.Several team members said that having a campus lead whoseprimary role was to support the DWD initiative was critical toensuring progress. It was the DWD team lead who most oftenparticipated in official activities, disseminated takeaways tothe team, and helped ensure the tasks were complete and theinitiative was progressing at an appropriate pace.Credits: Shawn Spence Photography, Lumina Foundation Focus Magazine5AIDING THE COMMUNITY BY SERVING INDIVIDUALS WITH SOME COLLEGE, BUT NO DEGREE SHASTA COLLEGE5

IDENTIFYING AWARD-ELIGIBLE STUDENTS ANDAUDITING DEGREESNEARLY HALF OF TARGETED STUDENTS HADALREADY COMPLETED A DEGREETo implement DWD, Shasta College first established how itwould identify its stopped-out population, including the timeof last enrollment, the degrees against which transcriptswould be audited for eligibility, and other institutional policiesthat might limit the completion of a degree in a timely fashion(e.g., credit residency requirements or credit expiration).Shasta College decided to identify students enrolled betweenfall 2013 and spring 2018, who had at least 45 credits, and whohad a GPA of at least 2.0. Although Shasta does not have acredit expiration policy, it does require at least 12 creditsto be completed at the institution to fulfill the creditresidency requirement.Shasta identified 575 former students who hadstopped out but had accumulated 60 or morecredits,2 and almost half—252—of these studentshad completed all the academic requirementsfor a degree. After contacting students, Shastaawarded degrees to 250 of them.Based on these factors, the IT department generated a listof over 4,500 students. However, Shasta College did nothave the capacity to conduct batch degree audits on studenttranscripts, so team members would need to manuallycompare former students’ coursework with existing academicprograms to determine degree eligibility. Because thisprocess is time-consuming, the DWD team needed to limit theinitial group of transcripts to review.The team decided to focus on a subset of 575 students. Asexplained by a Shasta leader, this population “had 60 unitsor more when they left with no degree or certificate, and . . .they took the courses that would have tended to transfer” viathe California State University General Education Breadthrequirements. More specifically, Shasta focused on thesubset of students who had already completed transfer-levelmath, English, and communications courses, as well as acritical thinking class. As one DWD team member remarked,“if students have gone through the trouble of completing thoseparticular four classes, especially the math course . . . this isthe low hanging fruit group” that would be most likelyto be eligible for a degree or willing to return to completeremaining credits.Even with this more limited group of students to review, astaff member could only review the transcripts of 25 to 50former students per week, because all audits were conductedmanually. But even though the degree auditing process wascumbersome, the team saw early successes that supportedcontinued work. One DWD team member noted that “out of thefirst 175 student transcripts that were analyzed, about a thirdalready had a degree that was never awarded.”62. Students in this group accumulated an average of 79.63 credits, with aminimum of 51 credits accumulated and maximum of 206. Three studentsin this group fell below 60 credits accumulated (51, 54, 57).Figure 1.Targeted Former Students and Subsequent Outcomes0.34%Students Completed all theAcademic Requirements,But Not Awarded Degree43.5%Students Completed all theAcademic Requirements,And Awarded Degree56.2%Students’ AcademicRequirements IncompleteNote: Targeted students had stopped out but had accumulated 60 or more credits.AIDING THE COMMUNITY BY SERVING INDIVIDUALS WITH SOME COLLEGE, BUT NO DEGREE SHASTA COLLEGE

ENGAGING STUDENTSThe early results of student degree eligibility work supportedShasta’s position that the SCND population was a criticalgroup to reengage. However, staff needed to makewell-planned decisions regarding communicating withstudents about degree eligibility as well as mechanisms tohelp near-completers complete their degree.Clear and responsive communication was key. Shastaleaders decided it was essential to establish a centralizedcommunication point with a dedicated phone line, email,and website to which all students in this population could bedirected. As one DWD team member explained, “we’re goingto get one shot at this, and if we put them through any hoop,if they sit on the phone, or if we don’t return their message,they’re gone.”In order to streamline communication, the college adoptedan opt-out consent approach for students who already metthe degree requirements for a credential. A Shasta leaderexplained the communication script: “one states, ‘Hey, wetook another look at your records and you did earn a degree.We’ve posted it to your transcripts. Reach out and let us knowwhat address you want your diploma to be sent to. If you don’twant your degree, please call us and let us know.’” Shastacommunicated to students that it planned to post the degreeto their transcripts and recommended that students updatetheir resumes. Shasta also invited students to graduation ifthey wanted to walk at graduation and celebratetheir success.For near-completer students who still needed to finishcredits, Shasta leaders focused on communicating the newopportunities available through the ACE program. Shastawould explain the number and type of courses that studentswere missing and advise them to consider the ACE program.ACE offers year-round classes including an eight-week summersession and two eight-week sessions in both the fall and springsemesters. ACE schedules classes based on the specificcourses that adult students need to complete their degrees, sothere was natural alignment between DWD and ACE.MULTIPLE CONTACT ATTEMPTS AND CONTACTMETHODS ARE NECESSARY TO REACH THESCND POPULATIONShasta reached out to the SCND population threetimes, on each attempt connecting with additionalstudents. For instance, after sending an emailto 542 students, only 38 responded. Shasta thencalled 332 students and received responses froman additional 86 students who either had aninvalid email or did not respond to the first emailcommunication. One additional phone call resultedin another 32 students responding.Figure 2.Response Level Across Contact AttemptsEmail 38First CallSecond Call5048632246232Total That Responded: 156KEYRespondedDid Not RespondShasta’s team also mentioned the possibility of creatingan ACE cohort drawn from its DWD list and establishing arotating schedule of courses to support students reenrollingand completing their degrees. As described by a DWD teammember, near-completers may “only need three or fourclasses but, because of prerequisites or scheduling, if theytook them in a normal semester format, it would take thema couple semesters. But the ACE format allows students topotentially complete everything in one semester.”7AIDING THE COMMUNITY BY SERVING INDIVIDUALS WITH SOME COLLEGE, BUT NO DEGREE SHASTA COLLEGE7

SUSTAINING DEGREE RECLAMATION STRATEGIESThe fourth and final component to Shasta’s engagement withDWD centered on adopting the lessons from its year in theinitiative into the overall practices of the institution. OneShasta official explained that “some of the things that wewere doing for the Degrees When Due population are actuallynow getting adopted by the whole campus. So, having supportfor adult students [who] aren’t familiar with online courses,having a case manager and student facilitator [who’s]following up with students, and having courses in the eightweek accessible format. Those are things that we’re talkingto the rest of the campus about because they could reallybecome best practices.”While the DWD team underscored that its DWD experiencehelped Shasta expand its successes (re)engaging the SCNDpopulation, it also highlighted the beginnings of a broaderreview of practices conducted by the school. “We have agroup now looking at early indicators of people [who] mightstop out with the idea of how do we bring them back. We’realso talking about credit for prior learning and competencybased education,” said one institutional leader. Although DWDwas part of a broader group of initiatives in which Shastawas participating, as this leader explained, “we’ve reached atipping point with the [campus] culture, that I think a lot moreis going to be sustained.”In addition to examining barriers to completion for the SCNDpopulation, Shasta leaders noted other policy changes as theresult of the DWD initiative. “The whole program has reallyhelped us rethink how we are doing things, such as whenpeople claim degrees. The practice previously was studentsapply for their degree if they know they’re supposed to, andthen if students don’t have the requirements for the degree,they receive information saying, ‘sorry, you’re short.’ But nowthese messages explain ‘well, no [you can’t get the degree youapplied for], but you can have this [other] degree.’” In order tomake this policy change, which is more focused on studentcompletion, Shasta needed to make broader changes tograduation requirements and the degree audit process:Ultimately, as one DWD teammember explained, “I think [DWD]changed the whole way awardingdegrees” is happening.Credits: George Milton, PexelsWe moved up when [the registrar] does the degree auditfor students graduating, so that if somebody doesn’t havewhat they need, the registrar can catch it. We changed thepolicy for students identified through DWD from opting-out[of degrees] to opting-in, respecting that some studentsmay have barriers related to immigration status or educationgoals that do not require a degree, but we are making thisprocess much easier for the student.8AIDING THE COMMUNITY BY SERVING INDIVIDUALS WITH SOME COLLEGE, BUT NO DEGREE SHASTA COLLEGE

SUCCESSES AND CHALLENGESAs Shasta leadership and its DWD campus team reflected on their experienceas part of the initiative, a few successes and challenges emerged.SUCCESS #1: IDENTIFYING BARRIERS TO COMPLETION AND REASONSSTOPPED-OUT STUDENTS RETURNShasta College scored its first success early on as officials gained a clearerunderstanding of the barriers that prevent students from completing theirdegree. For example, after completing degree audits for individuals identifiedas part of the SCND population, one of the most common barriers to degreecompletion was a computer literacy requirement. An academic leaderexplained that the faculty “wanted to make sure [students] have computerliteracy and they’re convinced that the only way to do it is through one ofthe options that they’ve proposed, which is primarily to take this computerliteracy class or another class.” This graduation requirement was degreespecific, attached to technical and career-focused programs, but it was theonly missing course for over a third of the SCND population.Although it took several presentations and votes among the members of theacademic senate, the computer literacy requirement was ultimately removedand a similar computer literacy course was added as an option to fulfill ageneral education requirement. A Shasta leader said that a key factor thatconvinced faculty to consider the removal of this graduation requirementwas the DWD data that highlighted this requirement as a significant barrier tothe degree for many students.The DWD initiative also revealed several reasons that students decided toreengage in their postsecondary education. One leader described learningabout these reasons:We thought students would be interested in reenrolling primarily for careerpurposes. Either they want to switch their career or they are getting blockedfrom promotions because they don’t have a degree. While we definitely seethat, just as many students are returning for emotional and personal reasons.Postsecondary education was something that they started when they wereyounger and then life derailed their path, or they started it when they wereyounger and they’ve been in and out of school when they could. I know wehad one guy who’s a financial planner; financially, he was doing just fine, buthe really wanted to complete his associate degree. Another woman, whowas a manager of four chain restaurants in the area, was also doing finefinancially and liked her job but had started her degree years before and waslike, “I just want to finish it.” It’s been hanging over [their] heads for years.NEAR -COMPLETERS WERE WITHINA FEW CLASSES OF DEGREECOMPLETION, BUT MISSING COMMONACADEMIC REQUIREMENTSIn the first degree audit of 324 nearcompleters who had accumulated 60or more credits, students had abouttwo classes remaining to complete adegree.3 The most common classes thatstudents were missing included: thecomputer literacy requirement (65%),general education requirements (51%),major requirements (39%), and math(12%).3. Students in this group had an average of 6.79 creditsremaining to complete a degree. The median was 6, orabout two classes.Figure 3.Missing Academic Requirements65%Computer Literacy RequirementGeneral Education Requirements51%39%Major RequirementsMath12%By better understanding barriers to completion and reasons why formerlystopped-out students were interested in returning, Shasta has been able toimplement policies and practices to remove barriers prior to stop-out andimprove communication strategies to help interested students return.9AIDING THE COMMUNITY BY SERVING INDIVIDUALS WITH SOME COLLEGE, BUT NO DEGREE SHASTA COLLEGE

CHALLENGE #1: ADDRESSING LIMITS TO CAPACITY AND RESOURCESCredits: Peter Griggs, Shasta CollegeA main challenge identified by Shasta’s DWD team is the significantamount of work necessary to start and implement programs focused onsupporting stopped-out students, including project coordination, degreeaudits, academic counseling, and communication. As underscoredby the diverse and cross-functional team recommended by DWD andimplemented by Shasta, many administrative offices are involved in thedevelopment and execution of strategies like adult reengagement andreverse transfer. Given the significant day-to-day work that Shasta’sDWD team members were already responsible for, developing andimplementing new policies and programs is challenging. However, byshifting funding from related projects, Shasta College was able to hire apart-time staff member to serve as the campus lead for DWD and pay forovertime hours for staff members contributing to the DWD project.Shasta’s primary need for staff overtime was the result of inadequatetechnological capacity to automate transcript reviews. During DWD,only two individuals were fully trained on degree audits and they couldcomplete only 25 to 50 transcript evaluations per week. Because thedegree audit process is one of the most time-consuming componentsof the degree reclamation process, a lack of technology and automationrequired Shasta to find alternative ways to complete the work. Throughits work with the DWD initiative and recognition of the importance ofreengaging stopped-out students, Shasta has been actively exploringa technological solution to automate degree audits and expedite theprocess further.SUCCESS #2: ADOPTING DEGREE RECLAMATION AS A PERMANENTINSTITUTIONAL GOALAlthough Shasta College had already acknowledged the importanceof degree reclamation strategies to reach its strategic planning goals,engagement in DWD helped integrate recruiting and supporting stoppedout students into its permanent institutional goals. In part, this decisionis a result of acknowledging the higher-than-average representation ofindividuals with SCND in Shasta’s immediate region and recognizing thekey role Shasta College plays in supporting the community and improvingopportunities for its residents.10IHEP’s Degree Mining Toolis a free online system tohelp institutions efficientlyuse existing technologyand reso

In fact, Shasta College's leadership is so supportive of improving opportunities for the SCND population that it has written degree . its accelerated degree program known as ACE (Accelerated College Education), an adult completion program (see sidebar). ACE and its director, Buffy Tanner, have gained