Reengaging Stopped-Out Students Through College Financial Campaigns  

November 27, 2024

By Jenna Howard Terrell, Hayley Spencer, and Alyssa Blanchard

This blog post explores the importance of reengaging stopped-out students and the financial benefits for colleges to reenroll students. We also highlight successful strategies used by colleges to reengage students through financial campaigns. 

Why Reengagement Matters  

Across the United States, millions of students start college but don’t complete their degrees, joining a large and often overlooked population of “stopped-out” students. Recent estimates from the National Student Clearinghouse suggest that approximately 40 million students stopped out of college before earning a degree or credential. Many of these students paused their studies due to financial challenges, dependent care responsibilities, or other life circumstances. For students from lower income backgrounds, these barriers to degree completion are often more pronounced. Traditionally, colleges and universities have given limited attention to stopped-out students. However, with enrollment declines since the pandemic, reengaging these students presents an opportunity for institutions to tap into a new pool of learners and fulfill their commitment to improving students’ education and career opportunities.  

Ramifications of Stopping Out  

Students who leave college before completing their programs may face limited career options and lower earning potential because many jobs still require a degree or credential. Additionally, these students often carry student debt without the increased income that a degree would afford, making repayment challenging and further limiting their pathways to greater economic mobility. 

Colleges also experience negative ramifications from stop-outs due to lower enrollment numbers and lost revenue. Institutions can recoup some of these losses by stabilizing enrollment and revenue through reengagement strategies.  

When more students return to college and complete their degrees, the economic vitality of the surrounding community often improves as well because graduates tend to have higher earning potential, increased purchasing power, and a reduced need for social services. This ripple effect strengthens the college’s role as a driver of economic and community growth.  

Promising Approaches to Reengagement   

In the past, stopped-out students were left with “stranded credits,” which are college credits that they earned at one institution but that could not be used toward a degree from, or otherwise transfer to, another institution due to outstanding financial obligations. With recent federal regulations curbing the withholding of academic transcripts due to unpaid balances, colleges now have an opportunity to revise policies and implement programs that help reengage students who stopped out because of financial barriers. 

Recognizing these dynamics, a growing number of colleges are launching targeted financial campaigns to remove financial barriers to reenrollment. Programs offering microgrants and debt forgiveness, for example, are giving students the chance to come back without the looming burden of financial holds or small unpaid balances. By relieving these financial strains, institutions enable students to refocus on their education and complete their degrees. Programs like Ohio’s Comeback initiative, Georgia State University’s Panther Retention Grants, and City Colleges of Chicago’s Chancellor’s Retention Grant and Fresh Start Program demonstrate how financial incentives can bring students back to campus. These programs provide students with microgrants, offer debt forgiveness, clear debt holds, and provide other supports to help students reenroll and persist in their studies.  

These financial campaigns are proving to be a promising approach to reengaging stopped-out students. A team of researchers at WestEd’s Center for Economic Mobility recently partnered with City Colleges of Chicago to evaluate the Chancellor’s Retention Grant, which was implemented as a reengagement strategy from spring 2020 to spring 2022. The Chancellor’s Retention Grant created a pathway for financial support for students to return to campus and generated revenue that exceeded what could have been collected through traditional payment collection methods. What began as a difficult challenge turned into a mutually beneficial solution in three important ways: 

• Stopped-out students with at least a 2.0 grade point average were able to receive some debt relief to return to college and continue their studies.  
• The program significantly improved reenrollment among eligible students who previously stopped-out due to unpaid balances to the college.  
• City Colleges of Chicago generated tuition revenue and enrollment growth, tapping into a pool of learners who had already demonstrated motivation to complete a degree or credential at City Colleges of Chicago. 

Replicating and Scaling Financial Campaigns  

The success of financial campaigns like the Chancellor’s Retention Grant at City Colleges of Chicago demonstrates that targeting financial support for stopped-out students can drive reenrollment among students with some college and no degree, boost institutional revenue, and positively impact local economies. Replicating and scaling these types of financial campaigns across other colleges and regions could provide similar benefits. By offering microgrants and debt forgiveness in combination with long-term student success supports, institutions can create a framework that not only reengages students but also promotes persistence and completion. 

As more colleges consider these strategies, collaboration and shared best practices are crucial. We invite higher education leaders and policymakers to connect with WestEd’s Center for Economic Mobility to explore reengagement approaches and how to tailor them to meet their institutions’ unique needs and student populations. Our Center can provide guidance, share insights, and support your efforts in implementing effective reengagement solutions. If you would like to work with the Center to support reengagement strategies at your institution, please contact Senior Researcher Jenna Howard Terrell at [email protected]. 

Jenna Howard Terrell is a Senior Researcher at WestEd specializing in evaluation and applied research to strengthen college-to-career pathways. She leads and supports studies on high school graduation measures, early college experiences, and innovative college reenrollment programs such as the City Colleges of Chicago’s Chancellor’s Retention Grant evaluation. 

Hayley Spencer, PhD, is a Research Associate at WestEd specializing in research and evaluation for postsecondary education. She leads projects focused on supporting undergraduate STEM students and college and career readiness and supports the Data Integration Support Center at WestEd. Hayley supports cost-effectiveness analysis for studies such as the City Colleges of Chicago’s Chancellor’s Retention Grant evaluation.  

Alyssa Blanchard is a Research Associate at WestEd. She specializes in study planning, data collection, and analysis, with a focus on programs that improve postsecondary access, student success, and economic mobility. Alyssa leads impact studies of postsecondary reengagement programs such as the City Colleges of Chicago’s Chancellor’s Retention Grant evaluation.