STRATEGY 2:
REVIEW INTERNAL PROCESSES AND ORGANIZE STUDENT SPONSORS
Questions 1-4
These questions deal with engaging multiple stakeholders, aligning activities to institutional strategies, evaluating the impact of services, and engaging the student voice.
- If you answered mostly Yes, it is likely that the college is not conducting these services in isolation and is, instead, engaging multiple voices, connecting services to the institutional agenda, and evaluating the effectiveness of activities.
- If you answered mostly No, the team may want to discuss ways to connect activities more intentionally to the broader agenda, and identify which voices should be a part of the discussion to address the needs of low-income students more directly.
Questions 5-17
Columns 1 and 2 indicate if and how many students need the service, and Columns 3 and 4 indicate which organization provides services and where services should be provided.
If you answered mostly Yes in Column 1, and:
- Mostly C in Column 2 – you have likely not yet established a cohesive network of support for low-income students at your institution. Your next steps should be reviewing the examples provided in the Beyond Financial Aid narrative, and considering how you might take steps to implement the services identified in the Self-Assessment.
- Mostly B in Column 2 – you have some supportive services in place for low-income students. Your next steps should examine current services and determine how they could be organized into a more cohesive package specifically for low-income students. You might also conduct a gap analysis using items from the Self-Assessment to determine what services are missing but could be implemented at your institution in the short term.
- Mostly A in Column 2 – you have an integrated network of support services available to your institution’s low-income students.
Columns 3 and 4 should be evaluated for all services answered with a Yes response in Column 1, with special attention paid to those items with a C or D in Column 2, which indicates that while students need this service, it is not provided very often.
Once the characteristics of each service are logged in Columns 1 thru 4, prioritize the 13 services by considering which services:
- Address the most critical student need.
- Affect the greatest number of students.
- Enable greatest student retention and completion.
- Are easiest or most feasible to implement.
- Have existing data supporting their effectiveness.
As you reflect on each service, consider which can be intentionally bundled or integrated with others to increase utilization and impact. Reflect on whether all students at your institution know where services can be found, and what is available to them. Similarly, assess whether faculty and staff know where and how to direct students to find these services.