California adults with some college, no degree (SCND) are about to receive a leg up. Four higher education organizations have come together to target and return SCND students, helping them complete their degrees and keep California on track to economic success.
The coalition includes California Competes, a higher education and workforce research nonprofit offering guidance to state policy makers; InsideTrack, an organization that offers personalized coaching to help students succeed; ProjectAttain!, a nonprofit helping working-age adults return to and complete college in the Sacramento region; and the Institution for Higher Education Policy (IHEP), a nonprofit, national research organization working to increase opportunities in higher education for all.
Dr. Su Jin Jez, executive director of California Competes.
The collaboration, called California Reconnect, will first focus its attention on areas and communities hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and other economically distressed regions. The organization aims to work with 30 institutions over the next three years to identify their SCND students who stopped out. Once identified, California Reconnect will reach out to those students, learn about their current situation, identify their career goals, and find what obstacles caused them to stop out. As SCND students return to school, coaches with InsideTrack will ensure they are supported and that institutions have the capacity to see them to completion.
The data collected and analyzed by California Reconnect will be shared across the state to help meet California’s future economic needs. By 2030, the Public Policy Institute of California predicts that 40% of all jobs will require at least a bachelor’s degree. There are currently four million SCND students in the state, aged 25 to 54.
Dr. Su Jin Jez, executive director of California Competes, said her organization and ProjectAttain! have been working for years to address the SCND population in California. Now, with the help of two national organizations, she hopes their combined efforts will significantly move the needle.
“California Competes has been doing research for a while, but it gives us high-level findings, like [finding that] childcare is a challenge [for SCND students],” said Jez. “But what we want to understand is the next level down—you hear childcare is a challenge, ok, so, what do you do? Is it needing more campus childcare, or more seats in campus childcare? Is it more after school programs, or the cost of childcare? This is where we want to get down to the nitty gritty.”
