Inside an ambitious plan to reenroll California’s stopped-out students

Higher Ed Dive

Natalie Schwartz

December 9, 2022

Around 4 million working-age Californians have completed some college credits but left before they could earn a degree, according to a 2018 report from California Competes, a higher education and workforce research nonprofit. A new effort aims to bring them back.

A group of higher education organizations announced this week they are joining forces to help up to 30 colleges reenroll thousands of residents in the state, with a focus on institutions the coronavirus pandemic hit hardest. The coalition includes California Competes, ProjectAttain!, InsideTrack and the Institute for Higher Education Policy.

Each partner is taking on a specific role. ProjectAttain!, a collective of colleges working to increase educational attainment in the Sacramento area, is providing a model for the initiative that focuses on directing students to institutions aligned with their needs.

Meanwhile, the Institute for Higher Education Policy is pinpointing which students have accumulated considerable college credit but are shy of completing a degree. InsideTrack will provide outreach and coaching to students to help them craft plans to return to college. And California Competes will document the lessons learned from the initiative to highlight important policy implications.

ECMC Foundation and Strada Education Network are funding the initiative.

To learn more about the initiative, we spoke with Kai Drekmeier, co-founder and chief development officer at InsideTrack.

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