Members, partners, and friends of NCAN know that COVID-19 has thrown immense hurdles in the paths of students striving to transition from high school to college.
Unfortunately, and unsurprisingly, these challenges have not been equally distributed. Amid the economic, health, and other impacts caused by the pandemic, students of color and students from low-income backgrounds are experiencing the largest declines
in Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion and postsecondary enrollment.
In response to these disruptions, NCAN awarded 23 grants, totaling $1.6 million, to college access and success
organizations across the country who are going above and beyond this spring and summer to support students with FAFSA completion as well as college enrollment and persistence. These grants were made possible thanks to the generous support of The Kresge Foundation’s Education Program.
Over the coming weeks and months, we’ll be sharing the grantees’ creative strategies for helping their students transition to college and experience success once there. We’ll also explore how these organizations are maximizing partnerships, some of the
challenges they’ve faced, and how they are gauging success.
This week we’re learning from the Milwaukee Public Schools, which received funding to enhance its college and career advising and FAFSA completion efforts.
Milwaukee Public Schools (MPS) is the largest school district in Wisconsin and serves approximately 4,000 seniors annually. Students of color comprise more than 90% of the district’s enrollment, and more than 70% of students are from low-income backgrounds.
The district’s postsecondary readiness efforts long pre-date their receipt of an NCAN grant this spring. In August 2017, MPS opened a school-based College and Career Center (CACCs) in every traditional MPS high school. Fifteen full-time staff members
currently operate 20 CACCs in the district, and four alternative high schools also receive support.
The CACCs serve as a physical hub for all college and career partners including higher education institutions, community-based organizations, and pre-college programs. The CACCs' work involves partnering with MPS School Counseling to ensure all students
have equitable access to college and career success services. Since opening the school-based centers in 2017, the CACCs have served over 30,000 students in over 175,000 visits.
MPS’ efforts to drive FAFSA completion this spring and summer have been, and are, multi-pronged. They are also sorely needed; according to the Form Your Future FAFSA Tracker, Wisconsin ranks No.
37 among states for FAFSA completion with an estimated 47.3% of seniors completing by July 23, and statewide FAFSA completions are down 6%. The implementation strategy so far has included:
Conducting a FAFSA “booster session” with the school FAFSA teams, the district’s superintendent, and district staff.
Mailing a second FAFSA postcard to, and completing a phone campaign with, any Class of 2021 student who had not started FAFSA according to the district’s student-level FAFSA data.
Holding 10 days of in-person FAFSA support, including school-based and central programming, and sharing that messaging with all community-based college access partners.
Extending FAFSA awareness and action digital marketing campaigns in the greater Milwaukee area through July.
Continuing to offer virtual and in-person FAFSA support for both the classes of 2020 and 2021 through the CACCs.
Holding a press conference with the Mayor of Milwaukee and the Executive Sponsors of the M3 (M-cubed) College Connections Program addressing FAFSA support to re-engage the class of 2020.
Offering two districtwide drive-up FAFSA events in June and July 2021 for MPS families of the classes of 2020 and 2021 who are not comfortable being indoors due to COVID.
Recruiting CACC Seniors of the Year (one per MPS high school) to post their FAFSA stories on social media.
Receiving monthly lists of University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee (UWM) and Milwaukee Area Technical College (MATC) admits who have been selected for FAFSA verification and providing CACC advisor outreach for 1:1 support to complete steps from April 2021
to August 2021.
Knowing that many seniors matriculate to either Milwaukee Area Technical College or the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, MPS has worked to remove barriers to attendance. In a model for the relationship that would ideally exist between school districts
and postsecondary institutions across the country, UWM and MATC have been sending admitted student lists to the MPS CACCs on a bi-weekly basis and will do so through August 2021. These lists include enrollment steps and statuses that will assist in
needed follow-up by CACC advisors, MATC, and UWM admissions staff.
Additionally, working in conjunction with the MPS CACCs, the two institutions have changed their policies to make it easier for MPS students from the classes of 2020 and 2021 to enroll.
For example, UWM removed enrollment deposits prior to enrollment for the 2020-21 school year, replaced UW-System placement tests with a free online test increasing accessibility for all students for the 2020-21 school year, waived application fees for
two years, extended refund windows, and developed fee deferments for housing deposits.
Similarly, MATC developed an explanatory/engagement video for the MPS classes of 2020 and 2021, enhanced end-of-year marketing including digital promotion marketing for the MATC Promise program, and held admitted student giveaways (including yard acceptance
signs and success kits) to increase early registration.
UWM student outreach ambassadors have also contacted MPS graduates to ask if they need support completing steps to register for orientation. This is just one of a few summer transition programs for MPS class of 2021 graduates. Other summer transition
programs include:
Developing a video and social media series addressing motivation and hope shared every Monday over the summer.
Holding a virtual event with local higher education partners and career agencies for class of 2020 grads and undecided class of 2021 graduates in May 2021.
Increasing students’ access to the no-cost, for-credit MKE Scholars Bridge program. Students who complete the program receive a $250 stipend to offset costs.
Enhancing MATC Summer Bridge program promotion including a College Survival Backpack.
Developing and implementing an MPS CACC summer workshop series addressing transitional topics including understanding the financial aid letter; navigating college campuses and self-advocacy; attending a predominantly white institution or a Historically
Black College or University; and preparing for college study skills. If students attend at least three out of four sessions, they received a $50 gift card to the university bookstore.
Partnering with higher education staff to host college meetups for graduates attending the top 12 colleges and universities, as well as a session for HBCU attendees. These programs’ goal is to increase community amongst graduates from different high
schools within MPS and increase enrollment.
Throwing a virtual senior sendoff.
Despite all of these efforts, some class of 2021 graduates may not matriculate this fall. To reconnect with MPS class of 2021 graduates for spring 2021 enrollment, MPS intends to use National Student Clearinghouse data to check enrollment and send a postcard
to, and follow up via phone with, any MPS graduate who does not enroll this fall. MATC and UWM will use their admissions data to conduct phone and email outreach in October 2021 to MPS Class of 2021 graduates who did not enroll in the fall.
MPS is also working hard to reengage class of 2020 graduates who did not enroll and address common concerns about their postsecondary pathways. MPS used National Student Clearinghouse data to mail a “Reclaim Your Time” postcard to any 2020 graduate
not enrolled in a postsecondary institution this past April. From there, MPS CACC advisors completed a phone campaign to conduct a short survey with class of 2020 graduates. The goal here was to invite them to one-on-one college and career advising
appointments and highlight FAFSA completion events.
Of course, many MPS class of 2020 graduates did enroll in a postsecondary institution this past academic year, and MPS wants to see them persist on their pathway. EAB’s “Moon Shot for Equity” is an important
initiative that in part will support MPS graduates to re-enroll for their second year at UWM and MATC. Additionally:
UWM is providing targeted programming for MPS class of 2020 students who have never been to campus (due to the pandemic), including tours and facilitating student connections.
MATC will use program-specific retention coaches, Retention Alert, and EAB Navigate for enrolled MPS Class of 2020 graduates to track and route and retention-related issues.
UWM and MATC will phone any MPS class of 2020 graduate who has not re-enrolled for the fall 2021 semester by key summer dates (May for UWM and July for MATC). Any student who completes an "intent to depart" in the EAB Navigate advising system will
receive a follow-up call.
MATC will offer UWM transfer advising to class of 2020 graduates currently enrolled on the MATC campus through December 2021.
The planning process for this extensive collection of services for the classes of 2020 and 2021 was aided greatly by the already-established M3 Transition Subcommittee. This team seeks to reduce summer melt and support Milwaukee’s underserved student
populations. This team has representatives from MPS, MATC, and UWM and has been meeting since March 2020 to focus specifically on the successful enrollment of MPS students.
Historically, significant collaboration has occurred between the CACCs and MATC and UWM respectively to successfully enroll MPS students at these Milwaukee institutions. Through M3, this collaboration has taken shape in the form of heightened recruitment
and admitted student events, sharing of data to support increases in applications and FAFSA submissions, and joint support for successful fall enrollment. This collaboration is critical as more than 50% of MPS graduates who enroll in postsecondary
options the fall following graduation do so at UWM and MATC. For the fall 2020 semester, the largest decreases for MPS graduates were at MATC and UWM.
MPS will use National Student Clearinghouse and locally collected data to measure the impact on fall 2021 enrollment rates for students from the classes of 2020 and 2021. Predictably, given the strong partnership, there will be a specific emphasis on
measuring enrollment at UWM and MATC.
In terms of advice for NCAN members and other communities who want to emulate some of these approaches, MPS suggested recently via email:
“Partner directly with the higher education institutions your graduates are most likely to attend to decrease barriers to enrollment this fall. Be sure to address all student needs, including financial and technology-based. Utilize recent alumni to
share their experiences with attending college this past year. Reinforce the message that colleges will be returning to close to 'normal' this coming fall.”
NCAN is grateful for the insight here from Milwaukee Public Schools, and we will continue to follow along with the intensive efforts they are making to improve the classes of 2020 and 2021’s postsecondary outcomes.
Stay tuned to the NCAN blog for more from the 23 grantees working to improve students’ futures.
Email to a Friend
