Policy Action Lab: Expanding Holistic Supports for Students on Quality Non-Degree Pathways

Non-degree credentials continue to gain attention and investment from workers, employers, and states, making quality assurance critical to ensure these credentials lead to good jobs and equitable outcomes. Given the significant role of life circumstances in people’s ability to enroll in and complete postsecondary programs, access to holistic supports, like food, housing, child care, and emergency aid, along with career and academic coaching, and student-centered, family-friendly campus policies, should be a key component of evaluating the quality of non-degree pathways.

While many states are increasingly recognizing the value of holistic supports in higher education, there are still gaps in access, especially for students in non-degree programs not eligible for federal or state financial aid. Yet ensuring these students have the supports and financial resources they need has tremendous equity implications. Community college certificate students, for example, are more likely to be working adults and first-time college students, as well as Black, Latinx, and parenting, compared with their associate degree-seeking peers.1 They are also likely to experience financial insecurity: half live with incomes that are at or below 200 percent of the Federal Poverty Line. Building more equitable pathways requires policymakers to continue to invest in the expansion of evidence-based holistic supports that are explicitly designed to meet the needs of students of color and students who are adults, working, parenting, immigrants, and justice impacted.

With this context in mind, National Skills Coalition hosted a Policy Action Lab in Chicago focused on expanding holistic supports for students pursuing quality non-degree pathways. Part of NSC’s Expanding College and Career Possibilities Initiative, the event brought together more than sixty postsecondary, workforce, human services, and advocacy leaders from twenty states to examine state progress, innovations, and promising strategies tied to providing holistic supports to students pursuing quality, career-oriented non-degree programs and pathways at community and technical colleges.

What’s happening in states?

States and colleges are working to enhance access to holistic supports to better serve students and promote equity in postsecondary education. While some of these policy and program strategies may be inaccessible to learners pursuing non-degree programs, others smartly leverage available federal and state funding to support people in a range of education and training pathways.

At the event, Carrie Welton, Senior Director of Policy & Advocacy: Anti-Poverty and Basic Needs at The Institute of College Access and Success (TICAS), provided an overview of opportunities for leveraging state and federal investments for holistic supports, including a range of ways in which states are connecting public benefits programs to postsecondary education. For example:

• Washington Basic Food Employment & Training (BFET) leverages Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment & Training (SNAP E&T) to support education and training and holistic support access for SNAP recipients.

• Kentucky Ready to Work, a partnership between the Kentucky Community and Technical College System and the KY Cabinet for Health & Family Services, leverages TANF dollars to provide supports for parents that include employment skills training, daycare and transportation assistance, and mentoring support.

Other states are investing in skill attainment and career advancement opportunities for learners that integrate holistic supports throughout their educational journeys. Leaders from Connecticut, Illinois, and Rhode Island shared their efforts to support students pursuing non-degree education and training:

• Jennifer Foster, Deputy Executive Director of the Illinois Community College Board, discussed the Illinois Workforce Equity Initiative, which funds the provision of accelerated programs in high demand, high wage industries across eighteen community colleges, with a focus on serving Black students in at-risk communities. Grants can be used to provide wraparound services to reduce student barriers, including rental and transportation assistance, emergency aid, food, and child care. So far, nearly three quarters of students served have been African American and 69% of completers have found employment.

• Omar Reyes, Director of Adult Programs and Student Success at the Rhode Island Office of the Postsecondary Commissioner, shared insights about Rhode Island Reconnect, a wraparound services program for learners pursuing degrees or workforce credentials of value in the state. The program connects participants with educational navigators who provide guidance for their educational and career journeys and help students identify nontuition financial barriers to finishing their degree or certificate. In the first year, the program saw completion increase by 13% among participants.

• Kristina Testa-Buzzee, Grant Performance Manager at the Connecticut Office of Workforce Strategy, discussed her office’s work to bring together diverse stakeholders including private and public higher education, employers, K-12 representatives, community-based organizations and more to build Career ConneCT, which provides training for high-demand careers, alongside a career coach and access to holistic supports. The program has a goal of achieving an 85% employment rate for completers of short-term training and it is currently being evaluated to better understand the outcomes and implications of the program.

Panelists shared how they are collaborating with stakeholders across the state, leveraging flexible funding sources to reduce barriers, integrating student voice into policy and program development, engaging employers, and centering equity in their work.

Key themes and considerations

Throughout the day, attendees met within and across states to reflect on progress, identify challenges, and exchange ideas. Several common themes arose:

• Centering student voice. Students should be centered in the design and delivery of policies and programs intended to support their educational and career journeys. Many states are integrating student voice directly into their policy and advocacy work. For example, in Rhode Island, students testified at the statehouse to advocate for additional funding to expand credential programs and services and Connecticut has included parents on their state’s 2Gen Advisory Council.

• Importance of flexible and responsive funding. Flexible funding, especially ARPA dollars, have been critical in allowing states to adapt to the evolving needs of students and workforce programs and provide new and innovative supports. Flexible funding enables programs to tailor support to students’ individual needs, rather limiting support options that may or may not help students overcome roadblocks. At the same time, many states emphasize the challenges around finding sustainable funding to continue these programs when current sources run out.

• Leveraging partnerships for impact. Partnerships with diverse stakeholders, including higher education, community-based organizations, employers, and government agencies can better align efforts and resources in support of students. States and institutions should prioritize building and sustaining strong partnerships to expand the reach and impact of their support services, ensuring students have access to the full range resources they need.

• Bridging siloes between workforce, higher education, and human services. Better coordination and collaboration within and across higher education, workforce, and human services systems can improve support access for students and their families, yet siloes and competition can hamper efforts to partner effectively. Leveraging respective strengths to maximize capacity and focusing on shared goals will more effectively advance credential attainment, employment, and family economic mobility.

While states are dealing with many similar challenges in providing adequate support to students, there is also ample opportunity for learning, innovation, and action taking. As investments in quality non-degree programs continue, increased emphasis on embedding holistic supports will help ensure that these programs lead to equitable education and employment outcomes so students and workers can thrive.

For more Making College Work updates and information on our Expanding College and Career Possibilities (ECCP) initiative and related efforts, follow our Making College Work Campaign to receive the newsletter and updates. For questions or to learn more, reach out to Lindsey Reichlin Cruse at lindseyrc@nationalskillscoalition.org.