More than an Enrollment Strategy: How Equity- Focused Student Retention Improves Institutional Structures to Support Returning Students

By Samantha Raynor, Ed.D.

Higher education in the U.S. has received a fair amount of critique for low graduation rates. Colleges and universities are increasingly including re-enrollment as a strategy to stabilize declining enrollments.This memo discusses key findings from literature exploring equitable approaches to supporting returning students and offers reflection questions for institutions seeking to not only increase the number of students they re-enroll but ensure their success.