AURORA | The Community College of Aurora wants students who left several credits shy of a degree to return to campus.
The college started a “Return to Earn” program this semester as a pilot program in hopes that they could re-capture some of those students who had mostly finished degree but remained just short of a degree. CCA leaders say they hope to expand it in the semesters to come. The program offers students financial assistance and case management towards completing a degree.
John Wolfkill, director of the CCA Foundation, said that during the pandemic the college noticed that its readmitted student rate was decreasing. Many students took time off because they preferred in-person learning or needed to work to make up for the financial hardships caused by COVID, he said.
The decrease caused consternation for the college, as research shows that the longer a student leaves school without completing a degree or certificate program, the less likely they are to return.
“We know for every semester that you’re out of school, it’s harder to come back,” Wolfkill said.
The college looked into ways it could help students come back to campus, and was inspired by a program at Pueblo Community College that offered scholarship money to students who were returning.
With the help of a $75,000 matching grant from the Anschutz Foundation, CCA launched Return to Earn in the fall semester with the goal of enrolling 75 students over the course of the school year to see how it would go.
The college created a list of every student that had 45 credits at CCA but was not currently enrolled (a typical CCA degree is 60 credits) and started inviting some of them to apply to the new program.
“If you’re 75% of the way there, obviously this is important to you but something happened,” Wolfkill said.
Return to Earn will provide students with either $500 or $1,000 in scholarship money to cover the credits they need if they finished the semester with a C average. It also pairs students with an advisor who will work with them to navigate the rest of their time at CCA and ensure they are on the right track.
Currently, 45 students are part of the program and 13 more are scheduled to start in the spring.
One of those students is Anna Charron, who just needed one more class to complete her associate’s degree in business. Over the summer she was contacted by Todd Powell, the completion navigator for the Return to Earn program, who asked if she would be interested in participating.
Charron had been trying to figure out how to get the final credit, and “for the longest time, I couldn’t figure out how.”
The new program was “absolutely perfect” for her, she said and she is currently on track to finish this semester. Ultimately, she hopes to become a CPA and work with small businesses.
CCA is currently in talks with the Colorado Opportunity Scholarship Initiative, which is part of the state’s department of higher education, about expanding the program into something bigger next year.
As more and more jobs across the state require some form of higher education, “it’s crucial that we’re helping more students not only start college but complete a credential,” Wolfkill said.
The Colorado Community College System has been working hard to recruit students after enrollment fell systemwide during the pandemic.
The system saw enrollment decline half a percent this year compared with last year, according to Joe Garcia, system chancellor. And unlike last year, no school across the state experienced more than a single-digit percentage drop in enrollment.
Enrollment dips vary based on campus. At CCA, enrollment is up 15.9% from the past year including concurrent enrollment students (high school students taking community college courses). Excluding concurrent enrollment, it saw a decrease of 5.7% from the past year.
Concurrent enrollment has increased significantly at CCA, with 58% increase in students from the past year, spokesperson Alex Schultz told the Sentinel. Schutlz also credited grants the college has been able to give out using COVID relief funding for helping bring students back to campus.
College leaders across the state worried students wouldn’t show up this fall, especially due to concerns about the delta variant. Many students waited to enroll until the start of school in August, Garcia said, which made determining just how many students would show up on campus this fall difficult.
“They waited until the last minute,” Garcia said. “We worked hard to make them aware of financial aid and other benefits that would make it worth their while to come back.”
Despite enrollment declining slightly, the challenges for community colleges — and their students — remain statewide. Enrollment still remains well below pre-pandemic levels, with 10% fewer students in the community college system than were enrolled in 2019.
Chalkbeat Colorado contributed to this report