Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education

Kentucky Student Success Collaborative

KYSSC value to the commonwealth

Funded by the James Graham Brown Foundation and housed at CPE, the Kentucky Student Success Collaborative (KYSSC) serves as the first statewide center in the country that works with both two- and four-year institutions, linking campuses with nonprofit organizations, business leaders and state policy makers to identify challenges facing higher education students and develop strategies to address them. The goal of the intiative is to expand innovative approaches that will improve graduation rates, close equity gaps, enhance workforce development and increase learning opportunities for emerging leaders in higher education.

Resources:

Improving Success by Filling Student Basic Needs

More than half of all college students across the nation struggle to meet their needs for food, housing and other basic necessities, which can adversely affect their ability to succeed in school. To address these challenges, the Council on Postsecondary Education’s Kentucky Student Success Collaborative has formed an action network to examine the scope of the problem in the commonwealth and identify ways to increase supports so students don’t opt out of college.

Improving Student Success Around Transfer through Policy and Degree Pathways

Many Kentucky students utilize community college for required coursework as an affordability strategy. Improving the transfer process is very important for retention and completion, especially among low-income students, first-generation college students, and students from underrepresented groups. 

CPE is directing attention and resources at improving student pathways through community college and into four-year colleges. This includes expanding pathways, improving advising and resources, and strengthening policy.

Improving Success through Gateway Course Design and Policies

Gateway courses are central to students’ academic trajectory, but contain a vast amount of curriculum. These large-enrollment, introductory courses tend to ave notably higher failure, withdrawal, and incomplete rates among first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented students - even when those students are performing well in their other courses.

The Council is working with Kentucky's institutions to improve outcomes by focusing on data-driven, evidence-based reforms and collaborating with specialists to improve gateway course outcomes. 

 

Last Updated: 3/12/2024