Rowan taps higher ed resources across U.S. to boost graduation rate through American Talent Initiative

The strategy is simple, but virtually unheard of in any other industry.

Rowan University this year joined the American Talent Initiative (ATI), a collective of higher education institutions across the U.S. who are committed to a common goal of graduating more lower-income students.

From the moment college students enroll, especially first-generation students from low income families, a variety of contributing factors can make completion of their four-year degree challenging. Factors include the cost of tuition and housing; the stress of being away from family and friends; heavy workloads and the pressure to maintain a strong GPA; and, for an estimated 40 percent of American college students, food insecurity.

Since Dr. Ali Houshmand became Rowan’s seventh president in 2012, the University has sought to limit the cost and debt students accrue in a variety of ways. Rowan has limited increases in undergraduate tuition and fees, created partnerships through which students may earn four-year degrees at South Jersey county colleges, and ensures, through the Garden State Guarantee program, that any student whose family income is at or below $65,000 pays nothing for tuition and fees in their third and fourth year.

Still, said Vice President for Student Affairs Rory McElwee and Vice President for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Penny McPherson-Myers, Rowan faces the same challenge as virtually every other college and university in America – keeping low income students enrolled through graduation. Which is why the University is pooling intellectual resources through the ATI, a project that seeks to graduate an additional 50,000 lower-income students by 2025.

“Some students don’t graduate in four or five years, and that’s OK,” McElwee said. “But every year that goes by, students are more likely to encounter an obstacle.”

Rowan, along with its partners in the ATI, seeks to increase the graduation rate because higher education is proven to greatly boost standard of living and upward mobility. Keeping students enrolled through graduation is literally a matter of dollars and cents.

“We do a lot of work trying to prevent students from stopping out,” McElwee said. “If they do stop out, we have outreach campaigns to try to get them back.”

A focus on all four years

Rowan’s mission to retain students begins upon acceptance, and the University was recognized by the National Association of Student Personnel Administrators this year for helping more students stay enrolled during the crucial onboarding phase for new students.

McPherson-Myers said well-established programs like ASCEND (Achieving Success through Collaboration, Engagement, And Determination), which includes the Educational Opportunity Fund (EOF) and the RISE scholarship program, are well-proven to support college completion of first-gen, lower income students.

Involvement with the ATI will complement those programs, she said.

“We want to see how other schools are impacting low income students in a positive way,” McPherson-Myers said. “There won’t necessarily be new initiatives that come out of ATI but more of a narrowing down and fine tuning of what we’re doing now.”

Among on-going cost-saving initiatives, Rowan:

• in 2022-23 set aside funds for micro-scholarships to students who are close to completing their degree but encounter a financial obstacle;
• is planning increases to need-based scholarships, particularly to cover housing and other expenses for students who qualify for the Garden State Guarantee or the Rowan Opportunity Program;
• is developing programs to reduce the cost of attendance, from course materials through the Textbook Alternative Program to supporting first-gen students through Flying First.