My path through higher education was not linear. As a first-generation college student, college was always something I had to fit around life’s many other demands. I completed my bachelor’s degree only to find myself winding through an assortment of jobs that ultimately led me to community college to pursue a paralegal certificate. Not long after, I enrolled in evening classes at Portland State University to earn my MBA while balancing work and the early years of motherhood.
At the time, I believed my story was an exception. Today, it’s quickly becoming the norm. It’s now common for students to be working adults and caregivers navigating complex lives alongside their education.
That reality is especially true for the more than 43 million Americans who have invested time and money in college and have no credential to show for it. Many colleges are responding with outreach campaigns, task forces and other new strategies to bring back students who have stopped out.
In states like Tennessee and North Carolina, re-enrollment initiatives have already helped tens of thousands of former students return to college. But these programs remain far from standard practice. Too many re-enrollment efforts falter because institutions treat them as short-term enrollment boosts rather than a long-term strategic priority. In reality, it requires sustained institutional commitment to learners who are balancing jobs, families and complicated histories with higher education.
Five steps to help students finish
Here are five steps colleges can take to help students return and finish what they started.
Build a team that works together. Re-enrollment cannot succeed as the responsibility of a single office. It requires coordination across admissions, advising, financial aid, academic departments, student services and institutional leadership. Every department should function as spokes on the same wheel, not as separate hubs.
At National University, for example, dedicated re-entry specialists help former students traverse the path back to college. But the university’s efforts do not rest solely with that team. National’s “Whole Human Education” model brings together academic, financial, career and personal supports so adult learners — returning and otherwise — receive seamless assistance across departments.
Culture eats strategy: Embrace change management. Re-enrollment initiatives require colleges to rethink long-standing practices for handling student records, resolving financial holds, structuring advising and measuring success.
These are significant shifts, and without a clear plan to guide people through the process, even promising efforts can lose steam. Leadership can set the right tone from the start by embracing a change management approach to the process.
When presidents and provosts speak plainly and consistently about why helping stopped-out students return to college matters, it signals to faculty and staff that re-enrollment deserves real attention. Support for staff is just as critical.
Asking employees to adopt new systems or processes without providing enough training, time or resources is a recipe for frustration and burnout. By addressing concerns transparently and emphasizing exactly how any changes will directly support students, colleges can transform initial resistance among faculty and staff into enthusiasm.
Clean up the data. Data is central to any successful re-enrollment strategy because it determines who institutions contact, how they reach them, and what kinds of messages they send. But data readiness varies widely across colleges, and records can be incomplete, outdated, or unclear.
A strong data strategy starts with establishing clear goals. Some institutions may seek to re-enroll as many students as possible, while others may prioritize those closest to completion or those most likely to graduate quickly. An institution’s priorities will shape how colleges review, segment, and prioritize their data.
Verification is equally important. Cross-checking institutional records against national enrollment databases helps institutions identify students who have completed credentials elsewhere or transferred.
Remove bureaucratic red tape. Outreach may open the door for returning students, but institutional processes determine whether learners walk through it. Returning adults frequently encounter barriers such as financial holds, confusing requirements, limited office hours or rigid scheduling. Any one of these can quickly turn refound optimism into renewed resignation.
Designing an adult-ready experience requires examining policies through the lens of students’ lives. Many returning learners are working, raising families, or both. They are often navigating financial strain.
Flexible course formats, evening and weekend availability, virtual advising and streamlined administrative steps can make re-enrollment feasible rather than aspirational. Coaching, advising and early orientation programs, meanwhile, can help rebuild self-confidence.
Supports that address basic needs and stability — such as childcare assistance, food access and benefits navigation — play a critical role. Institutions can also offer targeted debt relief, transcript release or clearly defined fee waivers.
The University of Louisville, for instance, offers what it calls “Comeback Cards,” which provide up to $4,000 of debt forgiveness to returning students. Likewise, the Ohio College Comeback Compact allows participating public colleges to offer debt relief and transcript release for students who re-enroll.
Speak to one. Not to everyone. Generic marketing rarely resonates with adults who have already experienced and left college. Adult learners are juggling many competing priorities, and messages that are concise, personal and relevant stand a far better chance of cutting through daily noise.
The best forms of outreach make the next step clear, simple and immediate. When an interested learner hears back within days rather than weeks, that momentum can carry a stopped-out learner back to the classroom.
While text messages and Instagram ads can be effective, institutions should step directly into the communities they serve. Blue Ridge Community College, for instance, hosts outreach events in local libraries and local churches to share information about credentials that local employers urgently need.
It comes down to trust
Re-enrollment ultimately comes down to trust. It asks faculty and staff to adopt changes to familiar practices, often before they can fully see the benefits. It asks former students to believe that they will return to a college experience that is clearer, more supportive and better aligned with their needs.
Institutions that commit to better data, clearer communication and campus-wide coordination create the conditions for that trust to take hold — and for students to finally reach the finish line.
