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Heather Mosley | SBJ

A Conversation With ... Steve Fouse

College Director of Student Success, Ozarks Technical Community College

Posted online

The percentage of students that come through community colleges and graduate nationally is not extremely high. At OTC, about 31% graduate within three years and 46% complete their degrees, which includes transferring credits. What are the barriers for students as it relates to that graduation rate?
We spend a lot of time digging into that question. One of the things we looked at was something that we call waterfall data. Of 100 students that say they’re interested in coming to OTC, a certain percentage of them don’t persist through the orientation process. About 27% of them withdraw due to some kind of financial issue, so they never make it to the first day of classes. What we found in looking at several years’ worth of data is of students that apply, only about 50% of them make it to the first day [of classes]. After that, we lose fewer students, but still we have students that transfer or decide college isn’t for them. Often that has to do with three areas that we’ve identified. We focus on long-term planning, helping students figure out: Why do you want to go to college? What’s your long-term goal? What degree program aligns with that career path? The second is financial aid. That’s a major barrier. Sometimes, we say, life happens, like their car breaks down or their child care falls through, and they have these sudden, unexpected expenses that then means something has to give. The third is academic planning. They don’t have a clear course to get to where they want to go. They want to be a lawyer, but they think two years in community college might help them get there. It will, but we need to do some planning beyond that. We focus on those three areas and then referring students to resources as needed. OTC invested in a position we call navigators that helps students with those three plans: academic, financial and long-term planning.

If 50% of students aren’t making it to that first day of classes that apply, what is the goal for that and the graduation rate?
Much higher. Initially we conceptualized this as all one role, but we ended up creating an admissions team. When students are in that application process, they’re assigned an admissions counselor who walks them through that process. Their goal is to lose fewer students through our application process and maybe retain 70% or 80%. Our ultimate goal is to increase fall-to-fall retention and graduation. Over the last three years we’ve been increasing this pilot project up to full implementation, we’ve seen increases in fall-to-fall persistence, measurable amounts. So, 4% to 6% depending on the semester.

You also added community resource specialists to address health, hunger and hygiene needs of students. How have you been able to help students? That seems nontraditional for a college.
It is. It’s kind of a social worker role. OTC has counselors, but this is more boots on the ground. When life happens and a student has a need, our navigators can refer students to the community resource specialists, and their job is twofold: to develop partnerships in the community with different organizations that provide services and connect our students to those services. OTC is a fine institution, but we can’t do everything. We can’t put new tires on your car or help you with legal issues or provide child care. But we do have resources and partners in the community that can help with those things. [We helped] more than 600 [students] in the fall semester.

OTC data shows 63% of students receive scholarships or grants. In fall, OTC had 111 students as part of the state’s Fast Track program. How is that removing barriers for students to stay in school, and what are other financial aid programs helping students?
If you’ve graduated from high school, you’ve been out a couple of years and you don’t have a credential, then you can come back to school. It works similar to the Pell [Grant] providing a funding source. We have a navigator to walk with them through filling out the (Free Application for Federal Student Aid). It’s daunting, especially for those first-time students. That’s kind of the key that unlocks multiple types of aid. You need a FAFSA on file to receive A+, for instance. That might be the difference between I can go to college and no, I can’t.

What are the next barriers that you will try to address through these programs?
The most recent OTC Cares report said that one in nine of our students is legally considered homeless, so they might be living with a friend, sleeping on the couch. They don’t have the stability that tends to lead to success in college. I don’t know if we’re going to get away from that unless there’s massive social change, but providing students with those connections through the community resource specialists can help them persist. That’s an area that we can expand. We do have three community resource specialists in the whole system and should we hire more; they would be utilized.

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