Indiana Commission for Higher Education requests $2.5 million to boost college success coach program

INDIANAPOLIS — The Indiana Commission for Higher Education has requested $2.5 million from the State Budget Committee to extend contracts with approximately 30 college success coaches at 22 four-year colleges/universities and add more coaching positions if possible.

”We have seen success and thought that was something worth replicating across the campuses,” said Michelle Ashcraft, the chief program officer for the CHE.

Last year, the General Assembly allocated $5 million to the CHE so it could be allocated toward success coaches. While half of it went to creating the coaching positions, the other half will go towards keeping them there.

The coaches specifically help kids in the 21st Century Scholars Program: a program that helps current and prospective college students from low-income households.

“Part of it is connecting them to career services and opportunities for work-based learning like internships and those sorts of things so hopefully, when they graduate, we can keep them here,” said Ashcraft.

Ashcraft also said most of the colleges participating in the student success coaching initiative have reported higher enrollment and FAFSA filing numbers.

“While it’s too early to tell for us to know statewide what our enrollment rate looks like, it’s a good early indicator that at least some of those campuses are already reporting that trend,” said Ashcraft.

The move comes as fewer high school students are deciding to go to college. Since 2020, Indiana’s college-going rate has remained stagnant at 53% — a drop from 63% back in 2017, according to the CHE.

“Pre-college is really where it’s at,” said Eric Schansberg, an economics professor at IU Southeast. “Are we doing a good job in middle school and high school to prepare kids, and then in that transition, what can we do with whatever they are bringing to the table? That’s where the success coaches, I think, could be helpful.”

This comes as the 21 ^st Century Scholars program prepares to expand in a major way. Thanks to a new auto-invite feature the state implemented, the program went from enrolling between 16,000-19,000 new students per year to more than 40,000 new students this year.

While that does not mean all of them will end up becoming 21st Century Scholars, Ashcraft said the auto-invite features give them all an equal opportunity to join the program if they so choose.

“If we can get a good system that’s working really well for the current scholars that are enrolled, we will be more prepared for the future influx that’s coming,” said Ashcraft.

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