Killing Student Success by a Thousand Cuts

We live in complex and volatile times in higher education.  The intersection of higher education with political, economic, and cultural spheres represent a series of challenges that all build upon on another to create an environment that is distressing to many of us that give our professional selves (and often a great deal of our personal selves) to higher education.  The personal challenges we experience within our day to day working lives are bad enough; however, they pale in comparison to the challenges our students face.  Despite decades of research designed to improve the graduation rates of our students entering college, we still nationally only graduate about half of the students who enter the gates of our institutions each year.  In order to be our most effective at helping more students realize the benefits of college graduation, we have to find a way to focus on student success despite all of the challenges that are thrown our way.

The economic challenges facing education present a number of difficult challenges we discuss all the time in student affairs; however I would like to connect a few dots on how the economic situation is bad for student affairs in a way we often don’t discuss.  According to the graph below published in our university system fact book…

The state contributes 29% of the cost of education compared to 53% ten years ago.

I get that this isn't news.  State funding for all education has decreased and the discussion surrounding our entire education system has become contentious in the political sphere as those of us in education attempt to understand what legislatures want from us and how we can be viewed as economic engines instead of a drain on state resources.

An emerging issue that isn't helping us is the latest report that has been covered by the Chronicle of Higher Education and the Huffington Post (those are the two places I saw it) that detail the rising number of non-teaching administrative positions on college campuses.  You can check out the Chronicle’s coverage of it here:  http://chronicle.com/article/Administrator-Hiring-Drove-28-/144519/

I tried not to read the comments, but couldn't help myself, and I wish I hadn't.  They are brutal.  Another example of something to argue about the further entrenches the boundaries between student affairs and everyone else.  As resources become less and less, we argue among ourselves about what is most important without a full appreciation for the complexity of the issues.  The arguments are old, tired, and unfortunately do not help focus the mission of higher education. 

There may be a variety of reasons to explain the 28% boom in student services positions over the past 12 years, but my theory is that we've prioritized hiring people in student services (and in other corners of the administration) that can focus on making money in an attempt to maintain our current structures and make up for the decrease in support from the state.

This might be all well intended and even viewed as necessary, but it is killing student success.  The faculty who are concerned over “administrative bloat” are right, but should acknowledge the difference between hiring “administrators” who serve the primary role of trying to garner more resources for the university and “administrators” who are trying to help students successfully navigate the college environment.  This type of nuance is often lost in these types of discussions, but we can’t blame others (faculty) for not understanding what our mission is in student affairs.  We must be intentional in how we demonstrate and communicate our priorities.  Actions speak louder than words.

I understand the need for universities to become more entrepreneurial, but I also believe we must recognize that comes at a cost in student affairs.  The title of this piece was meant to be provocative, but it wasn't necessarily just a critique of the politics around decreased state funding.   The “cuts” that I am referring to are not just the cuts in state support, but also the self-imposed “cuts” in student affairs of student success related functions in the form of devoting less time, effort, and energy to the implementation of high impact practices that could show faculty we would like to work with them to advance student success. We need to invest more in these types of programs that are meant to help students from all walks of life succeed and align ourselves more completely with the academic mission of the institution.

Recruiting new students isn't the answer to economic woes.  In many states across the nation, the number of high school graduates are significantly lower than they were ten years ago.  A new type of student is already on our campuses and other students like them will continue to populate the higher education landscape.  They aren't on campus as much because they are balancing a lot of other responsibilities outside of their academic careers.  They need additional support to adjust to the academic environment and could use additional support in charting a path toward graduation closer to the four year plan (or shorter).  These students also are struggling financially and are taking on massive amounts of debt in order to be our students and could use a break from increased fees and tuition.  We need to focus on how we engage these students in order to help them succeed.

Despite the challenging environment, we must resist the urge in student affairs to prioritize the revenue producing auxiliary functions to the detriment of student engagement and success.  Ideally, these two functions should work hand in hand to support a comprehensive and coordinated student engagement mission, but it seems rather than seeing these two functions as different sides of the same coin, there is increased competition for priority and relevance within student affairs divisions.

There are reasons to be optimistic despite our challenging times.  A growing body of research has pointed to the benefits of programs and practices designed to increase student engagement both in and outside of the classroom.  In addition, universities that have found a way to demonstrate to students and ethic of care and support that place their success as the center of everyone’s work have experienced an increase in student retention and success (Google project DEEP for great examples).  Despite these gains, far too many universities struggle to align the resources they do have to create, implement, and sustain these types of programs.

In charting a path forward, we need to embrace the complexity of these issues and consider the long view.  Placing a focus in student affairs on revenue generation activity without seeing the connection to our student engagement mission is detrimental to student success.  Sure, there is potentially waste on the academic side that could be explored, but instead of furthering the turf war, let's focus on how student affairs can prioritize student success and see the retention of students as our best revenue enhancement program.  During these turbulent times in higher education, we must practice our ability to wade through the political and economic crises of the day and refine our focus on student success through a comprehensive, coordinated, and collaborative student engagement mission.