The Edge: Missed opportunities in nondegree credentials

New reports highlight ways to better deploy those programs and to improve students' access to federal assistance. Plus: strategies for creating programs for incarcerated students. ADVERTISEMENT [The Edge Logo]( You can also [read this newsletter on the web](. Or, if you no longer want to receive this newsletter, [unsubscribe](. I’m Goldie Blumenstyk, a senior writer at The Chronicle covering innovation in and around higher ed. I’m on assignment for a special project, so this newsletter will be briefer than usual. This week, I give updates on how colleges are deploying non-degree credentials and on what more they could be doing to help students on financial aid gain access to other benefits. I also share a dispatch from my colleague Graham Vyse on strategies for establishing programs for incarcerated students. And please, see below for details on how you — or someone you know — can [apply to be a contestant]( at our Shark Tank: Edu Edition in March at SXSW EDU, in Austin, Tex. This year the selected contestants will receive free registration. ADVERTISEMENT SPECIAL OFFER FOR NEW SUBSCRIBERS Enjoying the newsletter? [Subscribe today]( for less than $20 and get unlimited access to essential reporting, data, and analysis. And as a special bonus, you'll get the 2024 Trends Report, our annual issue on the major trends shaping higher education — coming in March. The untapped possibilities of nondegree credentials Employers have a strong interest in partnering with colleges to design and deliver nondegree programs. Yet more than 45 percent of employers in a recent survey said colleges had never approached them to do so. That’s one finding from [a new report]( by Upcea, the Online and Professional Education Association, and Collegis, a private consulting company. The share of employers that partner with external parties to provide employee training and professional development increased from 54 percent in 2022 to 68 percent in 2023, the survey found. But colleges were losing ground to private providers. Employers that did work with colleges said they valued the quality of their content and their reputation. Among the barriers employers reported in working with colleges, the most cited was cost. Another Upcea [report on alternative credentials]( released last month, noted that many colleges see employers as strategic partners and consumers of their nondegree offerings. But colleges often lack a coordinated strategy for employer outreach, the report states. It outlines how many institutions were taking what seemed to be scattershot approaches to marketing and pricing their alternative-credential programs. The Council on Graduate Schools also just weighed in on the topic, offering its first look at how the movement for post-baccalaureate microcredentials is affecting master’s-degree programs. Two findings [in that report]( especially stood out to me: - The expansion of post-bacc microcredentials has prompted questions about their value, but employers still put more trust in credentials issued by institutions of higher education. - Despite growing recognition that “stackable credentials” can offer students greater access to higher education and the flexibility to stop and restart, only about half of all certificates now offered by colleges are designed to stack toward a master’s degree. Fixing the disconnect on federal student assistance Millions of low-income college students are missing out on federal assistance beyond their student aid — for things like food, discounted internet service, lower-cost health care, and the Child Tax Credit. Two years ago, the U.S Department of Education [advised colleges]( on how to tell eligible students about the resources available to them, based on data from their federal financial-aid forms, and even without that information. Yet, according to [survey results published last week]( the vast majority of institutions still don’t appear to be conducting such outreach to students. Higher Learning Advocates and the National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators found that, as of March 2023, only about a quarter of respondents to their survey of college officials were communicating with students about the federal-assistance programs. An additional 18 percent said they had plans to do so. But 43 percent said they had no plans for outreach. The most common reasons colleges weren’t doing it? A lack of resources for the work, concerns about follow-up questions they wouldn’t have the expertise to answer, and fears of using data from the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) in ways that could violate federal guidelines or student privacy. Most telling for me: Among those who weren’t doing the outreach, only 12 percent said it was because they “didn’t see a need for this.” At least colleges do seem to recognize the challenges many of their students face. To encourage more awareness, Higher Learning Advocates [recommended]( that the Education Department streamline data sharing among federal agencies to trigger outreach to students that doesn’t require colleges to be involved. And to protect student privacy, the organization proposed adding a check-off box to the FAFSA that could authorize the department, institutions, and other relevant entities to share the information necessary to inform students directly about their potential eligibility for federal assistance. Developing programs for incarcerated students Courses for incarcerated students can yield many individual and societal benefits, such as reduced recidivism, but a high-quality program requires extensive planning and specialized staffing, experts said during a recent Chronicle forum. Here are two takeaways from “[Starting a Program for Incarcerated Students]( which was moderated by Katherine Mangan, a Chronicle senior writer, and underwritten by the Ascendium Education Group as part of [our series]( on student success. Getting started can take up to a year — and involves three key approvals. Any college now in the early stages of planning a program should expect it to be up and running no earlier than the beginning of 2025, said Ruth Delaney, who directs the Unlocking Potential initiative at the Vera Institute of Justice. That’s even if approval comes sooner — from the relevant department of corrections where classes will take place, from the college’s accrediting agency, and finally from the U.S. Department of Education. “We want to see more programs,” Delaney said, “and we want to see them happening quickly, but we also want to see this deliberate process followed so that those programs that do make it are going to be high quality.” The program’s staff must be responsive and relatable. It’s crucial to have staff members present at the correctional facility during the day to “work through any issues that may come up,” said Charles B. Adams, a professor of criminal justice for the Prison Education Program at Bowie State University. That was especially valuable in his program, he said, when students came forward to ask for designated study spaces and facility administrators quickly granted their request. Staff members working with formerly incarcerated students at California State University were “able to draw upon their own lived experience with the criminal legal system,” said Laura Massa, the interim associate vice chancellor for academic and faculty programs, and that helped “build trust and construct communities of care.” —Graham Vyse Thinking about attending SXSW EDU? Got a new(ish) venture — or even just a good idea — to improve higher ed that you’d like to pitch live at our Shark Tank: Edu Edition on March 5 in Austin, Tex.? If so, we’d love to hear from you. While we don’t offer any investment capital, the session is always one of the highlights of the event. It’s also a great chance to get some feedback on thoughtful new approaches — commercial or nonprofit — from an education entrepreneur (Paul Freedman), a former college president and education-equity advocate (Catharine Bond Hill), and an education journalist (me). Just use [this form]( to submit your proposed pitch for consideration. Got a tip you’d like to share or a question you’d like me to answer? Let me know, at goldie@chronicle.com. If you have been forwarded this newsletter and would like to see past issues, [find them here](. To receive your own copy, free, register [here](. If you want to follow me on the site formerly known as Twitter, [@GoldieStandard]( is my handle. Or find me on BlueSky Social, which I just joined with [the same handle](. NEWSLETTER [Sign Up for the Teaching Newsletter]( Find insights to improve teaching and learning across your campus. Delivered on Thursdays. To read this newsletter as soon as it sends, [sign up]( to receive it in your email inbox. Goldie's Picks THE ENGAGEMENT ENIGMA [Why Campus Life Fell Apart]( By Erin Gretzinger and Maggie Hicks [STORY IMAGE]( Many student organizations withered on the vine during Covid. Rebuilding them isn’t an easy task. 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