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RESOURCES
THE MAPS PROJECT NOT ONLY SEEKS TO PROVIDE HIGH QUALITY DATA TO HIGHER ED LEADERS. WE ALSO LOOK TO INSTILL THOUGHT PROVOKING AND CONTEXT MATERIALS TO UNDERSTAND THE .
CATEGORIES
FINANCIAL HEALTH
View resources that discuss barriers, hardships, and solutions for institutional financial health
EQUITY
Read how equity-centric programs are being established and developed from institutions across the nation
STUDENT SUPPORT & SUCCESS
Find resources to support and excel students in their academic experiences.
Transformation 101: How universities can overcome financial headwinds to focus on their mission
Troubled universities can reset their financial trajectory.
Higher Education: A Pathway for Successful Cost Reduction
This publication examines the three success factors that higher education providers should consider in their cost reduction approach. Successful delivery of cost reduction programs will not only be the key to managing immediate cash flow challenges but ensure universities have optionality moving forward.
NACUBO Tuition Discounting Study
The annual NACUBO Tuition Discounting Study (TDS), sponsored by Vemo Education, measures institutional tuition discount rates and other indicators of institutionally funded scholarships awarded to undergraduates attending private, nonprofit (independent) colleges and universities. See the TDS Glossary for more information.
A Path to Sustainability: How Revenue Diversification Helps Colleges and Universities Survive Tough Economic Conditions
The paper chronicles the significant changes in the financing of higher education, examines three rationales for revenue diversification, and then analyzes the effect of diversification on institutional revenue per student at a large sample of private, non-research institutions during the worst of recent economic periods. Implications for practice are then discussed.
A Generational Challenge: State Postsecondary Education Policies to Support Economic Recovery and Individual Opportunity
During this time of unprecedented economic, health, and social challenges, states must leverage higher education as a strategic asset rather than simply a budgetary expense.
Diversifying Campus Revenue Streams: Opportunities and Risks
The primary leadership challenge for college presidents today is to maintain high quality and competitive standing in the face of menacing resource constraints. To meet this challenge, many institutions have begun to adopt more business-like perspectives, particularly by aggressively pursuing alternative revenue streams.
Financial Health
FINANCIAL HEALTH
EQUITY
MAPS:
Five Themes For Centering Student Equity
In Fall 2020, MAPS contributors from across the country, including students, researchers, practitioners, and decision makers, convened to develop key assertions about how to move toward a more equitable future.
How to Stand Up for Equity in Higher Education
The pandemic has greatly intensified equity gaps. A Strada survey reported that half of all Latinx students surveyed and 42 percent of Black students canceled or altered their educational plans due to the pandemic, compared to 26 percent of non-Hispanic white students.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Action
The terms diversity, equity, and inclusion have become ubiquitous on college and university campuses. Students, faculty, and staff agree that it’s important—even essential—to build diverse, equitable, and inclusive campus communities, but what does it take to make that happen?
Best & Promising Practices for Equity in Higher Education
Provide an array of concepts and successful practices for embedding equityin higher education to inform the strategic direction for GRC’s Equity-Centered Strategic Plan.
Laying the Groundwork
Where is your team starting from? Have racism and equity been part of your dialogue for a while, or are they new? The readings and activities in this phase will help you build a new vocabulary and a deeper understanding of racism and equity together.
Aspen Institute
Structural Equity: Big-Picture Thinking & Partnerships That Improve Community College Student Outcomes
Community colleges play a vital role in creating a more equitable society through educational opportunity. The most effective community colleges—those that not only enroll but graduate large numbers of students from underserved communities—have worked hard to fundamentally reform internal structures and operations so that the education and supports students receive are aligned with student success goals. Much of the national dialogue and efforts to improve community college performance have focused on critical elements of internal change.
Online learning during COVID-19: 8 ways universities can improve equity and access
Our collaborative research group, based at Université Laval, Concordia University, Florida State University, University of Southern California and San Francisco State University, sought to better understand how universities planned to make sure all students would have access to online learning and be able to participate as courses moved online. Our team met remotely with staff from 19 centres in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Lebanon.
Anti-Racism in Higher Education: A Model for Change
Racism continues to persist in higher education and traditional diversity initiatives that focus only on support resources and tolerance training continue to fall short in making lasting change on college and university campuses. The purpose of this scholarly paper is to present a model for change within higher education that distributes leadership and institutional power across racial lines and enlightens the White community about systemic inequities.
Equity
STUDENT SUPPORT & SUCCESS
Advising at HBCUs: A Resource Collection Advancing Educational Equity and Student Success
Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) play an invaluable role in promoting equity in higher education. Each of the three articles in this collection—a qualitative research project, a set of case studies, and a journal review—offers a unique perspective exploring how advising best practices conducted by HBCUs can promote positive student outcomes.
Why Colleges and Universities Need to Invest in Quality Teaching More Than Ever
This paper presents the available research on the connections among better teaching, improved student learning outcomes, higher degree completion, and institutional financial solvency. It helps make the case that strengthening the pedagogical core of what we do in our classes can have multiple positive effects throughout higher education.
Best practices for Mental Health Services in Colleges and Universities
Higher education students and their families look increasingly to college and universities to provide mental health and behavioral health services for their students thus leading to a growing demand for supportive services on college campuses.
First Generation Students in Community College and Technical College
Community and technical colleges are critical access points for higher education, particularly for first-generation college students. To understand the current state of first-generation student support programs and services at community and technical colleges across the United States, the Center for First-generation Student Success partnered with Phase Two Advisory to interview institution leaders, administrators, student services staff, and first-generation students and collect data from a national survey.
FIVE THINGS: Student Affairs Administrators Can Do to Improve Success Among College Men of Color
The Research and Policy Institute Five Things Issue Brief Series is designed to connect leaders in the field of student affairs with academic scholarship focused on critical issues facing higher education. Intended to be accessible, succinct, and informative, the series provides NASPA members with thought provoking perspectives and guidance about what current research tells us about supporting student success in all its forms.
Three Ways to Better Support Student-Parents and Their Children
Did you know that college students who are also parents are 10 times less likely than their childless peers to receive their bachelor’s degree? As Congress considers historic investments to expand high-quality, affordable child care, state policymakers should start thinking about the best ways to support the needs of student-parents and their children with those new funds.
Campus Mental Health Action Planning
Today, mental health professionals have access to treatments that can effectively help people with a variety of mental health concerns. When young people are connected early to support and treatment, most mental health problems can be successfully managed, with symptoms reduced or even eliminated.
Best & Promising Practices for Equity in Higher Education
Provide an array of concepts and successful practices for embedding equityin higher education to inform the strategic direction for GRC’s Equity-Centered Strategic Plan.
Laying the Groundwork
Where is your team starting from? Have racism and equity been part of your dialogue for a while, or are they new? The readings and activities in this phase will help you build a new vocabulary and a deeper understanding of racism and equity together.
Aspen Institute
Structural Equity: Big-Picture Thinking & Partnerships That Improve Community College Student Outcomes
Community colleges play a vital role in creating a more equitable society through educational opportunity. The most effective community colleges—those that not only enroll but graduate large numbers of students from underserved communities—have worked hard to fundamentally reform internal structures and operations so that the education and supports students receive are aligned with student success goals. Much of the national dialogue and efforts to improve community college performance have focused on critical elements of internal change.
Online learning during COVID-19: 8 ways universities can improve equity and access
Our collaborative research group, based at Université Laval, Concordia University, Florida State University, University of Southern California and San Francisco State University, sought to better understand how universities planned to make sure all students would have access to online learning and be able to participate as courses moved online. Our team met remotely with staff from 19 centres in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, France and Lebanon.
Anti-Racism in Higher Education: A Model for Change
Racism continues to persist in higher education and traditional diversity initiatives that focus only on support resources and tolerance training continue to fall short in making lasting change on college and university campuses. The purpose of this scholarly paper is to present a model for change within higher education that distributes leadership and institutional power across racial lines and enlightens the White community about systemic inequities.
FIVE THINGS Student Affairs Professionals Can Do to Support Latinx/a/o Students in Community Colleges
Published by NASPA’s Research and Policy Institute, the Five Things Issue Brief Series is designed to connect leaders in the field of student affairs with academic scholarship on critical issues facing higher education. Intended to be accessible, succinct, and informative, the briefs provide NASPA members with thought-provoking perspectives and guidance from current research on supporting student success in all its forms.
Students of Color Are Not OK. Here’s How Colleges Can Support Them.
Drop-in counseling for Black students. Therapy groups on coping with racism. Programs for white students on how to be anti-racist.
Building Family-Friendly Campuses: Strategies to Promote College Success Among Student Parents
For parents, receiving a college degree is one of the best investments they can make to improve the financial security, social mobility, and overall well-being of their family. Research has repeatedly shown, for example, that college graduates have higher lifetime earnings than their peers with just a high school diploma, and are more likely to report experiencing better health than those with lower educational attainment.
Resources Designed for International Students Could Also Help First-Generation Students
The U.S. higher education system is vast, diverse, and complicated to navigate, and earning a degree can be difficult. The challenge is especially felt by students entirely new to the U.S. higher education system and its culture. This includes both first-generation students and international students.
Better Together: Four Mutually Reinforcing Strategies for Retaining Black Students and Faculty
Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions are doubling down on efforts to retain Black faculty and students, especially at predominantly White institutions. In most instances, colleges and universities approach faculty and student retention separately, without understanding existing connections between Black faculty and Black students. Following are four ways that Black faculty and Black students are already connecting to provide support for each other.
Diverse Conversations: How Can We Increase Minority Graduation Rates?
Many schools focus on recruiting a diverse student body. But, once the students arrive on campus, not every institution spends a significant amount of time on retention. Neglecting retention strategies means that fewer students ultimately graduate from college and that shortcoming disproportionately affects minority students.
Student Support & Success
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