Rethinking student success: How UA Hope-Texarkana helps students succeed, Part 3

Getting a student into college is only the beginning. For many students at the University of Arkansas Hope-Texarkana, completing a degree or workforce credential depends on much more than what happens in the classroom.

A student may be doing well academically but suddenly lose access to reliable transportation. A parent may struggle to find childcare that works with a class schedule. An unexpected expense can make it difficult to buy textbooks, pay a utility bill, or even put food on the table. Other students may need tutoring, academic advising, counseling, technology, or simply someone who can help them figure out what to do next.

Those challenges can determine whether a student stays in school or stops attending. That is why student support is an important part of student success at UA Hope-Texarkana.

The first two articles in this series examined how success can be measured in different ways and how UAHT prepares students for the workforce. But helping students reach those outcomes also requires addressing the obstacles that can stand between enrollment and completion.

A recent Richmond Federal Reserve report on community college wraparound services found that colleges commonly provide academic and career support, transfer advising, and early-alert systems designed to identify students who may be struggling.

However, services that address some of life’s most disruptive challenges, such as transportation, childcare, and housing, are less consistently available. Colleges participating in the survey identified cost as the greatest barrier to expanding those services. Funding is often tied to grants and other short-term sources, making it difficult for colleges to provide every student with every type of assistance they may need.

The findings reinforce an important reality. A student can be academically capable and still have difficulty finishing college because of circumstances outside the classroom.

UAHT works to address those challenges through a range of student services designed to help students meet their educational and career goals. Those services include Career Pathways, counseling and guidance, disability support services, TRiO Student Support Services, tutoring, financial aid assistance, Iron Horse Food Pantry, gas card programs, and other resources. Together, these services help create a support system around students as they work toward completion.

One of Arkansas’s most significant examples of wraparound student support is the Arkansas Career Pathways Initiative. Since 2006, Career Pathways has helped qualifying low-income parents attending Arkansas community colleges overcome barriers that might otherwise keep them from completing their education. The program combines financial assistance with individualized advising, career coaching, mentoring, and referrals to other services based on each student’s circumstances.

At UA Hope-Texarkana, Career Pathways may help eligible students with expenses and services including tuition, textbooks, testing fees, uniforms, supplies, childcare, transportation, technology, tutoring, academic assistance, and career guidance.

That support can make a significant difference for parents balancing college with responsibilities at home and work. A student may have the ability and determination to complete a nursing program, welding certificate, technical degree, or another credential, but determination alone does not pay for childcare or put gas in the car. Career Pathways is designed to help fill those gaps.

The statewide results show the potential impact of that approach. More than 105,000 low-income Arkansas parents have participated in Career Pathways since the program began in 2006. According to data cited by Arkansas Community Colleges, Career Pathways students graduate with a certificate or degree at more than twice the rate of their college peers. Nearly nine out of 10 program completers were employed and earning higher wages than comparable low-income parents in their communities.

Those results demonstrate how helping students address practical barriers can contribute directly to educational and workforce success.

UAHT’s TRiO Student Support Services program provides another layer of assistance. The program serves eligible low-income students, first-generation college students, and students with disabilities. Its purpose is to strengthen academic skills, improve retention and graduation rates, and help students continue into higher levels of education when appropriate.

Services available through TRiO include academic advising, tutoring, personal counseling, financial assistance, career counseling, assistance with transferring to four-year institutions, study skills support, and other activities designed to help participants navigate college successfully.

For a first-generation college student, these services can be particularly valuable. Students whose parents did not attend college may enter higher education without the benefit of someone at home who has already navigated registration, financial aid, degree planning, transfer requirements, or other parts of the college experience.

Having someone available to answer questions, explain processes, monitor progress, and connect a student with resources can make college feel more manageable. Sometimes student success comes down to knowing where to turn before a small problem becomes a reason to leave school.

Academic success is also difficult when basic needs are not being met. UAHT’s Iron Horse Pantry is available to currently enrolled students and provides another resource for students experiencing food insecurity. The pantry is located on the Hope campus, and an online ordering option helps make the service accessible to students at both the Hope and Texarkana campuses.

The pantry may seem separate from academics, but food insecurity can affect concentration, attendance, health, and a student’s ability to remain enrolled. A student choosing between groceries and gasoline may miss class. A parent trying to stretch a limited food budget may struggle to focus on an upcoming exam. A student facing an unexpected financial setback may begin wondering whether staying in college is realistic.

Providing access to basic-needs resources helps reduce some of those pressures so students can continue working toward their goals. That is another way student support becomes workforce development.

Many barriers students face are not financial. Sometimes students need help deciding which classes to take, understanding degree requirements, planning a transfer, improving study habits, finding tutoring, or dealing with a personal situation affecting their education.

UAHT provides student services intended to help students navigate those challenges. Academic advising helps students understand the courses and requirements needed to reach their goals. Tutoring can provide additional help when coursework becomes difficult. Counseling and guidance services give students another place to seek assistance, while disability support services help provide appropriate accommodations for qualifying students.

These services share a common purpose: keeping students connected to the college and moving toward completion. The support may look different for every student. One student may need weekly tutoring. Another may need help finding childcare. Someone else may need a gas card, a laptop, career counseling, or guidance about transferring to a university. There is no single solution because there is no single type of UAHT student.

Student support services are sometimes viewed as separate from workforce development. In reality, the two are closely connected. Employers need trained nurses, welders, technicians, educators, emergency medical professionals, information technology specialists, truck drivers, and other skilled employees.

But those workers do not appear simply because a college offers a training program. Students must enroll, persist, develop the required skills, earn their credentials, and make the transition into employment. When transportation problems, childcare difficulties, food insecurity, financial stress, or academic challenges cause students to leave college before finishing, students lose an opportunity, and employers lose a potential skilled worker.

The Arkansas Community Colleges report makes that connection clear. When students receive meaningful support, they are more likely to complete their education, enter the workforce, increase their earnings, and contribute to the communities where they live.

That is why workforce development cannot focus only on equipment, classrooms, and training programs. It must also focus on people.

Throughout this three-part series, one theme has remained consistent: student success does not look exactly the same for everyone. For one UAHT student, success may mean earning an associate degree and transferring to a university. For another, it may mean completing a short-term certificate and starting a new career. For a high school student, it may mean earning college credit and developing technical skills before graduation. For a working parent, success may begin with finding childcare, transportation, financial assistance, and enough support to make returning to college possible.

That is the broader story of student success at UA Hope-Texarkana. It is about providing educational opportunities, preparing people for careers, and helping students overcome the obstacles that can keep those opportunities out of reach.

Degrees, certificates, credentials, transfer rates, retention rates, and workforce outcomes are important measures of success. But behind every number is an individual student with a goal and a different set of circumstances. Helping that student enroll matters. Helping that student gain the skills needed for a career matters. And helping that student stay on the path long enough to reach the finish line matters just as much.

At the University of Arkansas Hope-Texarkana, student success is not simply about opening the door to education. It is about helping students keep moving forward once they walk through it.

To learn more about UAHT, visit https://www.uaht.edu/index.php today.