As college enrollment still lags behind pre-pandemic levels, it's more crucial for student support professionals to think about equity-driven practices. This means moving from a model of making “college-ready students” to a model of becoming a “student-ready college.” Simply, it’s about purposefully building equity into your college’s culture and operations. Ensuring all students are given a true chance at succeeding in higher education, even if they come from inequitable backgrounds.

Students come into college with varying degrees of academic preparation. Zip codes often determine the quality of education, mitigating an individual's talent or "hard work ethic." In addressing equity, some higher ed professionals must recognize their biases and assumptions about underserved students to allow for change. 

While these gaps are functions of much larger forces, see them as an opportunity to make impactful change.

The first step includes looking at your values in your campus context. What is the overall mission of your school? How could your role in that mission be different from a student-ready perspective? For example, is your college's mission to be student-centered? Becoming student-centered may mean expanding your office's touchpoints to meet students where they are. Touchpoints could include more remote options for talking with staff or completing forms online. Students have different responsibilities outside of college, so it's essential to be prepared to work with them, not against them.

Educators must make difficult decisions, be accountable, and address their (and others) preconceived notions about student success head-on. Changes must be made in an institution's policies, practices, and culture. An excellent way to do this is to create partnerships with other organizations on campus or in the community.

Student-ready colleges build effective partnerships by: 1. Having an appreciation of each other’s common work, strengths, and needs 2. Acknowledging overlapping accountability 3. Creating an agreement on infrastructure 4. Committing to shared cost 5. Engaging in continuous communication

The process of becoming student-ready will look different for some institutions. But, there are general key results you can aim for to ensure you are meeting your goal. Student-ready colleges address the academic, social, and financial needs of their students by:

A student-ready campus makes believing in all its students, an expectation of everyone working there. From all levels, everyone has a shared goal and welcomes new ideas.

You can learn more about becoming a student-ready campus by reading Becoming a Student-Ready College: A New Culture of Leadership for Student Success. 

BestFit addresses marginalized students' basic needs through student-centered eligibility screening for public benefits.  Follow BestFit on social media or schedule a call with us today to learn more about getting your campus student-ready.