Promoting student success: Using financial and other resources to enhance student success

Abstract

Howard Bowen (1996) wryly observed decades ago that colleges and universities raise all the money they can, and then they spend it. His point was that institutions have more good ideas than they can fully fund. As a consequence, they are constantly making choices as to how to best use their finite resources. Where and how resources are allocated reflect institutional priorities ideally guided by a deliberate planning process that values and supports student success. The principles that follow for using financial and other resources to enhance student learning are based on an in-depth examination of 20 diverse four-year colleges and universities that have higher-than-predicted graduation rates and, as demonstrated through the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), effective policies and practices for engaging their students. These institutions illustrate that it is not necessarily the amount of resources an institution allocates that is important to student success but how financial resources, faculty and staff time, and facilities are linked to create powerful, affirming learning environments.