Student Success
State colleges and universities relentlessly pursue improved outcomes for all students. AASCU turns these institutions’ successes and struggles into solutions that make better possible—for each and every student.
Contact us.
Where We’re Focused
Our members set the agenda. Together, we uncover what works, tackle what doesn’t, and create solutions tailored to the students we educate and the unique needs of regional public universities.
Ways to Get Involved
Programs
Take action alongside committed peers to improve student outcomes.
Research & Events
Find timely insights from the AASCU community.
Committees & Awards
Share insights and celebrate your peers’ contributions.
Policy & Advocacy
Advance policy priorities critical to student success.
Current Programs
The structure, tools, and community AASCU members need to advance timely interventions tailored to their students.
Join a multi-year cohort of institutions striving to accelerate equitable student success.
Learn tactical ways to lead institutional transformation for student success.
Adapt and evolve to meet the unique needs of current and future students.
IMPACT
Innovative Institutions
$9.8M
in direct grant support for 77 AASCU member campuses to support student success
50+
institutions and 1M+ students students served by AASCU’s student success programs
150+
leaders equipped to drive student success in 2024
Transformed Futures
$2,300 less
The average tuition and fees at regional public universities is ~$2,300 less than that of other public four-year institutions.
66%
of public, four-year bachelor’s degrees are awarded by regional public universities.
79%
of all degrees earned at public four-year institutions are awarded by regional public universities (data from 2023)
“I couldn’t have had better student success thought partners than with the staff at AASCU. They know how to create community and safe spaces where my colleagues and I could talk openly and frankly about the challenges we face in our institutional transformation work, and they pushed my thinking and supported me as I developed new frameworks that I was struggling to articulate. My relationship with AASCU has enabled me to gain more confidence in myself as a student success leader, and they’ve lifted my work and the work of my colleagues up in so many impactful ways.”
“The Frontier Set (FS) allowed several student success practitioners like me to find a community of like-minded individuals with the same interest in education. With the support of our intermediary at AASCU, we have become a student-center institution committed to the equitable improvement of the education of our students. The FS was not only an institutional transformational experience but also a personal one.”
“It has been a privilege to lead CSI’s participation in the “Frontier Set.” This project catalyzed dramatic changes at CSI that involved large-scale reforms in workflow, advising, student policies, curriculum, and instruction. At this point. the student experience is at the center of all conversations and our focus is on continuously working toward equity in student outcomes.”
Events
Sep. 16-17, 2025
Washington, DC
Symposium
Register today.
Featured News & Resources
Committees & Awards
Committee on Student Success
A passionate, diverse team of leaders shaping the direction of AASCU’s student success activities.
Excellence and Innovation Awards
Awards honoring institutions that demonstrate exceptional commitment to preparing all students for fulfilling futures.
Policy Agenda
AASCU’s commitment to student success extends to the policy arena, where we champion the federal and state policies that make student success possible—supporting both our members and the students they serve.
Tuition-Free College
- Advocate for increased investment in public higher education and promote policies that align federal and state practices with greater affordability and improved access.
- Encourage and promote AASCU’s proposed federal matching program and other strategies for leveraging federal resources to incentivize state public higher education funding, including a proposed stewardship grants program.
- Support proposals that promote federal-state affordability partnerships by providing federal incentives for increased state funding of operating costs at public colleges and universities.
- Ensure that any tuition-free or tuition-reduction proposals include any public institution’s first two years of college.
Institutional Autonomy of Public Institutions
- Preserve and protect academic freedom and institutional autonomy at public institutions.
- Oppose federal efforts to politically micromanage academic decisions regarding admissions criteria, faculty, curriculum, instruction, and transfer of academic credit at public institutions.
- Oppose outside influence within research and the academic peer-review process.
- Oppose arbitrary restrictions on international exchange and collaborative research activities of public institutions.
- Support the collection of targeted, actionable data for accountability and program management purposes in compliance with fair information practices and without imposing unreasonable burdens on participating institutions.
- Encourage policymakers to recognize issues of institutional/system governance, equity, and academic quality in all policies associated with the states’ role in higher education financing.
Strengthen Educator Preparation
- Continue to work with Congress and the administration to chart a practicable federal policy that seeks to strengthen the educator preparation pipeline and diversify the teacher corps.
- Urge policymakers to align educator preparation requirements with the 2015 reauthorized Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
- Support the Teacher/Educator Quality Partnership Program.
- Encourage state efforts to develop appropriate licensure standards based on valid, reliable, and objective data and align assessment of educator preparation programs with those standards.
- Ensure states evaluate all educator preparation venues using the same standards.
- Support improved teacher salaries to enable states to recruit and retain qualified teachers.
Tell us about the student outcomes you’re hoping for. We’ll tailor solutions that deliver.
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