What does it look like to pilot an innovative mission to increase college access for Illinois learners? We’re checking in from the Illinois Launch-pad to answer this key question and reflect on our learnings since announcing our collaboration with five partners: Carl Sandburg, Illinois Central, Parkland, Rock Valley, and Triton community colleges.
Our mission is straightforward: simplify college access for students in the high school graduating class of 2027. How? Reduce the steps they have to take by leveraging existing requirements (completing a FAFSA to Alternative Application for Illinois Financial Aid to graduate) and the promise of our open-enrollment community colleges.
While the mission is straightforward in principle, mission operations have been complex and, at times, challenging. Nonetheless, our five partner colleges have made tremendous progress and are on track for a successful launch this fall and next spring.
Mission Control: Building the Right Team
When we started work on Launch, our early priority was cultivating the right state-level team to design an innovative pilot based on human-centered design principles. Ultimately, that meant bringing together policymakers and practitioners across secondary, postsecondary, and financial aid sectors who could help identify a strategy to shift the burden of college access onto the system and off students and their families.
Similarly, we have worked with our college partners to develop their own cross-functional teams to ensure they can design and implement their pilot strategies as effectively as possible. This meant building buy-in across different levels of leadership (including operational leaders and senior administrators) and pulling in experts across the access and enrollment pipeline (from admissions to enrollment, financial aid, and advising) to center students in systems change. College teams are also bringing in IT leaders to operationalize the technical systems needed for this admissions change in their application and student information systems.
What has been central across all teams is a deep commitment to centering student experiences and reaching students who may not otherwise be considering postsecondary education. Each team has found ways in which this pilot will help streamline the experience for students and families and support their colleges in achieving enrollment management goals articulated in their strategic plans by testing new ways to engage prospective students.
Houston, We Have a Problem Challenge
The physics of “lift-off” across all pilot projects includes shared challenges that each college is grappling with, regardless of their geography or their technical systems.
Several key questions have emerged:
- How do we meaningfully reduce the steps students have to take while ensuring colleges have the information that they need to translate admissions to enrollment and meet state reporting requirements?
- Which technical systems need to be updated to gather and connect the required information? How can we implement changes when technical systems are in transition?
- How do we ensure this doesn’t create duplicate or fraudulent records in college systems?
- How do we convert admissions into enrollment (i.e., increase yield) for these students, particularly those who are “on the bubble” about attending college?
- How do we ensure messaging is clear and aligned across multiple access points, including One Click College Admit?
- What do high school leaders need to know to help students as they navigate this process?
Across our community of practice meetings and coaching calls, we have been diving into these questions with college teams. While they are not fully answered, several key principles have emerged:
- Build from what exists: Colleges have many promising practices to build from without having to create fully new systems, including robust engagement strategies with their feeder high schools, sample forms for facilitating dual credit student transition into their institutions, and proactive advising strategies tied to enrollment management
- Keep it simple: As much as possible, colleges are streamlining action steps and changes for students, high schools, and college administrators to make their internal processes clear, concise, and navigable.
- Positive messaging: Colleges are focusing on proactive, straightforward communication with admitted students that is welcoming, encouraging, and friendly to foster an early sense of interest and belonging.
- Commit to learning: Across our Launch collaborative, leaders are committed to learning through this process so that we can keep what is effective for student access and refine future implementation.
What’s Next: Lift-Off and Learning
In September, we reconvene with pilot colleges for another community of practice meeting, where we will focus on supporting colleges in finalizing their flight plans and facilitating peer-to-peer learning on advising and recruitment strategies to promote strong yield among students admitted via Launch. When FAFSA opens in October, we will begin to see how these operational plans will roll out alongside our partners.
As these pilots take flight, we will share what we learn about student experiences and how colleges are fostering a sense of connection and belonging that pulls students into high-quality postsecondary pathways.
Thank you to our national partners and funders at the Launch Initiative, particularly Jobs for the Future, New America, the Joyce Foundation, and the Gates Foundation, for supporting this work in Illinois, and our state team partners at the Illinois Board of Higher Education, Illinois Community College Board, Illinois State Board of Education, Illinois Student Assistance Commission, and Vandalia Community School District.
