Kansas State University

K-State Student Success Playbook progress and priorities

Submitted by Thomas Lane

Dear colleagues,

Last week, Provost Mendez shared the university's draft Next-Gen K-State strategic enrollment plan for your review and feedback. This five-year plan draft builds on much of the work we are doing now to deliver the unmatched and impactful student experience outlined in our Next-Gen K-State strategic plan.

Today, I am excited to share the latest developments in our efforts to enhance student success at Kansas State University through the K-State Student Success Playbook, previously known as NISS. The focus of our work has been in four primary areas: coordinating academic advising, creating structured pathways for students, improving communication with students, and enhancing coordination and leveraging of all aspects of financial aid. Teams were assembled focusing on advancing key action items in each of these areas. Much has been achieved in our first year thanks to the work of these teams and many others across the university. Our accomplishments reflect our ongoing commitment to improving student experiences and outcomes, including achieving our strategic imperative goals to improve retention and graduation rates across student populations:

• Reconfigured and formalized University Advising Committee: Strengthened advising structure to better support student academic success.
• Launched the Exploratory Advising Center: Providing specialized support for students exploring academic pathways.
• Hired advising training administrator: New role that creates and facilitates coordinated universitywide program for advisor training and development.
• Implemented early alerts: Early alert system in Navigate, course progress reports and the "I Need Help" alert system continue to be enhanced and emphasized.
• Launched Wellcat One-Minute Survey: A survey to identify and assist students needing additional support and resources.
• Conducted census and mapping of large-scale student communications: Reviewed communications that were sent to 100 or more students in an academic year's time.
• Hosted communication focus groups with students: Gained valuable insights to improve how we engage and inform students.
• Entered final stages of creating a student-facing website: Developing a comprehensive resource hub for students, including key university services, IT access and news.
• Coordinated FAFSA communication campaigns: Boosted efforts to increase FAFSA completion rates through targeted messaging.
• Developed scholarship business document for MOU wording and awarding processes: A near-final draft document was developed to be used by campus scholarship coordinators and KSU Foundation Development Team members to provide consistent processes and practices associated with academic scholarships.
• Developed university messaging process for financial aid: Implemented a system to ensure students are informed about key financial aid timing and process steps.
• Revised completion grant awarding process: Streamlined efforts to support students with high financial need, helping them stay on track to graduation.
• Expanded MAPS and Kompass bridge programs: Increased access to these programs by opening them to more K-State colleges.
• Introduced sophomore year experience pilot: A workshop series tailored to support second-year students' academic and personal growth. 

These initiatives mark significant strides in advancing student success. As we head into this academic year, there are a few key priorities where our efforts will be focused:

• Identifying barriers to coordinated advising.
• Determining an optimal tool for personalized student academic plans.
• Identifying a CRM for enrolled students.
• Recommending structure, process and policies related to large-scale student communication.
• Determining sophomore success program viability and scalability.
• Continuing to increase participation in MAPS and Kompass. 
• Identifying processes and systems for proactive alerts related to financial aid. 
• Identifying a best practice process and structure for financial aid training of academic advisors. 
• Identifying and implement a proactive student engagement leading indicator platform. 
• Connecting students with supportive resources. 

We look forward to continued progress as we build on our accomplishments to provide our students with the support and experiences that will position them for success.

Thomas Lane
Vice President for Academic Success and Student Affairs and Dean of Students