Helping First-Gen and Low SES Students Succeed: A Regional Model That Works
Release Date: 07/29/2025
Empathy in Higher Education Leadership Without Losing Your Edge
Changing Higher Ed
Empathy is easy to talk about and harder to practice when the pressure is high. In higher education, leaders are often navigating conflict, fatigue, and urgency, which is exactly when empathy gets misread as weakness instead of treated as a leadership competency. In this episode of the , speaks with and founder of , about building empathy as a practical skill leaders can use without surrendering standards or authority. Parson breaks empathy down into usable behaviors, including perspective-taking, emotional self-management, and question framing that reduces defensiveness. The discussion also...
info_outline
The Case for a Chief Enrollment Management Officer in Higher Education
Changing Higher Ed
In this episode of the , Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with , assistant dean of Extended Learning and director of the Emeritus Institute at Saddleback College, one of the nation’s highest-performing community colleges. The conversation focuses on why enrollment challenges persist even at strong institutions and how treating enrollment as a shared responsibility—rather than a system with clear executive ownership—creates fragmentation across admissions, student services, academics, and outcomes. Dr. Predoehl explains the Chief Enrollment Management Officer concept and why a cabinet-level...
info_outline
How Stevens Tech Became One of the Strongest Transformation Stories in Higher Education
Changing Higher Ed
Institutional transformation in higher education is often described in broad terms. At Stevens Institute of Technology, describes transformation in operational terms: disciplined strategic planning, academic realignment, and year-after-year execution systems that produced what Dr. Drumm McNaughton calls the Stevens Miracle. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Nariman Farvardin, President of Stevens Institute of Technology, about how Stevens achieved sustained success since he became president in 2011. Under Dr. Farvardin’s leadership,...
info_outline
Higher Education 2026 Planning and Lessons Learned from 2025 Predictions
Changing Higher Ed
Higher education enters 2026 under conditions that are no longer hypothetical. In this 8th annual end-of-year episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton is joined by Tom Netting of TEN Government Strategies to review how the predictions made at the end of 2024 played out during the 2025 operating year and what those outcomes mean for institutional planning in 2026. Rather than offering speculative forecasts, this episode uses 2025 as a calibration year. When predictions materialize, they remove ambiguity. They clarify which pressures are structural, which risks persist,...
info_outline
Strategic Insights from the 2025 AAC&U Employer Survey: What Employers Want From Higher Education
Changing Higher Ed
In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Dr. Ashley Finley, Vice President of Research and Senior Advisor to the President at the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), about the findings of the and what they reveal about employer expectations for higher education. Based on nearly 20 years of longitudinal research, the 2025 survey challenges many of the dominant public narratives about the value of college. Employers continue to express strong confidence in higher education, place equal importance on workforce preparation...
info_outline
Higher Education Communication Strategy Under Political Pressure and Crisis Risk
Changing Higher Ed
Higher education communication is no longer a marketing function. It is a strategic discipline shaped by political pressure, governance risk, and real-time public scrutiny. In this episode of the , speaks with , Senior Vice President and General Manager of the Americas at , about how university presidents and boards must rethink how communication functions inside their institutions under today’s crisis-driven conditions. Drawing on more than two decades of enterprise and higher education communications leadership, Maffei explains why internal communication now determines external...
info_outline
How Higher Ed Leaders Can Take Back the Public Narrative
Changing Higher Ed
Higher education is facing a growing disconnect between and the realities of campus life. In this episode of the , speaks with , CNN political analyst, filmmaker, and director of , about how institutions can reclaim their narrative and through authentic human stories. This conversation is especially relevant for presidents, trustees, and senior leaders navigating public skepticism, political pressure, and communication environments where external voices often define higher education’s story. Some of the Topics Covered The forces driving negative public narratives about higher education...
info_outline
Innovation in Higher Education: How Leaders Build the Capacity to Adapt
Changing Higher Ed
Higher education leaders are being asked to innovate faster than their institutions are built to move. This episode of Changing Higher Ed explores how presidents and boards can change that. Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Erika Liodice, Executive Director of the Alliance for Innovation and Transformation (AFIT), about how institutions can strengthen their innovation capacity through futures thinking, cross-sector insight, and structured team-based planning. Topics Covered: How futures thinking helps leaders anticipate demographic, workforce, and technology shifts Why innovation efforts fail...
info_outline
Accreditation Trends and WASC Priorities for Student Success
Changing Higher Ed
are shifting under rising accountability pressures, financial constraints, and increased scrutiny of student outcomes. This episode of the features , President and CEO of the WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), in a strategic conversation with about how institutions can strengthen accreditation readiness and support stronger student success. This episode is essential for presidents, provosts, trustees, and senior leaders responsible for accreditation, mission alignment, evidence systems, governance oversight, and long-term institutional resilience. Topics Covered How...
info_outline
The Real Cost of Overlooking Teaching Quality in Higher Ed
Changing Higher Ed
Improving how teaching happens in the classroom is one of the most effective ways to increase student retention, stabilize tuition revenue, and strengthen institutional reputation—yet most universities don’t manage it strategically. In this episode of , speaks with , Associate Professor at the University of Iowa and author of The Missing Course, about how teaching quality has fallen outside institutional oversight and what presidents and boards can do to make it a core part of strategic leadership. They explore how governance structures, incentive systems, and faculty preparation create a...
info_outlineWith first-generation and low SES students facing steep barriers to completion and career entry, Great Jobs KC has built a replicable model that starts in high school, continues through college, and delivers real workforce outcomes. In this episode of the Changing Higher Ed® podcast, Dr. Drumm McNaughton speaks with Great Jobs KC CEO Earl Martin Phalen about how regional collaboration, wraparound services, and employer partnerships are helping underserved students succeed beyond graduation.
Phalen outlines how Great Jobs KC collaborates with 24 higher education institutions, over 150 employer partners, and K–12 feeder systems to support students from high school through college graduation and into strong first jobs. Through initiatives like KC Scholars and the Great Jobs KC scholarship, the organization provides $50,000 per student for tuition, transportation, and wraparound support—including case managers, success coaches, and career placement services.
This episode offers practical, data-backed insights for institutional leaders working to improve retention, increase degree completion, and strengthen job placement results for underserved students through strategic regional partnerships.
Topics Covered:
- The unique needs of first-generation and low SES students
- Designing holistic support systems that extend beyond financial aid
- How to build college-employer partnerships that deliver job outcomes
- Regional collaboration between 24 colleges and over 150 employers
- The role of scholar advocates and success coaches in student persistence
- How investing $50,000 per student can produce high ROI
- Measuring impact: retention, completion, and employment rates
Real-World Examples Discussed:
- Great Jobs KC’s partnership with regional colleges, including UMKC, Avila, William Jewell, and Donnelly College
- How the KC Scholars program helps high school students complete FAFSA, ACT prep, and college planning
- Employer partnership models, including apprenticeships, internships, and work-based learning
- The importance of wraparound services like transportation and mental health support in student success
- Scholar experiences navigating college with the help of long-term coaching
Three Key Takeaways for Higher Ed Leadership:
- Institutions that want to serve first-gen and low-income students need more than scholarships—they need scalable systems of support.
- Long-term coaching and employer-aligned programs can dramatically improve retention, completion, and career outcomes.
- Regional collaboration between colleges, K–12 schools, and employers isn’t just ideal—it’s necessary to build equitable education-to-career pipelines.
Recommended For:
Presidents, provosts, trustees, enrollment and student success leaders, and system executives seeking replicable strategies to improve access, retention, completion, and career outcomes for first-generation and low SES students.
Read the transcript on our website:
https://changinghighered.com/first-gen-and-low-ses-student-success-strategies/
#HigherEdLeadership #StudentSuccess #FirstGenStudents #LowSESStudentSuccess #RegionalCollaboration #HigherEducationPodcast