The Opportunity

The United Negro College Fund (UNCF) established its Institute for Capacity Building (ICB) in 2006 to help the organization’s HBCUs and PBIs sustainably build capacity and improve admission, retention and graduation rates. So when the ICB received student feedback during the pandemic that they needed more wraparound support to stay on track in school, the ICB searched for a partner who could collaborate with them to holistically address these needs — and chose InsideTrack.

UNCF and InsideTrack join together for HBCU student success excellence

UNCF and InsideTrack join together for HBCU student success excellencearrow

The Solution

The partnership began with a re-enrollment pilot initiative, in which InsideTrack collaborated with nine UNCF HBCUs and PBIs to bring stopped-out students back to school. The benchmark re-enrollment rate was set at 4% — and, through direct, one-to-one coaching and proactive outreach, InsideTrack doubled the expected goal, with a final pilot re-enrollment rate of 8.6%. This pilot success sparked what is now a multi-phase, multi-year partnership that will bring re-enrollment, enrollment and retention coaching, as well as capacity building to even more UNCF schools.

The Solution

The partnership began with a re-enrollment pilot initiative, in which InsideTrack collaborated with nine UNCF HBCUs and PBIs to bring stopped-out students back to school. The benchmark re-enrollment rate was set at 4% — and, through direct, one-to-one coaching and proactive outreach, InsideTrack doubled the expected goal, with a final pilot re-enrollment rate of 8.6%. This pilot success sparked what is now a multi-phase, multi-year partnership that will bring re-enrollment, enrollment and retention coaching, as well as capacity building to even more UNCF schools.

Proven Results

8.6
%
re-enrollment rate
35
X
return on investment
0

The Impact

See how a successful re-enrollment pilot initiative helped bring hundreds of stopped-out students back to HBCUs and PBIs across UNCF’s network.

The Coach’s Impact:

InsideTrack Coach Supervisor Michelle Smith shares her experience in supporting students to overcome barriers, re-enroll and get back on track toward their educational goals.

The Impact

See how a successful re-enrollment pilot initiative helped bring hundreds of stopped-out students back to HBCUs and PBIs across UNCF’s network.

The Coach’s Impact:

InsideTrack Coach Supervisor Michelle Smith shares her experience in supporting students to overcome barriers, re-enroll and get back on track toward their educational goals.

We saw the catalytic potential for one opportunity to ripple into additional transformations that lifted the tide of the entire organization. It’s been tremendous to see the folks who are involved in the pilot still communicate with each other and us regularly. And we are beginning — through this work — to really build an HBCU student success community of practice that I think could sustain this work for a long time to come.

Julian Thompson

Senior Director of Strategy Development, Institute for Capacity Building at UNCF

This initiative will empower returning HBCU students with high-impact resources and support to manage personal, financial and academic challenges of student life to the triumphant achievement of earning a degree.

Dr. Michael Lomax

President and CEO at UNCF

We have to understand how to make every touchpoint with students meaningful. We have to understand and correct broken processes in leaky pipelines. And we have to do it with a networked approach to ultimately make sure institutional support and resources are jointly shared. Our partnership with InsideTrack does all of that.

Ed Smith-Lewis

Vice President of Strategic Partnerships & Institutional Programs at UNCF

Download the case study to learn how UNCF brought stopped-out students back to school.

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Higher Education
4-year Colleges and Universities
HBCUs & PBIs
Foundations
Re-enrollment
Coaching Development & Training
Partner Outcomes
Learner Impact
Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
Student Support
Strategic Initiatives