University of Tennessee at Martin

How ReUp Education helped the University of Tennesee Martin recapture $1.7 million in tuition revenue

“To put it simply, it works. I really expected ReUp to hit the same wall that we hit. In fact, when I talk to other institutions about the process, I refer to it as the ReUp fairy dust. I don’t know how you make this work. It just works!”

Jamie Mantooth
Executive Director of Enrollment Services and Student Engagement
University of Tennessee Martin

High Effort, Low Response

The University of Tennessee Martin (UTM) is a public university in Martin, Tennessee. Committed to supporting students for success in the global economy, UTM offers degree programs to West Tennessee and beyond. For UTM, supporting students for success means supporting all students, including stopout students who paused their education and have not yet completed their degree.

Like many higher-ed institutions, the UTM enrollment team did what they could with the limited resources they had. They pulled contact lists, sent surveys, and launched engagement campaigns. Despite the time and effort UTM invested in reaching their stopout students, the response rate was low.

A New Way to Reach Stopout Students

“The revenue-sharing model allows us to help our students in a way that we couldn’t before.”

Stopout students are the toughest population to reach and engage and requires a high-touch, specialized approach. Without the resources to dedicate staff specifically to stopout students, UTM turned to ReUp Education for help. With a no-risk revenue sharing model and zero upfront costs, ReUp’s all-in-one technology driven solution offered UTM a new way to support their stopout students at scale.

Since 2015, ReUp Education has helped higher-ed institutions like UTM bring thousands of stopout students back and recapture millions in tuition revenue. As the experts in finding, engaging, and supporting stopout students, ReUp combines patented technology, data insights, and one-on-one coaching support into an all-in-one solution that leads to results.

Setting the Stage

“We tried email. We also sent out postcards with their last known address, but we just didn’t get much back.”

It can be a time-consuming challenge for higher-ed institutions to keep contact lists for stopout students up-to-date. UTM had phone numbers and email addresses for their stopout students, but that information was based on when students had been enrolled. With their stopout students having been away for at least one year or, for many, at least five or ten years, the contact information UTM had on file was not reliable. ReUp updated over 40% of UTM’s stopout student records, saving Jamie and his team time and resources.

Technology-Driven Data and Insights

Reaching stopout students requires more than updated contact information. Using patented technology and a personas approach developed through their hundreds and thousands of data points from their work with stopout students, ReUp gathered insights on the factors that impact returning to school. Predictive analysis, machine learning, and artificial intelligence helped uncover up-to-date insights and information on which UTM stopout students needed the most support.

Personalized One-on-one Student Support

“The ReUp Success Coaches really do have the best interest of the students.”

With these insights, ReUp Success Coaches developed a personalized coaching approach for each UTM stopout student to offer timely one-on-one encouragement, resources, and guidance. Using email, phone, text, or all of the above, ReUp SuccessCoaches helped students uncover their goals and motivations, address barriers and concerns, and create a plan of action.

ReUp’s diverse team of Success Coaches—many of whom are either former stopout students or first generation learners themselves—guide students throughout their journey back to school. With a unique focus on the stopout population and a holistic approach that takes into all factors impacting a decision to return, ReUpSuccess Coaches have helped thousands of stopout students return to school and earn their degree.

Success Coaching: A Holistic Approach

For stopout students, it’s not only about going back to earn their degree; it’s going back to earn their degree while juggling work, financial, family, and caregiving responsibilities. ReUp Success Coaches are equipped to discuss both personal and logistical challenges associated with returning to finish college. Coaching conversations routinely include topics such as career ambitions, anxiety, finances, family support, task management, study habits, motivation, institutional processes, resource availability, and overcoming the unexpected.

UTM's Stopout Student Consultants

ReUp’s all-in-one solution helped UTM find, engage, and support stopout students they had previously unable to reach on their own. Bringing their expertise in working with stopout students and adult learners, ReUp served as UTM’s stopout student consultants and offered insights through regular partnership reviews, one-pager reports, and recommendations.

A Solution that Delivers Results

Within the first year of partnering with ReUp, UTM saw results—and that hasn’t stopped. Since 2019, ReUp’s work has led to 282 students enrolled, 207k activities with students, 48 graduates, and $1.7 million in recovered tuition.

Partnership Overview

Students enrolled

graduates

200

Tuition Recovered

graduates

$ 0 million

Graduates

graduates

The thing that stands out most about ReUp is the pricing model. I’ve still yet to encounter another vendor that does it this way, and that matters because we’re cash-strapped. The revenue-sharing model allows us to help our students in ways that we couldn’t before.”

— Jamie Mantooth

Executive Director of Enrollment Services and Student Engagement, University of Tennessee Martin

ReUp Education is revolutionizing the enrollment to graduation journey for all adults seeking higher education. Built upon the belief that with the right support, resources, and people in your corner, anything is possible we partner with future-facing institutions and state systems to bring equitable success in higher ed to all.

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