Beyond Potential Completers: ReUp’s Vision for Re-Engaging All Adult Learners
Only 7.2% of SCNC learners are ‘potential completers,’ yet 70% of credential earners fall outside this group. Reimagining support for all learners is essential.
The National Student Clearinghouse Research Center’s 2025 Some College, No Credential (SCNC) report sheds light on the estimated 43 million adults in the United States who make up this population and offers recommendations for re-enrollment strategies. While the report focuses on “potential completers” and “recent stopouts”—less than 12% of the total SCNC population—it’s time to broaden the conversation.
At ReUp, we believe every learner deserves the opportunity to finish what they started, no matter how long it’s been. In this blog post, we’ll explore why institutions need a strategy to re-engage all adult learners and to support them in achieving their credentials.
Understanding the landscape of SCNC learners
Before exploring solutions, it’s essential to understand why re-engaging SCNC learners is so complex. These adults are not a homogenous group; they span a wide spectrum of experiences, challenges, and needs. The 2025 NSC report highlights some crucial data points:
- Recent stopouts vs. long-term disengagement: While 2.1 million learners stopped out between January 2022 and July 2023, this group is just a small slice of the SCNC population. A significant portion has been disengaged for years, making outreach and re-engagement more challenging.
- The focus on potential completers: Learners with at least two years of full-time equivalent enrollment in the past decade (referred to as potential completers) are far more likely to return and earn a credential. However, they represent only 7.2% of the SCNC population. Prioritizing this group may yield “easy” wins, but it systematically neglects the other 92.8%, many of whom also have pathways to success.
- Barriers to re-enrollment: For many SCNC learners, financial challenges, family responsibilities, and a lack of institutional outreach make returning seem impossible. Add to this the competition from primarily online institutions (POIs), and traditional institutions are losing ground in the fight to re-engage these learners.
Why limiting focus to potential completers falls short
On its surface, a strategy focused on re-enrolling potential completers seems practical. These learners have accumulated significant credits, making them more likely to persist and graduate quickly.
But here’s what the report data doesn’t fully convey:
- Only 4.7% of re-enrolled learners earn a credential within their first year. After two years, that number rises to just 14.1%.
- 70% of learners who eventually earn a credential fall outside the “potential completers” category. Many of them take longer to finish or require certificates rather than degrees.
Focusing disproportionately on potential completers is a short-term tactic that ultimately undermines long-term success. Learners with fewer credits, longer absences, or more complex barriers are left unsupported, despite evident interest in returning. Recent statistics further reveal growing enrollment in POIs, a trend that signals a mismatch between traditional institutional offerings and what adult learners actually need.
What higher education must do differently to succeed
If colleges and universities truly want to support adult learners, they have to build scalable systems that cater to the diverse needs of all learners, thereby expanding their reach and impact. Here are key ways institutions can start:
1. Look beyond the "low-hanging fruit"
Potential completers aren’t the only ones ready to return. Many learners who stopped out 5, 10, or even 15+ years ago remain eager to complete their education.
At ReUp, we’ve seen firsthand how personalized outreach breaks through to learners who have been disengaged for years. Time away from college doesn’t erase a learner’s desire to succeed, nor their potential to thrive. Most institutions, however, lack the data or strategy to effectively engage this group. That’s where we come in. Our unique approach combines data-driven outreach with personalized support, so learners get the support they need to overcome barriers and achieve their education goals.
2. Invest in flexible, tailored support systems
SCNC learners juggle responsibilities that traditional college students typically do not. Work, family, and financial stressors all make the path back to higher education more complicated. To address this, colleges should offer:
- Simplified re-enrollment pathways tailored to SCNC learners, avoiding onerous administrative hurdles.
- Flexible course schedules that fit around full-time jobs or caregiving responsibilities.
- Financial aid solutions, including waivers for past-due balances or scholarships specifically for returning adults.
3. Collaborate to retain learners
One of the most startling findings from the NSC report is that nearly two-thirds of re-enrolled SCNC learners transfer to a new institution. Among recent stopouts, over 50% don’t return to their former college. Instead, they gravitate toward online programs that market aggressively and offer streamlined enrollment experiences.
Here’s why this is significant:
- Former institutions miss out on recovering learners they already invested in.
- Learners risk losing credits or incurring new costs by transferring elsewhere.
Our data shows that when ReUp supports adult learners, many choose to re-enroll at their original institutions. Why? We make it easier. From direct outreach to success coaching, we make re-entry more efficient and personalized.
4. Adopt a data-informed approach to outreach
SCNC learners are often ready to return but lack appropriate information or communication from their home institution. They need personalized outreach that answers one critical question upfront: “How will you help me finish?” ReUp combines robust data tools with human coaching to make this outreach meaningful, framing re-enrollment as a practical, achievable solution rather than an administrative afterthought.
Taking a universal approach to re-engagement
Re-enrollment strategies limited to potential completers leave too many learners behind, perpetuating cycles of inequitable access and missed opportunities. Our data has consistently shown that empowering adult learners to return leads to long-term gains not only for the learners themselves but for their families, communities, and states. For example, while the national two-year credential earning rate for re-enrolled SCNC students stands at 14.1%, ReUp has surpassed these benchmarks for many of our institutional partners by leveraging personalized coaching and scalable outreach tools.
By adopting comprehensive, data-informed strategies that put learners’ needs at the center, institutions have the chance to not only reconnect learners to educational opportunities but also drive broader economic and societal growth.
Want to know how your institution can better support adult learners? Take our institutional assessment here and explore success stories from others who’ve made a difference.
Let’s start the conversation
Schedule a call with a ReUp team member to learn more about what a ReUp partnership could do for your institution.