Lehigh Carbon Community College
ReUp’s partnership with Lehigh Carbon Community College (LCCC) came at a time when the college needed to address challenges faced by many two-year colleges: declining enrollments, financial constraints, and limited resources. LCCC realized that a ReUp partnership could be leveraged for success coaching while gaining actionable insights to support stopout students.
LCCC serves nearly 13,000 students per year through its four regional campuses in eastern Pennsylvania. Founded in 1966, the community college offers two-year associate degrees, certificate and specialized diploma programs, and workforce training for students studying either full-time, part-time or online.
Before partnering with ReUp, LCCC’s enrollment strategy for adult learners primarily consisted of including stopout students in email campaigns. While they made some efforts to assign enrollment staff to adult student populations, a dedicated focus on actively engaging stopout students didn’t yet exist.
The college faced several challenges, including a decline in enrollment due to the pandemic, especially among economically disadvantaged learners and students of color. Financial difficulties, job loss, lack of resources, and balancing work and family responsibilities further hindered adult students’ pursuit of higher education.
Top 5 reasons why students stop out1
1. Data as of 4/4/2023; *Pipeline reflects the number of students qualified less those that have already re-enrolled **Recovered tuition is through Fall 2022
LCCC wanted to increase overall enrollment, especially for adult learners, and communicate the college’s flexible options, including in-person support and virtual/online courses. They also needed to emphasize that they were transitioning back to face-to-face instruction while still accommodating those who struggled with online learning during the pandemic. All this, while improving student success, retention, and graduation rates.
Partnership Overview
and LCCC students
LCCC Students enrolled
Tuition Recovered
Personalized coaching and data reporting to responsively improve student support
To reach these goals, LCCC sought outside help that was within reach from a resource perspective — deciding to work with ReUp, with its pricing model of zero upfront fees, was a no-brainer. And with ReUp’s ability to scale personalized student outreach through its proprietary technology, it offered the perfect turnkey solution to provide holistic, wraparound support, tracking student feedback to further improve its support services and policies.
“ReUp was very proactive in bringing student concerns and challenges to us, so that we’re able to discuss it internally and quickly help students connect to the right resources,” said Ellia Sablan-Zebedy, Executive Director of Enrollment Management at LCCC. “I really appreciate how they equip us with the feedback we need to improve our student services.”
ReUp Success Coaches work closely with adult learners, veterans, and other nontraditional students, guiding them through the enrollment process and providing the necessary wraparound support to encourage them along the way.
For example, LCCC had a difficult time getting students to pay their bills after a freeze on dropping students for nonpayments during the pandemic had reverted back to its original policy.
Hearing a reminder from a Success Coach was much more effective than receiving emails from the college. “It prompted many of them to go ahead and set up payment plans or get their financial aid in place or make payment,” said Cindy Haney, Vice President of Enrollment Management at LCCC.
Powerful student data insights that reflect institutional success
Data played a crucial role in both helping students and reporting the team’s success to larger stakeholders. ReUp’s data insights for LCCC’s adult learner population showed that many returning students faced financial aid-related holds. In response, LCCC developed an academic debt relief program to help students clear past balances. The program offered students an opportunity to re-enroll and work towards degree completion, provided they met specific criteria within designated time frames.
ReUp’s reports and data visualizations were excellent; I was able to share those with the executive team and our board of trustees. They provided clear explanations as to how we improved retention rates, student success and graduation rates—all of the metrics that the US Department of Education measures us by to prove our success as an institution.
— Cindy Haney
Lehigh Carbon Community College Vice President of Enrollment Management
LCCC’s partnership with ReUp has enabled them to fulfill their mission as an open enrollment institution serving diverse student populations by supporting student success and increasing access to education.
“ReUp understands LCCC’s mission of serving all students: we’re open enrollment, and we’re here to serve all types of learners,” said Cindy. “ReUp Success Coaches are very caring and empathetic. They understand that it takes more than a simple phone call to get adult learners to reenroll. Students need a lot of individual attention to feel comfortable taking the steps to continue their education.”
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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