As institutions nationwide face enrollment declines and demographic pressures, they are increasingly looking to re-enroll adults who started college but never finished—not only to fill their coffers but also to bolster state workforce pipelines. More than 43 million Americans have earned some college credit but never completed a degree or credential, representing a significant pool of potential students.
New research from ReUp Education, an organization that helps college stop-outs re-enroll and complete their degrees, finds that most states still rely on fragmented, short-term initiatives rather than coordinated statewide strategies to bring those learners back. To help states assess and strengthen those efforts, the report introduces an Adult Learner Engagement Index that allows policymakers to evaluate their strategies and identify opportunities to improve adult learner engagement.
Kimberly Walker, vice president of government strategy at ReUp and the report’s author, said states that have been most successful at bringing adult learners back to college and supporting them through completion tend to centralize their efforts and coordinate multiple strategies rather than rely on isolated initiatives.
