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Collaborating for Change: Early Lessons in Redesigning First-Year Students' College Experience

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Title: Collaborating for Change: Early Lessons in Redesigning First-Year Students' College Experience
Language: English
Authors: Emily Marano, Caitlin Anzelone, MDRC, Center for Applied Behavioral Science (CABS)
Source: MDRC. 2026.
Availability: MDRC. 16 East 34th Street 19th Floor, New York, NY 10016-4326. Tel: 212-532-3200; Fax: 212-684-0832; e-mail: publications@mdrc.org; Web site: http://www.mdrc.org
Peer Reviewed: N
Page Count: 15
Publication Date: 2026
Sponsoring Agency: Ascendium Education Group, Inc.
ECMC Foundation
Document Type: Reports - Evaluative
Education Level: Higher Education
Postsecondary Education
Descriptors: College Freshmen, Program Design, Intervention, College Enrollment, Student Financial Aid, Resources, Student Needs, School Registration, Student College Relationship, Academic Achievement
Geographic Terms: Washington, New Jersey
Abstract: MDRC's On the Path to a Degree (OnPath) initiative partners with colleges to address persistent challenges students face with enrolling in college, securing financial aid, and meeting academic benchmarks, with the goal of increasing student persistence so that college can be a launchpad to good jobs and upward economic mobility for more students. In June 2025, OnPath 2.0 (the second OnPath project) introduced a suite of financial aid tools, enrollment guides, and exercises--the "interventions"--at Central Washington University in Washington and Hudson County Community College in New Jersey. Designed to streamline the enrollment, registration, and financial aid processes; clarify the connection between academic performance and financial aid eligibility; and promote the use of campus support services, these interventions are being implemented throughout the 2025-2026 academic year. To ensure that students would find the interventions relevant and usable, the MDRC team worked with college staff members and students to codesign and launch intervention materials. This brief describes early lessons and insights the MDRC team gleaned while developing and testing prototypes of student-facing resources, pilot testing these materials to quickly identify the most promising approaches, elevating student voices to inform improvements, and building cross-functional implementation teams--comprising college staff members from different departments--to work together to coordinate and sustain new ways to support students.
Abstractor: ERIC
Entry Date: 2026
Accession Number: ED678133
Database: ERIC
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  Data: Collaborating for Change: Early Lessons in Redesigning First-Year Students' College Experience
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  Data: MDRC. 16 East 34th Street 19th Floor, New York, NY 10016-4326. Tel: 212-532-3200; Fax: 212-684-0832; e-mail: publications@mdrc.org; Web site: http://www.mdrc.org
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  Data: MDRC's On the Path to a Degree (OnPath) initiative partners with colleges to address persistent challenges students face with enrolling in college, securing financial aid, and meeting academic benchmarks, with the goal of increasing student persistence so that college can be a launchpad to good jobs and upward economic mobility for more students. In June 2025, OnPath 2.0 (the second OnPath project) introduced a suite of financial aid tools, enrollment guides, and exercises--the "interventions"--at Central Washington University in Washington and Hudson County Community College in New Jersey. Designed to streamline the enrollment, registration, and financial aid processes; clarify the connection between academic performance and financial aid eligibility; and promote the use of campus support services, these interventions are being implemented throughout the 2025-2026 academic year. To ensure that students would find the interventions relevant and usable, the MDRC team worked with college staff members and students to codesign and launch intervention materials. This brief describes early lessons and insights the MDRC team gleaned while developing and testing prototypes of student-facing resources, pilot testing these materials to quickly identify the most promising approaches, elevating student voices to inform improvements, and building cross-functional implementation teams--comprising college staff members from different departments--to work together to coordinate and sustain new ways to support students.
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        PageCount: 15
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      – SubjectFull: College Freshmen
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      – SubjectFull: Program Design
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      – SubjectFull: Intervention
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      – SubjectFull: School Registration
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      – SubjectFull: Student College Relationship
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      – SubjectFull: Academic Achievement
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      – SubjectFull: Washington
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      – TitleFull: Collaborating for Change: Early Lessons in Redesigning First-Year Students' College Experience
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