Strengthening Success for All

A Case for Aligning Affordability, Capacity, and Retention to Advance Institutional Effectiveness

By: Jennifer Cowley, Ph.D., President, The University of Texas at Arlington

Across the nation, colleges and universities are navigating heightened scrutiny. Families want clearer outcomes. Employers want stronger preparation. Policymakers want a return on public investment. These expectations are reshaping how institutions understand student success — not only as an individual achievement, but as a measure of whether our systems are keeping pace with the students we serve.

At The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA), we’ve learned that first-generation student success — particularly for Latino students, who are disproportionately represented in that population — is a powerful lens for understanding that alignment. For that reason, earning and maintaining our Seal of Excelencia certification has been a strategic priority as we strengthen systems that support students through integrated data, practice, and leadership. When the students who represent the future of our state are thriving, it signals that our structures are fulfilling their purpose. And when we fine-tune our systems — financial aid, advising, and data analytics — with these students in mind, we’re bolstering the structures that support all students.

Affordability: Building a Foundation for Every Student

Nationwide, affordability remains one of the strongest predictors of whether students enter college, stay enrolled, and complete a degree. Among adults who stopped out or never enrolled in college, 85% cite cost as a key reason, and 77% point to the need to work as a major factor.¹ For many students, financial stability is inseparable from academic progress.

That reality shaped our approach at UTA. We created Blaze Forward, a $500 million institutional investment that covers full tuition and fees for Texans with family incomes under $100,000, with an aspiration to expand eligibility to $125,000 by 2030. Nearly half of the students supported through Blaze Forward are Latino.

Programs like this do more than remove financial barriers — they change what’s possible. Students who might have taken fewer classes or worked multiple jobs can focus fully on their studies and their future. Since launching Blaze Forward, we’ve seen consistent gains in retention and degree completion, especially among first-generation and Latino students.

We’ve also built safety nets for the unexpected. Our No-Drop for Non-Payment policy allows students experiencing temporary financial hardship to remain enrolled while they resolve balances. The policy has supported more than 3,400 students — 29% of them Latino — and nearly 700 have graduated. These numbers represent more than fiscal responsibility; they represent faith in human potential.

This is how we bring accountability to affordability — by ensuring every dollar invested translates into student progress. It’s a model of shared responsibility: We commit the resources, and students gain the stability they need to meet high expectations.

Institutional Capacity: Making Success Inevitable

Research across multiple institutions shows that the most effective retention gains come from systems that intervene early — flagging concerns, connecting students to resources, and preventing small obstacles from becoming stopping points.² These findings reinforce a simple truth: Student success is engineered through the institutional capacity and systems we choose to build.

At UTA, we’ve been intentional about making holistic student support the rule, not the exception. Our Advising Enhancement Plan reimagined how advisors, faculty, and administrators work together. Through Civitas Learning analytics, advisors can identify students at risk of falling behind and reach out early — often before students realize they need help. That shift from reactive to proactive support has become part of our institutional DNA.

We’ve also invested heavily in our people. Faculty participate in professional development through the Association of College and University Educators, the UT System’s Exemplary Student Pathways program, and the Student Experience Project — all aimed at strengthening the learning environment. These investments not only enhance teaching, they also create a campus culture where everyone feels responsible for student outcomes.

This year, we’ll take that a step further with the Center for Access and Student Achievement (CASA), which will bring access-oriented grants and programs under one roof. CASA’s role is to turn coordination into capacity — to align our federal programs, outreach efforts, and first-generation initiatives in a way that amplifies their impact.

This kind of structural commitment matters. Success that lasts must be designed into the system itself.

Retention and Student Success: Measuring What Matters

Retention is where our values meet reality. Nationally, research shows that first-year retention is one of the strongest indicators of eventual program completion.³ Further research suggests that when colleges invest in closing retention gaps — through supports, advising, and high-impact practices — outcomes improve significantly.⁴ ⁵ ⁶

At UTA, Latino student first-year retention for our 2024 cohort now stands at 76% — up seven percentage points in just one year, bringing it fully in line with the broader student population. Those results are more than institutional milestones; they’re a window into what’s working.

Mavs RISE is one example of how we got there. Designed for conditionally admitted first-year students, the program pairs academic coaching with workshops on financial wellness, time management, and study strategies. This approach mirrors national findings that structured coaching can improve persistence by 5 to 14 percentage points.⁷ At UTA, 91% of Mavs RISE students engaged with their academic coaches last year, contributing to higher GPAs and a 10% decrease in students placed on academic probation. Sixty-three percent finished the year in good academic standing, up from 55% the year before.

The Academic Success Center extends that continuum of support through tutoring, supplemental instruction, and peer-led team learning — methods shown nationally to boost pass rates and persistence, especially for first-generation and underrepresented students. Among first-time-in-college Latino students who participated in peer-led team learning at UTA, retention was 84%, compared with 79% for those who did not. Structured, collaborative learning is crucial for building the sense of academic community that keeps students moving forward.

And when barriers do arise, our Graduation Help Desk provides timely, personalized solutions. National research shows that clearing administrative holds and resolving roadblocks for near-completers can significantly increase graduation rates. At UTA, our team resolves academic and financial holds — often within 24 hours. It’s a reminder that sometimes the most effective interventions are also the simplest: fast help, human connection, and follow-through.

Together, these approaches make progress predictable. When institutions are intentional about removing friction from the student experience, retention stops being a statistic and becomes a design principle.

Redefining Excellence Through Outcomes

The future of higher education hinges on who crosses our finish lines — and on whether they leave ready to contribute to our civic life and workforce with confidence and purpose. The success of first-generation students tells us whether the systems we build are strong enough, fair enough, and responsive enough to serve every student.

At UTA, those outcomes are measurable. We are ranked No. 2 in Texas for social mobility, reflecting our ability to help students — many from modest means — earn degrees that lead to meaningful careers with low, manageable debt. We are also ranked nationally for helping graduates earn competitive wages. Altogether, these outcomes speak to the economic and social impact public universities can deliver when access is paired with intentional support.

Results like these are a powerful reason why recognition like the Seal of Excelencia matters, and why we are proud to have achieved recertification in 2025. By investing in affordability, building institutional capacity, and measuring what matters, we meet the demands placed on higher education — greater accountability, clearer outcomes, demonstrated value. But we also honor a promise that predates any accountability metric: that public universities exist to create opportunity.

That is the paradox we too often overlook: The work designed to support first-generation students — including Latino and other post-traditional learners — is the very work that makes our institutions more effective, more resilient, and more capable of serving all students well. What appears to be targeted becomes, in practice, transformational.

Sources:

1. National Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (NASFAA). “The Biggest Barriers to Higher Ed Enrollment Are Cost and Lack of Financial Aid” (2024). https://www.nasfaa.org/news-item/34147/Report_The_Biggest_Barriers_to_Higher_Ed_Enrollment_Are_Cost_and_Lack_of_Financial_Aid
2. U.S. Dept. of Education. A Playbook for Holistic Advising and Wraparound Services (2024). https://www.ed.gov/sites/ed/files/2024-09/RTB-Holistic%20Advising%20and%20Wraparound%20Services.pdf
3. National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Persistence and Retention: 2025 Snapshot Report. https://nscresearchcenter.org/persistence-retention/
4. Association of American Colleges & Universities (AAC&U). High-Impact Practices. https://www.aacu.org/trending-topics/high-impact
5. U.S. Dept. of Education. A Playbook for Holistic Advising and Wraparound Services (2024). https://www.ed.gov/sites/ed/files/2024-09/RTB-Holistic%20Advising%20and%20Wraparound%20Services.pdf
6. McLennan Community College, Center for Teaching and Learning. High-Impact Practices: Evidence & Outcomes (Annotated Bibliography). https://www.mclennan.edu/center-for-teaching-and-learning/docs/Annotated%20Bibliography%20-%20Evidence%20and%20Outcomes.pdf
7. National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER). Bettinger, E., & Baker, R. (2011). The Effects of Student Coaching on College Success. https://www.nber.org/papers/w16881