Welding is one of the programs that adults can take for free at Hudson Valley Community College through SUNY Reconnect, which is open to adults who do not have a degree. In addition to free tuition, books and supplies, SUNY is now spending $4 million on advisers, tutors and other help to ensure the adult learners make it to graduation.
Jim Franco/Times Union
Two automotive-related degrees are among those that adults can take for free at Hudson Valley Community College through SUNY Reconnect, which is open to adults who do not have a degree. In addition to free tuition, books and supplies, SUNY is now spending $4 million on advisers, tutors and other help to ensure the adult learners make it to graduation.
Will Waldron/Times Union
Offering free tuition and books isn’t enough to get thousands of adults to graduation at State University of New York community colleges.
One semester into the new free-college program, dubbed SUNY Reconnect, SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr said colleges are spending an additional $4 million to help adults who never earned a degree and may have been out of the classroom for years.
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Colleges are hiring tutors, especially for weekend and evening help. They’re hiring people who can teach adults how to use today’s education technology. Many classes are online now, and the demands go far beyond simply emailing in a paper.
They are also hiring in the admissions department — and spending money on software — to look closely at adults’ resumes. SUNY grants credit for work experience, but the experience must clearly line up with specific classes.
Until now, most colleges did not have many students arrive with extensive histories that could lead to credit. At SUNY Adirondack, for example, 20 students in the 2023-24 academic year received credit for earning a professional license. At Hudson Valley Community College, 26 students received credit for classes that were covered in their military training. In that same year, SUNY Schenectady granted credit to just 45 students in total, for all reasons, from job training to Advanced Placement classes in high school.
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Beyond granting credit for what the adults already know, the big focus now is on getting them through their college classes. This month, King put out a press release highlighting strategies some community colleges are trying as they welcome the new influx of students.
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“Student success is at the forefront of everything we do at SUNY, and we are proud to further our efforts to ensure our students have the tools they need to achieve their full potential,” King said.
It’s not easy. Colleges are hiring “student success coaches” to work with the new students.
SUNY Adirondack hired an adult learner coordinator, Sarah Murphy, who immediately polled the adult learners to find out what they needed. The biggest issues: technology and tips on how to study.
She started Zoom workshops to teach those skills, as well as an in-person support group.
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In December, SUNY Schenectady hired an adviser who will focus on the adult learners returning through the free college program.
The adviser will have a caseload of students and will “intervene” when needed to ensure the students succeed. Those interventions include talking through alternate degree programs, career choices and the implications if they fail a class.
“The advisor will assist students to define and develop realistic educational, career and transfer plans,” SUNY Schenectady wrote in the job description, adding that the work will involve nights and weekends.
To achieve success — i.e., graduation — the advisor will provide “comprehensive and intrusive advisement,” SUNY Schenectady said.
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At Hudson Valley Community College, which is by far the largest of the three community colleges, three people are being hired to support the new students. They will work on recruiting the students, keeping them in school and getting them to graduation, said spokesman Dennis Kennedy.
SUNY Reconnect is a small part of SUNY’s enrollment so far.
HVCC this year has 10,490 students, of whom 200 are SUNY Reconnect students.
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Statewide, total community college enrollment increased by 5% this fall, according to SUNY data. Enrollment is up by more than 8,000 students, to a total of 173,900 students. The statistics do not break out how many of those students are attending through SUNY Reconnect. The program is limited to adults, ages 25 to 55, who do not have a degree and enroll in majors that lead to jobs that are in “high demand,” according to New York state. Those range from cybersecurity to teaching.