Student Centricity: A Podcast For Higher Ed Professionals

The stigma of incarceration often bars individuals from pursuing higher education, causing opportunity and accessibility gaps. In this episode of Student Centricity, Dr. Brandon Warren, Director of Reentry Services at Lee College, joins the conversation and offers insight into expanding education access to justice-impacted students—and furthermore, why it matters.  

For college graduates, entering the workforce is no small feat. That's where the Workforce Talent Educators Association comes in, to help bridge the gap between college graduates and the jobs they want. In this episode of Student Centricity, Dr. Jennifer Dirmeyer, Managing Director of the Workforce Talent Educators Association, joins us to talk WTEA and job placement. 

There are many reasons why a college student might stop out, but increasing the time it takes to get a degree can come at a great cost to both students and institutions. On this episode of Student Centricity, we are joined by Dr. George A. Williams of Our Lady of the Lake University and Dr. Ne'Shaun Jones of Trellis Company, who share their expertise on how to prevent stop outs by investing in student resources and engagement. 

A third of first-generation college students drop out within their first three years. To cultivate success for these individuals, institutions need more than the usual on-campus resources. Returning to Student Centricity is Dr. Ne'Shaun Jones, Institutional Support Consultant at Trellis Company, to help us recognize the unique issues facing first-generation students and explore what faculty and staff can do to help them graduate. 

The relationship between student financial wellbeing and student success is closer than you may think. In this episode of Student Centricity, Jeff Webster, Trellis Company's Director of Research and lead author of Trellis' annual Student Financial Wellness Survey, shares recent findings as well as research to practice recommendations for supporting the financial needs of postsecondary students.

Improving its customer experience was top of mind for Prairie View A&M University (PVAMU) officials. It was essential to the university's leadership to create an environment where students felt heard and understood. Listen in as PVAMU's Dr. Sarina Willis, vice president for enrollment management, and Soluria Pearson, customer experience manager, discuss student-centric initiatives the university has put forward and how they adapted in a remote environment.

While Latino students are seeking higher education at an increasing rate, their success outcomes have stalled. In this episode of Student Centricity, we explore institutional insights and strategies for better supporting this critical student population with Marisol Garza, PhD. She is an Institutional Support Consultant at Trellis Company and former Latino student success researcher. 

Financial Aid Communications can often impact both student enrollment and student borrowing, but what changed should you make? Research shows that these communications can often be overly complicated and filled with financial aid acronyms that are foreign to students and parents. However, there is a road to helping the intended audiences increase their understanding of the information. Join us as we explore the current state of Financial Aid Communications as witnessed by our institutional consultants and student financial coaches and, offer clear recommendations to make Financial Aid Communications more student centered in language, presentation, and timing. 

The concept of customer service is often applied to the service industry (retail, restaurants, etc.). But did you know that customer service is also vital in higher education? College students are, in a sense, customers. And at a time when they are becoming more discerning in their college selection, how colleges and universities approach customer service can make a big difference in recruiting as well as retention. Listen in as Steve Smith shares his five, easy-to-remember rules for great customer service in higher education.

Accessibility is often thought of in the physical sense, but as colleges and universities transition to more digital and virtual experiences, digital accessibility is becoming more important. This timely podcast covers the role digital accessibility plays in both active and passive recruitment of new students who are experiencing the institution primarily through the website and other digital means.

In the inaugural episode of Student Centricity, we chatted with Trellis' Senior Research Analyst, Carla Fletcher, about the key findings uncovered in Trellis' State of Student Aid and Higher Education in Texas (SOSA) 2021 annual report. During our insightful discussion, Carla shared how the pandemic impacted findings from the SOSA compared to previous years, how Texas' demographic shifts are affecting higher education, how the price of higher education has changed in the last 10-20 years, and more! To see the entire SOSA 2021 annual report, visit: www.trelliscompany.org/sosa-2021.To download a PDF version of the report, visit: https://www.trelliscompany.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/SOSA-2021.pdf.