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Almost two-thirds (64%) of students who are considering dropping out of college cited emotional stress or personal mental health challenges as the reason--more than twice the percentage of those who cite the cost of attendance. The mental health crisis disproportionately impacts students of color, and there is also a critical lack of diversity in the health provider workforce. Given the severity of the mental health crisis on college campuses, higher education and government leaders may feel unsure about how to make a positive impact. This brief contains seven recommendations for higher education institutions and state policymakers that can contribute to a long-term strategy of improving institutional capacity to meet the mental health needs of today's college students.

Open educational resources (OER) are teaching, learning, or research resources that are offered freely to users in at least one form and that either reside in the public domain or have been released under an open copyright license that allows for its free use, reuse, modification, and sharing with attribution. Course marking (also called attributes, designations, tags, flags, labels) are specific, searchable attributes or designations that are applied to courses, allowing students to quickly identify important information to aid in their decision making and allow them to efficiently plan their academic careers. In 2022, the report, "Toward Convergence: Creating Clarity to Drive More Consistency in Understanding the Benefits and Costs of OER," introduced a set of principles and frameworks that provide guidance for states, systems, and institutions wanting to better understand the benefits of open educational resources (OER). MHEC led the national effort to produce the report, which details recommendations for consistently estimating the cost savings realized by students when a course uses OER compared to traditional course material. Realizing such analyses are not possible without accurate data on course materials, MHEC then led a national effort to create this report to highlight five steps critical for the development of an effective course marking process, providing committed stakeholders with a roadmap and set of recommendations to improve consistency and reliability for marking courses in college registration materials, so students know the costs and nature of such materials at the time they choose their classes. Consistency of course marking efforts across the United States contributes to the ability to aggregate data from many institutions and conduct studies of how OER saves students money and contributes to enhanced student outcomes.

Student records, and specifically academic transcripts, are the traditional record of a student's completed coursework and their earned credential at an educational institution. Transcripts can serve as proof and a signal to potential employers and other educational institutions that a student has engaged in certain learning activities and obtained knowledge in given areas. Early in 2021, staff members from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), the U.S. Department of Education and the regional compacts -- the Midwestern Higher Education Compact (MHEC), the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE), and the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education (WICHE) -- met to discuss students' access to their records as a matter of student success. Three concerns were identified: student access to transcripts when there are financial or administrative holds placed on student accounts at institutions; access to student records when an institution closes; and the future of student records access. HLC and the regional compacts have continued to discuss and study the topic of transcript holds and closed school records. The issues surrounding transcript holds and closed school records have received ever greater attention in light of supporting student success since the pandemic. Because of the many ways the pandemic caused a re-thinking of business as usual, changes to transcript holds became a policy and process initiative at the federal, state, and institutional levels. The definition of student success for this paper includes enrolling in and completing a postsecondary education, transferring between institutions, earning licensure, securing employment, qualifying for military service, and other scenarios that vary by student. This paper provides an overview of student records issues, from an accreditor and regional compacts perspective. It includes recent legislative and policy actions at the federal and state levels as well as practitioner solutions and tools for institutions created by regional compacts, institutions, and other organizations. Resources are provided for those working at the institutional level as well as at the state or federal policy level to help students succeed.

Connecticut must ensure that its workforce remains competitive and that it continues to be a place where individuals and organizations thrive economically in a time of rapid and constant technological change. With an eye on the future, its leaders have recognized that they must fully leverage its higher education ecosystem in collaboration with businesses in the state to meet the growing demand for tech talent. In 2022, the state provided funds to support the Tech Talent Accelerator (TTA), led by the New England Board of Higher Education and the Business-Higher Education Forum. This case study details the goals of TTA, its history and methodology, and most importantly, its successes and impact in creating high-impact partnerships between business and higher education to increase the supply of tech workers. [This initiative was made possible with funding from the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development and support from the Connecticut Office of Workforce Strategy.]

For the first time in U.S. history, a proposal for nationwide free community college passed through the House of Representatives in the fall of 2021. Although the provision was ultimately dropped from President Joe Biden's Build Back Better bill, its early presence suggests the political appeal of making college accessible to more Americans. These types of free college policies, widely known as "promise programs," have the potential to expand access to a debt-free higher education, particularly for low-income, first-generation and other historically underrepresented student communities. Promise programs are an encouraging approach to achieving equity in higher education and the workforce. However, common and current promise program implementation strategies, such as limiting eligibility to certain groups and types of colleges, can exacerbate inequality rather than reduce it. This report describes the landscape of New England's promise programs. It addresses the following questions: (1) In which institutions, cities and states in the region do promise programs currently exist?; (2) How are they implemented, and how does implementation vary?; (3) How are they funded?; (4) Who benefits from existing promise programs, and who is left out?; (5) How do promise program recipients benefit, both financially and otherwise?; and (6) Do region's promise programs center equity by prioritizing support for historically underserved student groups? By analyzing state and local promise programs with a spotlight on the enrollment, payout and graduation rates of four of New England's most prominent promise programs--the Rhode Island Promise, Connecticut's New Haven and Hartford Promise programs, and Boston's Tuition-Free Community College Plan--this report will inform policymakers, educational leaders and the public about the most effective ways to design and implement these programs as they create and advocate for similar efforts.

Higher education in the United States has seen incredible change over the past year and a half due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Postsecondary institutions have had to become increasingly flexible as they continue to deal with myriad changes including but not limited to: social distancing, mask mandates, virtual and hybrid modalities, and students opting not to return to campus or to school at all. To address the last issue, some institutions have tried to incentivize students to return to campus by implementing tuition freezes or allocating the funds that they received from state and federal governments in ways that increased access and affordability. This report examines the tuition and fees of public two- and four- year colleges in New England for the 2020-21 academic year. Because there is a one-year lag in the publication of tuition and fee data, this report provides a unique snapshot of the economic landscape of colleges and universities in New England during the first full academic year of the coronavirus pandemic. Throughout this report the author will compare the 2020-21 tuition and fees rates to pre-pandemic levels--an important comparison that will demonstrate how colleges and universities have sought to balance both their fiscal losses and those of many of their students and their families.

The United States is experiencing dramatic shifts in the skills required of incumbent workers and new hires. While the recent low unemployment rate was generally good news, it also exacerbated a persistent skill shortage in the region's labor force that has been consistently reported by many employers. A McKinsey Global Survey indicates that executives increasingly see investing in retraining and "upskilling" existing workers as an urgent business priority to overcome the labor force skills gap. In September 2019, with support from Strada Education Network, the New England Board of Higher Education (NEBHE) convened a meeting of higher education, industry and policy leaders and subject matter experts in New England to identify best practices and strategies for improving access to--and completion of--upskilling programs in New England. Their keen insights combined with new consumer insights data from Strada Education Network on adults' perceived need for additional education, yielded a number of key recommendations as to how New England can expand and improve successful upskilling programs and policies. This paper seeks to build buy-in for these recommendations by providing a scan of the region's readiness to adapt, collaborate and act to increase access to and completion of upskilling opportunities, including the acquisition of value-added credentials. This white paper argues that all unemployed, underemployed and employed people in New England need access to affordable, industry-validated, marketable upskilling opportunities that operate on collaboration between employers and education providers and yield stackable, transferable credentials and lead to family-sustaining wages ($65,000 in New England).