Some College, No Degree Students Get Another Chance in Northeast Ohio

For roughly 15,000 stopped out postsecondary students in northeast Ohio, institutional debt, acquired through unpaid tuition, or parking tickets, or student fees, has kept them from accessing their transcripts to re-enroll at a university.

Now, those 15,000 individuals will get another chance at completing their degree.

The Ohio College Comeback Compact is a collaboration of eight institutions, supported by the Ohio Department of Higher Education and two education-focused non-profits, Ithaka S+R and College Now Greater Cleveland. The compact provides an opportunity for students with some college, no degree (SCND) to return to any one of the participating institutions, have up to $5,000 of institutional debt forgiven, transcripts released, and receive additional supports to help them complete their educational journey.

As of July 2020, the number of SCND students is up to 39 million, with 48 states seeing their number grow, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, which analyses enrollment, retention, and completion data for 97% of institutions in the U.S.

Elizabeth Looker, senior program manager at Ithaka S+R“We have been addressing the issue of stranded credits for quite a few years, credits students have earned but cannot access because their former institution is holding their transcript as collateral for unpaid balance,” said Elizabeth Looker, senior program manager at Ithaka S+R. “It’s very common nationally at other two- and four-year institutions, and it often keeps students from re-enrolling, accessing a transcript for transfer or employment.”

Looker added that the majority of students negatively impacted by stranded credits come from low earning backgrounds and are disproportionately students of color.

“This makes finding a solution [to stranded credits] a critical equity issue as well,” said Looker.