Elevating Student Success in 2025

Student success is a core element of quality assurance in higher ed. In order to ensure the quality of educational offerings, it is imperative for an institution to know its students — their educational intent, performance while enrolled, and experiences after ending their studies.  

Student success has always been incorporated in HLC quality assurance and has been a key focus of the elective programming we offer to member institutions. However, in the coming year HLC will increase our attention to this topic with new policies and procedures. Our work is aimed at three primary goals: 

1. To identify concerns that require institutional attention or HLC follow-up. 
2. To identify opportunities for HLC to support institutions. 
3. To increase transparency with students and other stakeholders. 

Revised Criteria for Accreditation 

HLC’s foundational expectations related to student success are set in the Criteria for Accreditation. The current Criteria require institutions to demonstrate improvement through goals and strategies that improve their retention, persistence and completion rates. In the revised Criteria for Accreditation, which will go into effect September 1, 2025, student success outcomes are addressed more comprehensively. Specifically, the revised Criteria include Core Component 3.G, Student Success Outcomes, which states: 

The institution’s student success outcomes demonstrate continuous improvement, taking into account the student populations it serves and benchmarks that reference peer institutions. 

Student success outcomes include any measures demonstrating the rate at which an institution’s students achieve or mark progress toward completion, educational intent or other goals that are relevant to the institution’s mission. See HLC’s glossary of terms in the revised Criteria and Assumed Practices for the complete definition of student success outcomes. 

The revised Core Component 3.G also sets the expectation that institutions will consider peer institutions in assessing and working to improve their student success outcomes. To identify its peers, an institution should consider colleges and universities that have similar missions, student bodies, or other characteristics, such that they provide meaningful comparisons by which the institution may judge its performance. For more information about this requirement, see HLC’s Revised Criterion 3 webinar and Providing Evidence for the Revised Criteria. 

Proposed Changes to HLC Policies and Processes 

In addition to the revised Criteria, HLC has also proposed policy changes that would modify existing processes to evaluate and support institutions’ work in student success. HLC’s Board of Trustees approved the proposed changes on first reading at its October 2024 meeting. Institutions, peer reviewers and other stakeholders are invited to submit comments on the proposals. 

Student Success Indicators 

One of the proposed policy changes would expand HLC’s risk indicator process to include student success indicators. If the Board adopts the proposed policy change on second reading at its February 2025 meeting, HLC will launch the process involving the student success indicators in spring 2025. 

The student success indicators were developed with extensive feedback from institutions and peer reviewers as part of HLC’s Evaluating Student Success Outcomes initiative. They are designed to evaluate institutional performance against benchmarks for certain student success outcomes in order to identify concerns that require additional attention or review. 

HLC will set benchmarks for three educational outcome measures that institutions report to IPEDS:  

• Graduation rate within 150% of normal time  
• First-year retention rate  
• Completion and transfer rate at 8 years after entry to college 

Separate benchmarks will be set for different institutional peer groups, which HLC will define by institutional characteristics including Carnegie classification, control, geographic area, enrollment size, composition of entering student class, and others. 

Institutions will be required to participate in additional evaluative activities if they meet certain indicator conditions. These activities may include a staff review or a new, three-year Student Success Improvement Plan. If an institution is required to participate in a Student Success Improvement Plan, it will submit a plan for HLC review and approval in the first year, and then will submit annual updates regarding the implementation of the plan in the following two years. 

For additional details, please see Evaluating Student Success Outcomes: Student Success Indicators. 

Important: Relationship to the Revised Criteria 

HLC will not require institutions to demonstrate their compliance with revised Core Component 3.G. by using the same measures, benchmarks or peer groups that HLC uses to evaluate the student success indicators. Instead, institutions may develop their own more customized benchmarking activities using other data points and peer institutions. As is the case with all Core Components, an institution’s distinctive mission will inform how it demonstrates that it meets Core Component 3.G. 

Student Success Quality Initiative 

HLC has also proposed changes to the Open Pathway that would provide certain institutions additional space and flexibility to focus on student success improvements during their accreditation cycle. 

Specifically, the proposed policy changes would add an option for institutions on the Open Pathway that meet certain conditions to pursue an additional Quality Initiative focused on student success in lieu of the mid-cycle Assurance Review that occurs in Year 4. If the Board approves the proposed policy changes on second reading at its February 2025 meeting, this modification to the Open Pathway would go into effect on September 1, 2025. 

The second Quality Initiative, referred to as a Student Success Quality Initiative, would take place during Years 1–4 of the accreditation cycle. Following an institution’s Year 10 comprehensive evaluation, an eligible institution would be able to choose this option at the time that it selects its pathway for the next accreditation cycle. 

An institution may be eligible for the Student Success Quality Initiative if it meets all of the following conditions: 

• The institution was not placed on Notice by HLC within the past 10 years. 
• The institution was not assigned any monitoring at its comprehensive evaluation for reaffirmation in Year 10. 
• The institution is eligible to choose either the Standard or Open Pathway for its next accreditation cycle and selects the Open Pathway. 

All institutions on the Open Pathway would still complete a Quality Initiative during Years 5–9 of the accreditation cycle. This Quality Initiative can be on any topic the institution chooses, including student success, and is now referred to as the Open Quality Initiative. 

Comments and Questions 

As noted above, you are invited to submit comments on the proposed policy changes related to student success indicators and the Student Success Quality Initiative. Member feedback has been extremely valuable in guiding HLC’s work in student success, and we welcome your input on these proposals. 

If you have questions regarding any of these updates, please reach out to HLC at [email protected].