Board Responsibility for Equitable Student Success
Board Roles and Responsibilities
Ensuring the institution’s fiscal integrity, preserving and protecting its assets for posterity, and engaging directly in fundraising and philanthropy
- Boards must be good stewards of fiscal, reputational, and personnel assets as they work to operationalize strategic plans.
- The budget is the manifestation of the strategic plan.
- Investing in equitable student success has a high rate of return; equitable student success is good for the present and long-term stability of the institution and should not just be considered a moral imperative.
Action Items
- Align the budget with equity goals.
- Invest in and approve spending that advances student success equitably.
- Make every effort to retain all students (it’s easier to retain a current student than to recruit another student).
Metrics and Assessment Tactics
- The ability to recruit and retain a diverse student body that reflects changing demographics is closely tied to the financial well-being of an institution (Eckel & Trower, 2016).
- Look at the budget over the years to see how resources have been used. The budget is the manifestation of the institution’s strategic plan, mission, and values.
- Assess full funding support for equity-related matters in comparison with other needs.
Questions to Pose
- How have we invested in student success this year? What is the cost of failed retention and graduation?
- How do our priorities for facility use and new construction reflect our values and support equitable student success?
- Have programs and initiatives geared toward advancing equity received needed funding and support?
- Are our fundraising and student success goals aligned?
- Where will additional resources have the greatest impact to achieve priority goals for equitable student success?
- What is an acceptable level of debt for our students? How can we reimagine the cost of attendance?
- What are the data on two-year transfer students? What will it take to improve their outcomes?
Next Responsibility:
Ensuring the quality of education provided by the institution→
Previous Responsibility:
←Co-creating, approving, and monitoring the progress of the strategic plan
What does success look like?
An Institutional Example:
Additional resources to raise retention and graduation of transfer students
An Institutional Example:
Every new equity and inclusion initiative receives funding or fundraising support from the board and the Advancement Division.
Next Responsibility:
Ensuring the quality of education provided by the institution→
Previous Responsibility:
←Co-creating, approving, and monitoring the progress of the strategic plan
