Student Success and Retention Conference 2025

The Ford Family Foundation administers four scholarship programs that annually serve 1,000+ active scholarship recipients attending 100+ colleges and universities throughout the United States. The Foundation has awarded scholarships to nearly 7,000 students since the inception of its scholarship programs in 1994. Given this context, supporting the multi-faceted needs of our scholarship recipients and alumni in a changing higher education landscape is, in and of itself, a unique problem and an exciting opportunity. It’s a worthy problem-tunity. In this presentation, we will discuss our Student Supports portfolio, the evolution of our strategy and opportunities for future collaboration. Key themes for our presentation include: strategies for supporting students during key transitions in their postsecondary journeys, redefining programmatic success beyond retention and completion metrics and embracing social and economic mobility indicators as markers of programmatic success.

Join this interactive session to learn more about Career Connected Learning initiatives and impacts in Oregon from the viewpoint of the Higher Education Coordinating Commission, Achieving the Dream, and a community college Career Connected Learning Systems Navigator, with input from the Oregon Department of Education. This session will focus on the experience and insights of CCL Systems Navigators and feature a report from Achieving the Dream on the implementation and impact of the Career Connected Learning Systems Navigator initiative at Oregon’s community colleges. Attendees will provide feedback on the report’s recommendations and discuss actions that can be taken at their college or university to enhance student support and retention through Career Connected Learning. Whether you’re a college or university administrator, faculty member, student affairs professional, or workforce partner, we want your insights about leveraging Career Connected Learning to improve collaboration and student outcomes statewide.