Affordable Promising Practices for Student Success

About This Repository

In 2015, the California State University (CSU) launched Graduation Initiative 2025, its ambitious plan to increase graduation rates, eliminate equity gaps in degree completion and meet California’s workforce needs. This repository is designed to serve as a resource for campuses to share promising practices related to the six pillars outlined in the GI 2025: academic preparation, enrollment management, student engagement and well-being, financial support, data-informed decision making, and administrative barriers.

In 2024, the National Association of Higher Education Systems (NASH) This link will take you to an external website in a new tab. selected 8 campuses and 9 projects for a Catalyst Fund award. Catalyst Funds recognizes initiatives aimed at removing cost as a barrier to college through innovative practices that enhance affordability and support equitable access to higher education.

This website is a compilation of the Catalyst Fund awards and other promising practices centered on affordability.

Acknowledgements

This repository and the 2025 CSU Affordability Summit is made possible through the generous support of the National Association of Higher Education Systems and the Evelyn & Walter Haas Jr. Fund. Special thanks to the California State University Academic Technology Services team for creating the repository and California State University's Fullerton Center for Oral and Public History for supporting the cataloging.

Professor working with student at a desk

To expand educational access and increase degree attainment by providing a customized bachelor’s degree pathway that is flexible, offers students intensive individualized guidance, and reduces the financial and opportunity costs of degree completion.

Individualized Degree Plan (IDP)

Cal Poly Humboldt

NASH Catalyst Fund Recipient

Group of male students of color standing together on campus

To empower men of color through culturally relevant programming, mentorship, and academic support, reducing barriers to success and serving as a scalable model for equitable outcomes in higher education.

Male Success Initiatives

Cal Poly Pomona

NASH Catalyst Fund Recipient

Students in a classroom with computers facing an instructor pointing to charts on a whiteboard

CIMAS is a cohort-based student success program designed to develop students’ academic skillsets while building critical affective assets – including a sense of academic efficacy and motivation, as well as increased sense of belonging. CIMAS recruits students who experienced negative course outcomes in the prior semester (non-passing grades, INC, course drops, term withdrawal) and specifically targets Latinx and Pell eligible students.

CSUCI Initiative for Mapping Academic Success (CIMAS)

CSU Channel Islands

NASH Catalyst Fund Recipient

To enhance the well-being of our local and regional communities by providing access to vital health information and education through an innovative, interdisciplinary-experiential learning program that prioritizes accessibility, retention, and student-persistence, thereby increasing student access and reducing financial burdens.

Chico State and Butte County Health Assessment Research Program

CSU Chico

To mitigate low engagement by increasing contact with students using digital marketing.

Digital Marketing for Modern Demographics

CSU Chico

A student meeting with a representative at an information booth

To provide free, holistic and personalized financial education and support to low income, underserved students.

Expanding Financial Wellness Clinic

CSU Chico

NASH Catalyst Fund Recipient

To offer scholarships to underprivileged high school students to enroll in an introductory college-level computer science course (CSCI 111) at CSU Chico during the summer of 2025, providing them with early college credits, hands-on learning experiences, and preparation for higher education success.

Ready, Set, Code: Computer Science Scholarships and College Prep for Underprivileged Youth.

CSU Chico

Student speaking with a representative at a table at a campus fair

To boost course success rates by leveraging Canvas data to identify students at-risk for failing and provide timely support.

ENGAGE (Early Notification & Guidance for Academic Excellence)

CSU San Bernardino

NASH Catalyst Fund Recipient

Student speaking with a faculty member at an event

A faculty-led academic early warning system to guide students toward support services early in their first term at the institution.

Early Academic Intervention

CSU San Marcos

NASH Catalyst Fund Recipient

Student volunteers carrying and loading food boxes

The goal of providing Basic Needs Kits to students is to lower SDSU students’ basic needs insecurities by providing monthly kits with necessary hygiene products, school supplies, menstrual products, and more.

SDSU Basic Needs Kits

San Diego State University

NASH Catalyst Fund Recipient

To increase the retention of first-generation college students and ultimately reduce time-to-degree, as a means of addressing the financial burden associated with a prolonged time in college.

First-generation Early Engagement Program

Sonoma State University

NASH Catalyst Fund Recipient

Students in a small classroom with mobile devices

To support the transition of incoming first-time first-years utilizing an early start program

Seawolves F1rst: Jump Start Program

Sonoma State University

NASH Catalyst Fund Recipient