Moon Shot for Equity

Co-Chairs: 

Marie Bunner, Associate Professor and Director (Interim) of the Academic Success Program

Rita Patel Eng, Director, Center for Civic Engagement and Social Impact

Brenda Small, Associate Vice President for Finance and Business Services

Members:

Tara Easterling, Department Coordinator, Political Science

Lisa Marano, Associate Dean, College of Sciences and Mathematics

Tori Nuccio, Deputy Director of Financial Aid

Kelly Peltier, Program Counselor, Business and Criminal Justice

Laurie Palumbo, Assistant Professor, University Libraries

Mike Roche, Assistant Professor of Psychology

Eleanor Shevlin, Professor and Director of the Graduate Publishing Certificate

Katie Solic, Associate Professor of Literacy

Lauren Zahour, Assistant Director, Office of Student Conduct

Complex registration processes add barriers and confuse students, often discouraging them from reenrolling. The most common barriers are registration holds levied by offices to compel students to complete paperwork, pay balances, or carry out other transactions. (Student Success Playbook, Rec. 1, EAB)

WCU will conduct an audit of all registration holds and eliminate or revise those that are unnecessary, obsolete, or burdensome. Any new registration hold practices will be reviewed and approved by using WCU’s governance practices prior to implementation.

April 2024: 

Results from Inquiry Process

• 8% Equity Gap in Holds Preventing Registration
• Identified 58 registration holds at WCU – the three most common became their focus:
  • Financial Terms and Conditions (FTC)
  • Advising Hold (NEN)
  • Miscellaneous Bursar Hold (MSC)
• Confusion about what holds mean and how to remove them.
• When addressed, the time before the hold is removed is variable.
• There is no university policy guiding the implementation, communication, or removal of registration holds.

Recommendations

• Goal Team Recommendation:

  • Transparency: Type of hold; Why it was added; How to resolve it; Prompt removal

• Advisory Board Recommendation:

  • Policy to eliminate holds that prevent access to registration

    • Encourages non-punitive activity

    • Limited instances in which registrations are required

      • Framework for seeking approval

      • Framework for reviewing utilization, equity gaps, and impacts

Next Steps

• Implementing Recommendations in RamPortal – March 2024
• Implementation of new policy – Spring 2024 – Spring 2025

August 2023:

The Hold Reform Committee (HRC) identified and defined 58 registration holds. Based on research and equity gap analysis, the HRC focused on 3 specific holds:

Financial Terms and Conditions (FTC) Hold
Advisor Hold (NEN)
Miscellaneous Bursar Hold (MSC)

The HRC worked with PASSHE to modify the Financial Terms and Conditions (FTC) form.  Students will only need to agree to the FTC when they initially schedule.  The new FTC form was implemented for Summer 2023/Fall 2023 enrollment.

The HRC has completed a set of recommendations for policy and practices changes to the way we manage registration holds for students.

September 2022: We reviewed and have investigated a list of holds, looked at preliminary data provided, started a student survey, and generated lots of questions for follow up.