Best Practices

The following are ideas for best practices to support college completion:

• Raise funds for the Oberndorf Lifeline to Completion Scholarship – the first Phi Theta Kappa scholarship to help members who face unexpected barriers to completion when they are only a semester away from graduation. Learn more>>.
• Hold a workshop to educate students about FAFSA – Free Application for Federal Student Aid – and help them complete the forms at www.fafsa.ed.gov. According to the U.S. Department of Education, millions of community college students are eligible for financial aid but do not apply.
• Research barriers to college completion and conduct a workshop for college faculty and staff, to share how they can help students overcome these barriers.
• Develop a "Countdown to Completion" form that allows students to commit to complete prerequisites to completion, including remedial courses, basic core classes and major coursework. Allow students to set smaller goals if they initially see graduation as beyond their reach. Track and mentor these students so as they reach preliminary goals, they are guided toward higher goals and eventual completion.
• Hold a spring celebration for students who reach their completion goals, including students who have completed prerequisite goals.
• Work with chapters in your state/ region or chapters within your college system to plan and coordinate simultaneous Signing Days or completion events for heightened public awareness and increased impact.
• Share chapter activities related to community college completion with your administration, especially plans to have campus organization leaders and the college president sign a resolution of commitment.
• Recruit campus organizations to co-sponsor college completion efforts.
• Invite campus and local media to cover the signing and all CCCC activities. A checklist for planning a successful signing event is available online at cccompletioncorps.org.
• Conduct a public awareness campaign on campus on the value of a community college credential based on benefits for the student and the community.
• Submit Dr. Rod Risley’s opinion piece on community college completion to the college paper and local newspaper. An electronic version is available.
• Sponsor a campus essay contest on the importance of community college completion.
• Visit local high schools and middle schools to raise awareness of the importance of community college completion.
• Utilize the video presentations by Dr. Risley and the 2011-2012 International Officer Team promoting college completion by showing it on campus closed circuit TV.
• Show the Community College Completion panel discussion, available at cccompletionchallenge.org, on your campus closed-circuit TV.
• Volunteer as tutors or mentors for at-risk students on your campus. First year students, first generation students, low-income students and minority students may fall into at-risk situations.
• Encourage chapter members to use Five Star Competitive Edge to develop time management, organizational and study skills to avoid stress and academic challenges to college completion.
• Encourage chapter members to use CollegeFish.org to facilitate plans for transfer and college completion.
• Involve your campus career center or career counselors in your efforts to promote college completion. The majority of students who fail or drop out because they cannot keep up with the classwork say they had little or no guidance in selecting a college or course of study.`
• Contact your local and state legislators and lobby for their support for community college completion and funding for higher education.