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The brief describes student-centered design and co-development of low-cost “interventions,” piloted prototypes, and cross-functional implementation teams. It highlights how small administrative barriers can delay enrollment, reduce credits, or cause dropout, and explains how streamlined guidance and timely support can increase persistence and degree completion.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/collaborating-for-change-early-lessons-in-redesigning-first-year-students-college-experience/586214/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/collaborating-for-change-early-lessons-in-redesigning-first-year-students-college-experience/586214.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Taylor Morgan","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-11-09","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":14},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What problem does OnPath aim to address for first-year students?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"OnPath targets persistent barriers in enrolling in college, registering for courses, securing financial aid, and meeting satisfactory academic progress requirements to remain eligible for aid.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"What are the “interventions” in OnPath 2.0?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"OnPath 2.0 introduces a suite of financial aid tools, enrollment guides, and exercises designed to streamline processes, clarify eligibility connections, and promote campus support services.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"How did MDRC ensure the interventions were usable and relevant to students?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"MDRC worked with college staff and students to codesign materials, run prototype feedback sessions, and pilot test resources to identify promising approaches and iterate based on user input.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},586214,1792057258,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":14,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":139,"language":140,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":141,"faqs":142,"seo_title":143,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":129,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},1099523885336,"https://ap-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_276721f389ce27ea32af1340a28f341c","COLLABORATING FOR CHANGE  \nEarly Lessons in Redesigning First-Year Students’ College Experience  \nEMILY MARANO AND CAITLIN ANZELONE  \nJANUARY 2026  \nMDRC’s Center for Applied Behavioral Science (CABS) is an initiative that combines MDRC’s expertise in social and education programs with insights from behavioral science. CABS develops innovative, low-cost interventions, tests their impact through experimentation, and provides technical assistance to programs incorporating behavioral insights.  \nColleges are a vital gateway to job opportunities and economic advancement, particularly for students from low-income backgrounds and other marginalized communities. To succeed academically and persist through graduation, these students must navigate a series of high-stakes administrative processes, such as enrolling in college, registering for courses, applying for and renewing financial aid, and meeting satisfactory academic progress requirements to remain eligible for financial aid. Yet these processes are often complex, time sensitive, and burdensome. Research shows that even small challenges—like confusing paperwork or missed deadlines—can lead students to delay enrollment, reduce their course load, or drop out altogether, which in turn lowers their chances of earning a degree and limits their long-term earnings and job prospects.1 Students benefit when these processes are clear, streamlined, and supported with timely guidance.2  \nMDRC’s On the Path to a Degree (OnPath) initiative partners with colleges to address persistent challenges students face with enrolling in college, securing financial aid, and meeting academic benchmarks, with the goal of increasing student persistence so that college can be a launchpad to good jobs and upward economic mobility for more students. In June 2025, OnPath 2.0 (the second OnPath project) introduced a suite of financial aid tools, enrollment guides, and exercises—the “interventions”—at Central Washington University in Washington and Hudson County Community College in New Jersey. Designed to streamline the enrollment, registration, and financial aid processes; clarify the connection between academic performance and financial aid eligibility; and promote the use of campus support services, these interventions are being implemented throughout the 2025-2026 academic year.  \nTo ensure that students would find the interventions relevant and usable, the MDRC team worked with college staff members and students to codesign and launch intervention materials. This brief describes early lessons and insights the MDRC team gleaned while developing and testing prototypes of studentfacing resources, pilot testing these materials to quickly identify  \n2 COLLABORATING FOR CHANGE: EARLY LESSONS IN REDESIGNING FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS’ COLLEGE EXPERIENCE  \nthe most promising approaches, elevating student voices to inform improvements, and building cross-functional implementation teams—comprising college staff members from different departments—to work together to coordinate and sustain new ways to support students.  \nBACKGROUND  \nA predecessor project—OnPath 1.0—launched during the COVID-19 pandemic to help colleges respond quickly to emerging student needs.3 OnPath 1.0 developed student outreach messaging campaigns for colleges and shared student-centered strategies that could be implemented rapidly to address challenges such as the shift to virtual learning and ongoing health concerns. As the pandemic continued, the project evolved from providing immediate solutions to addressing longer-term challenges. By the close of OnPath 1.0 in 2023, colleges had not only implemented new messaging approaches to better address student needs but had also identified three areas for deeper, longer-term focus: enrollment and registration, financial aid, and satisfactory academic progress—that is, the academic performance standards students must meet to remain eligible for financial aid.  \nWith support from Ascendium Education Group and ","cbCaitIrpIiU0LmM","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaitIrpIiU0LmM","pdf",728532,15,"English","# MDRC’s Center for Applied Behavioral Science (CABS)\n# Why administrative processes matter for persistence\n# OnPath 2.0 interventions and implementation\n# Codesigning and testing student-facing resources\n# Background: OnPath 1.0 and lessons learned\n# Student-centered design approach\n# Expanding collaboration across departments","[{\"question\":\"What problem does OnPath aim to address for first-year students?\",\"answer\":\"OnPath targets persistent barriers in enrolling in college, registering for courses, securing financial aid, and meeting satisfactory academic progress requirements to remain eligible for aid.\"},{\"question\":\"What are the “interventions” in OnPath 2.0?\",\"answer\":\"OnPath 2.0 introduces a suite of financial aid tools, enrollment guides, and exercises designed to streamline processes, clarify eligibility connections, and promote campus support services.\"},{\"question\":\"How did MDRC ensure the interventions were usable and relevant to students?\",\"answer\":\"MDRC worked with college staff and students to codesign materials, run prototype feedback sessions, and pilot test resources to identify promising approaches and iterate based on user input.\"}]","COLLABORATING FOR CHANGE - Early Lessons in Redesigning First-Year Students’ College Experience | PDF",38]