In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, colleges and universities are pressed to re-evaluate their long- and short-term strategies for enrollment management and student support services. In New Jersey, postsecondary enrollment dropped 6.7% from the spring of 2021 to the spring of 2022, according to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center. Newark experienced an even greater drop of 9% in undergraduate enrollment.
This qualitative study is exploring how institutions and communities in the city of Newark might reengage “COVID-disconnected” college students. This project is intended to better understand barriers to reenrollment and opportunities for support. It will also inform the “narrative gap” between dropout youth (as articulated in NJ Assembly Bill 398 which established the Office of Dropout Prevention and Reengagement of Out-of-School Youth and the Student Dropout Prevention Task Force) and the 18–26-year-olds who are not currently enrolled in college.