Cultivating Community College Leaders Who Challenge the Process: A Case Study in Reimplementing Drop for Non-Payment

We don't always like to talk about the finances for college, but need to make sure our students are prepared to succeed.

One quality of a strong leader is the courage to challenge the process. This means more than just fixing something that's broken; it's about constantly looking for ways to improve, even when a system seems to be working just fine. Our journey to reimplement our "drop for non-payment" policy after a seven-year break is a perfect example of this principle in action.

For years, our college had a drop for non-payment process, but it was far from perfect. It created frustration for both students and staff, as front-line employees often had to deal with students who were mistakenly dropped and then needed to be re-registered. When we switched to a new Student Information System, we hit the pause button on the entire process. This pause, which lasted for seven years, created an unintended consequence: a culture where students didn't prioritize financing their education, leading to a growing accounts receivable and students struggling with financial aid well into their college career.

The After-Action Meeting: Sparking Change

The decision to bring back the drop for non-payment process started two years ago during an after-action meeting, a practice I highly recommend. These meetings, held at least every other year after a significant event, are a great way to recap what happened, including the good, the bad, and the ugly. During our meeting, a majority of the team wanted to reinstate the process, but there were also strong voices of dissent who remembered the frustrations of the old system.

Based on this feedback, I made a decision to bring back the drop for non payment in the fall of 2025. We began communicating in the fall of 2023 that the process would return in the fall of 2025. This long lead time was crucial. It gave us plenty of time to address concerns, gather feedback, and build a new, improved system from the ground up.

A Collaborative Approach: Building a Better Process

The real work began in the fall of 2024. Our Registrar did a great job convening and leading a committee that included directors from Enrollment Services, members of the IT ERP team, and Student Accounts. A key to our success was a regular meeting cadence, starting every other week and then moving to weekly as we got closer to our launch. Holding these meetings mostly in person fostered collaboration and made it easy for everyone to share screens and work together.

This committee was able to develop new reports and processes, which we then tested with a spring 2025 report. Being able to test the process before going live was a game-changer. It allowed the committee to identify and refine the process, incorporating feedback from those who had been skeptical in the past. It also ensured that the student voice was at the table; the Director of Advising was a key member of the committee, consistently advocating for a student-centered approach and bringing experiences advisors were having with new students to the table.

Another smart decision was to launch with the smaller summer semester. This allowed us to go live with a much smaller student population, making it easier to manage any hiccups before the larger fall semester.

Changing the Language, Changing the Culture

Our approach wasn’t just about the process; it was also about the language we used. The old process was sometimes grimly referred to as "the purge," which is not the image we wanted to project to our students, many of whom are first-generation. This time, we rebranded it as "Stop the Drop." The new name reflected our goal: we weren't trying to remove students, we were trying to help them get set up for success.

Our communication plan reflected this new philosophy. We developed a series of emails and text messages for students on the drop list and, most importantly, launched a calling campaign where multiple departments personally called students. We found that the personal phone calls were the most impactful outreach, followed by texts, and then emails.

The Results: Students Prepared for Success

While there were a few minor hiccups, the summer launch was a success, and we were able to make key adjustments for the fall semester. Our new process led to some incredible results:

• The number of FAFSA applications processed and accepted significantly increased.

• More students than ever before had a payment plan set up or had paid off their balance in full before classes started.

• The bookstore reported their financial aid lists were the cleanest they had ever been.

This was a testament to the fact that when we challenged the process, we did so with a thoughtful, collaborative, and student-centered approach.

There are still challenges as we look to make this a sustainable part of our processes for our staff. In addition, we found a few situations where we need to make adjustments. The important part, is the committee still meets to continue to improve this.

Ultimately, this project showed us that leaders must challenge the process, but they must do it with a well-thought-out plan and a commitment to collaboration. The goal was not for our process, but to help students be set up for success. By bringing the right people to the table, testing our assumptions, and focusing on helping students rather than simply enforcing a policy, we created a better system for everyone.