California State University tries new approach to bring students back

In the last year, San Francisco State University pioneered an effort to re-enroll students who had dropped out or stopped attending school after fall 2019.

The Chancellor of California State University now wants to adopt San Francisco State’s approach as a part of his 2025 graduation initiative.

This initiative seeks to increase graduation rates, specifically targeting underserved students and addressing inequity in degree completion. The 23 schools in the system have started outreach for spring 2022 enrollment.

Last year, San Francisco State saw a decline in enrollment by more than six percent due to COVID-19. For this fall, enrollment is only down by less than two percent.

The university’s re-enrollment approach included incentives, such as fee waivers, payment plans, and priority registration for classes.

Two weeks ago, the university started a new effort to contact about 1,500 students who enrolled this spring but didn't return for the fall semester.