Preliminary Draft (Version 2.2, January 10, 2018)
NEASC Substantive Change Proposal
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The Connecticut State Colleges and Universities (CSCU) seek approval from
the NEASC Commission on Institutions of Higher Education (CIHE) to
implement the Students First proposal, which recommends far-reaching
structural changes within the Connecticut community colleges (CCC) to
improve student success. This report responds to the CIHE’s August 11,
2017, letter, with particular attention to the six standards identified by the
Commission in its letter.
The urgent need for structural change to improve student success in public
higher education in Connecticut cannot be overstated. As the NEASC
Commission has pointed out in its most recent accreditation reports, the
community colleges must take decisive steps to improve student retention
and graduation rates, which are significantly below national benchmarks.
Those same reports emphasize the need to improve measures of institutional
effectiveness and assure “sufficient financial resources to support
[community colleges’] programs and services.”
Severe fiscal challenges and changes in the state’s demographics have
hampered the colleges’ ability to address these problems. State funding for
the CCC has decreased by 15.5% since FY 2016, at the same time that costs
have continued to escalate due to increased personnel costs. Tuition
increases, which have been kept low to ensure affordability, have not been
sufficient to offset decreases in state funding and increases in operating
costs. Compounding these fiscal challenges, the number of public high
school graduates, who make up approximately 66% of CCC first-year
students, has declined by 7% since its peak in 2010 and is projected to
decline by an additional 8% in the next decade. The drop in high school
graduates has resulted in enrollment declines at many of the CCC for several
years. During that same period, the number of non-traditional aged students
is projected to increase.
Given the decline in “traditional aged” students and the documented lack of
post-secondary degree completion on the part of adults, cultivating a
prosperous citizenry, workforce, and economy can be achieved only through
structural reforms to its public higher education system. Structural changes
that deploy scarce resources strategically, scale proven success strategies,
and remove barriers to student completion are the only way to address the
educational needs of all Connecticut citizens.
To achieve these objectives, the Students First initiative was launched in
April 2017 by the Board of Regents for Higher Education (BOR) with the goal
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 of enabling more students to successfully complete a high quality,
affordable, and accessible post-secondary education to achieve their life and
career goals. The BOR endorsed two broad strategies for structural change:
1. Administrative consolidation to eliminate redundant functions systemwide and provide shared services to all colleges and universities
2. One centrally managed community college with campuses statewide.
Administrative Consolidation
The first strategy endorsed by the BOR calls for the consolidation of key
administrative functions across the CSCU’s 17 colleges and universities,
although most of the proposed changes pertain to the community colleges.
Functional teams of CSCU faculty, students, and staff worked over spring and
summer 2017 to develop recommendations for achieving a more efficient
and sustainable administrative structure. The following list summarizes some
of the proposed administrative changes:
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Information Technology will move to a standardized use of technology
at the administrative and enterprise levels to ensure system
availability at a lower cost on a 24-hour basis. Within Finance, Financial
Aid, Information Technology (IT), Institutional Research, and student
related services, the standardization of systems, hardware,
applications and work process eliminates costly customizations,
reduces operating costs and eliminates not standard workflows. This
will allow the system to use less staff to maintain applications and
hardware. Enterprise level technical issues at the CCC will be handled
at the System Office to free campus staff to address local IT issues and
support academic technology applications. A single community college
structure would also greatly reduce the IT processing requirements by
reducing the need to generate 12 different sets of data.
Institutional Research and Assessment will designate a new Office of
Research and System Effectiveness to serve as the chief information
clearinghouse for the CCC. Functional teams will be established to
perform cyclical/routine tasks previously handled individually at the 12
colleges.
Financial Aid Services: Consolidating the 12 community colleges (see
below) will greatly simplify applications for aid by having students list a
single institution on the FAFSA and enable them to take courses at
multiple campuses with a single financial aid package. Consolidating
institutional aid will allow funds to be distributed more strategically to
meet students’ needs, which will increase enrollment by supporting
more students.
Human Resources (HR): To improve efficiency and reduce redundancy,
a Strategic Human Resources Management Program will be established
to supply a full range of personnel services to all campuses through a
combination of matrixed reporting relationships and shared services,
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while maintaining a physical presence at all CSCU locations. The CCC
will have a direct reporting relationship to the System Office HR
department to promote consistency of policies and practices.
Purchasing: Consolidating purchasing among the 17 CSCU institutions
would require fewer individuals engaged in purchasing, take advantage
of volume purchasing, and enhance opportunities for negotiation.
Facilities Management: Shifting some administrative responsibilities to
the System Office (e.g. inspections, RFP preparation, bidding &
contract awards) will improve efficiency and reduce costs, while
leaving local staff to address day-to-day facility maintenance.

One Community College
The second strategy endorsed by the BOR seeks NEASC accreditation for a
single Community College with 12 campuses, instead of maintaining 12
independently accredited institutions. A subcommittee of community college
presidents and deans of administration, academic affairs, and student affairs
worked over spring and summer 2017 to develop recommendations for
implementing a consolidated community college that could be sustained in
the long term and improve student success. NEASC Standards guided the
planning process.
Maintaining 12 independently accredited community colleges has inherent
disadvantages:
1. Fosters competition among colleges for students, resources, and
programs
2. Requires ongoing investment in 12 separate administrative
infrastructures (e.g., admissions, financial aid, marketing, information
technology, etc.)
3. Requires students to apply separately to each college and presents
obstacles to course transfer
CSCU proposes to overcome these challenges and improve the student
experience through consolidation. With a common general education
curriculum and degree programs with one set of requirements, students will
take courses on different campuses without concerns about course transfer
or conflicting program requirements. Consolidation will further benefit
students by ensuring that successful practices (e.g., Achieving the Dream,
Guided Pathways) permeate the 12 campuses. A fully integrated information
technology system (a single admissions application, a single financial aid
process, a single billing process, a single student ID number, a common
course catalog) will ensure a simplified and consistent experience for
students. The proposed consolidation will preserve the unique identity of
each campus in its community to ensure that it meets the needs of local
students and employers.
Standard One: Mission and Purposes
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 The legal authority to revise the mission of Connecticut’s regional
community-technical colleges is explicitly vested in the BOR by the
Connecticut General Assembly. A broadly representative Students First
Academic and Student Affairs Community College Consolidation Committee
has been formed to develop a revised mission statement for the College that
affirms its commitment to access, affordability, quality higher education, and
career readiness, as well as preserves the unique local identity of each
campus. Measures are in place to evaluate the College’s fulfillment of its
mission.

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 Standard Two: Planning and Evaluation
The BOR approved a strategic plan for CSCU in 2013, but implementation
was delayed due to turnover in the system leadership. Since 2016, President
Mark Ojakian has engaged presidents, faculty, staff, and students throughout
the system in extensive planning to recommend structural changes and
implementation plans to ensure a sustainable future for CSCU. The Students
First proposal was endorsed by the BOR in December 2017.
Standard Three: Organization and Governance
The proposed organizational structure for the College seeks to maintain a
balance between a campus and institutional identity that responds to the
needs of local communities and conforms to centralized policies, procedures,
and best practices. A leadership team comprising a Chief Executive Officer, a
Chief Academic Officer, and a Chief Financial Officer, will oversee the new
College. The Chief Executive Officer will report to the CSCU System
President, who reports to the BOR.
The College will be organized into three regions, each with four campuses. A
regional president will oversee each region’s four campuses and ensure that
processes are aligned within the region. Each campus will have a campus
vice president, who will manage day-to-day operations and community
relations.
A new model for shared governance envisions the establishment of a
Faculty/Staff Senate for the College with representation from all 12
campuses. A curriculum sub-committee of that Senate will review academic
program proposals. A similar framework is under consideration for student
governance as well.
Standard Four: Academic Programs
A faculty review of degree and certificate programs will identify which can be
aligned, which are unique to a campus, and which are exempt from
alignment. The process for program alignment will follow the model
established for the Transfer and Articulation Policy (TAP). Following extensive
faculty input and feedback, a proposal for a common general education
program for the College will be submitted for approval to the BOR.
Standard Five: Students
The Students First Academic and Student Affairs Community College
Consolidation Committee will oversee the alignment of student affairs
policies and practices in the new College. A sub-committee has been charged
with standardizing a streamlined enrollment experience that is aligned with
Guided Pathways for the College. Plans have been established to minimize
the impact of the consolidation on currently enrolled students, while at the
same time removing barriers to student success as quickly as possible.
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 Standard Six: Teaching, Learning, and Scholarship
A collaborative framework is in place to develop a new advising system for
the College. With extensive input, the Students First Academic and Student
Affairs Community College Consolidation Committee will assess the
adequacy and appropriateness of resources at each campus to assure the
integrity of academic, support, and auxiliary services. The Students First
initiative is committed to preserving all student-facing positions, such as
faculty, advisors, and counselors. Professional development focused on
student learning outcomes will be presented to faculty through workshops,
seminars, and conferences.
Standard Seven: Institutional Resources
A detailed financial analysis of the proposed community college
consolidation envisions $52 million in reductions and $24 million in new
costs, for a projected Net Savings of $28 million by FY21. The reductions and
new costs implemented contemplate a strategic use of limited funds to
better support student needs for advisement, FAFSA completion, and other
enrollment and retention related activities. Centralizing routine, system-wide
tasks in areas such as Finance and Accounting, IR, IT, HR, and Financial Aid
will free up campus-based personnel to devote more time to local priorities.
Centralizing information technology will ensure that there is coordinated
planning and implementation across all locations, that academic programs
can be delivered with consistent quality, and that the transfer of data occurs
seamlessly and in a timely fashion.
Standard Eight: Educational Effectiveness
The College will engage in academic outcomes assessment at the
programmatic and course levels, as well as within key divisions of each of
the locations. CSCU has instituted significant new structures for academic
outcomes assessment, and it is making progress in embedding regular
assessment procedures across campuses. Particularly promising results have
been obtained from using AAC&U VALUE rubrics to assess general education
outcomes. Sixteen key performance indicators (KPI) related to student
success for fall 2013 through fall 2016 cohorts at all institutions have been
gathered for the first time as of November 2017. A state-of-the-art data
warehouse for the CSCU system is in development that will enable consistent
regular reporting for student success activities, accountability, enrollment
management, and program development.
Standard Nine: Integrity, Transparency, and Public Disclosure
The College widely publicizes its commitment to integrity and its policies and
procedures for the resolution of grievances. A dedicated page will be
developed on the centralized CSCU website for the new College with an
online application, financial aid information, catalog of all courses and
programs, transfer information, and campus landing sites. Campus websites
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 will be maintained to house information about local events, conditions, and
social media platforms.
Implementation Process and Timeline
The goal is to deliver this substantive change proposal to the Commission by
March 2018 seeking Commission approval in the summer of 2018. In
anticipation of this approval, a number of planning teams will be formed, the
most critical of which will be the Students First Academic and Student Affairs
Community College Consolidation Committee. Several other implementation
teams will be formed, or make use of existing groups, to guide the transition
to a single institution and establish consistent processes. Most of these
teams would be formed in spring 2018 and continue their work through the
2018-2019 academic year. Faculty groups will initiate their work on degree
alignment in the spring 2018 semester and complete their alignment of all
programs identified by March 2019, allowing nearly three full semesters to
complete this work. Request for approval of the revised curriculum and the
new catalog is scheduled for May 2019. Beginning July 2019, all community
college diplomas will be awarded by the College. By the end of fall 2020 all
students will be enrolled in modified degree/certificate programs.

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