Colleges & Universities

Guidance for Institutions of Higher Education

Colleges and universities have a vital role to play in a nationwide effort to help all P-12 students in their communities to succeed and thrive.

In 2023, the U.S. Department of Education called upon colleges and universities that receive Federal Work-Study funds to set public goals to use more of these funds for community service roles that enable their students to provide tutoring, mentoring, postsecondary transition coaching, student success coaching, and/or wraparound/integrated student support coordination in P-12 schools or out-of-school time programs.

Ready to Take Action?

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Your institution’s leadership, staff, students, and campus and regional community can receive resources, guidance, and support through the Partnership for Student Success (PSS).

Read on to learn how!

Join the Nationwide Effort

Your college or university can contribute to this nationwide effort by setting a public goal to either 1) use at least 15% of your institution’s Federal Work-Study funding to compensate college students in high-impact community service roles supporting P-12 children or youth, or 2) significantly increase the number of college students that you place in high-impact P-12 student support roles by June 2025.

Take action by helping to mobilize your campus to engage more college students in community service in collaboration with your local P-12 education and youth support systems, through student employment opportunities, pre-service teacher training, credit-based experiential learning, student volunteer organizations, and more.

Set a Public Goal

Resources

Dear Colleague Letter: Key Policy Letters Signed by the Education Secretary

This letter calls on institutions to place more college students in high-impact roles supporting P-12 students in local schools or out-of-school time programs using Federal Work-Study and other funding.

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Dear Colleague Letter: Community Service Requirements in the FWS Program

This letter reminds institutions that mentoring positions, including for the purposes of tutoring, in public K-12 schools fulfill the community service requirement in the Federal Work Study (FWS) program.

READ MORE >

Middle school students at table in library

NPSS Support Hub IHE Guidance Toolkit: Moving from Commitment to Action

Leveraging Partnerships between Institutions of Higher Education and P-12 Systems to Support Students’ Thriving through Federal Work-Study Community Service Roles

This guide outlines initial steps and considerations for IHEs moving from commitment to action.

National Student Support Accelerator’s Higher Education Institution Playbook

The National Student Support Accelerator’s new tool supports colleges and universities in partnering with school districts to offer high-impact tutoring services. This playbook provides considerations and guidance on program design, implementation, challenges, and solutions, as well as program profiles.

See who has already joined the NPSS Higher Education Coalition

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Interested in joining the Coalition, but not ready to set a public goal?

Complete this form >

Sign up for upcoming NPSS Hub events and webinars and watch on demand!

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Programs In Action

Enriching Literacy Skills

America Reads Literacy Corps at Syracuse University

Expanding to Support Pandemic Recovery

America Reads and America Counts at New York University

Leveraging Virtual Tutoring for Pandemic Recovery

K-12 Connect at Grand Valley State University

Student Success Coaching

Peer Power Foundation at the University of Memphis

Building Service-to-Educator Pipelines

Deans for Impact’s Aspiring Teachers as Tutors Network

Post-Secondary Pathways Coaching

Young Scholars Program at Rhodes State College

Supporting Kindergarten Readiness

Jumpstart’s College Corps at the George Washington University

See All Programs In Action >>

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As of January 19, 2025, this website no longer represents the National Partnership for Student Success public-private partnership.