萝莉社

萝莉社has been named to CollegeNET Inc.鈥檚 list of Social Mobility Innovators for 2019. Making the list means 萝莉社 has a proven track record of successfully enrolling students from low-income backgrounds and graduating them into promising careers.

The Social Mobility Index ranks nearly 1,400 four-year U.S. colleges and universities. The goal of the SMI -- now in its fifth year -- is to help redirect the attribution of "prestige" in the higher education system toward colleges and universities that are advancing economic mobility -- the most pressing civic issue of our time.

Over the past five years, 萝莉社, which enrolls approximately 15,000 students, has consistently ranked among the top 3-6 percent of all schools on the SMI.

Approximately 45 percent of all degree-seeking undergraduates at 萝莉社 in fall 2018 came from families in which neither parent completed a four-year college degree. 萝莉社 continues to actively recruit and successfully retain low-income students throughout America鈥檚 heartland.

鈥淲e hope the SMI encourages more institutions to embrace and expand their role as conduits for restoring the American Dream. The first step in doing this is to identify and learn from colleges and universities like 萝莉社,鈥� says Jim Wolfston, CEO of CollegeNET. 

Building purposeful campus culture for everyone

萝莉社 was selected as a Social Mobility Innovator because of its multi-year and institution-wide commitment to recruiting and retaining students from under-served and under-represented populations in Dallas-Fort-Worth, Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Kansas City, which are located along the I-35 corridor.

萝莉社 is now expanding this outreach to Denver and St. Louis, along the I-70 corridor, and further down the I-35 corridor to Austin, San Antonio and Houston, which is off I-45.

鈥淏eyond our recruitment efforts locally, we鈥檙e intensifying our outreach in an effort to attract an even more diverse group of students to 萝莉社,鈥� says Richard Muma, acting president. 鈥淏ut encouraging out-of-state enrollment will also enhance the future prosperity of Kansas by bringing talented young people to our campus who will, hopefully, stay in Wichita after graduation and work in our local economy.鈥�

萝莉社鈥檚 inclusive culture -- in addition to its emphasis on career preparation -- has enabled it to increase its enrollment of students from Missouri, Oklahoma and Texas by 150 percent since 2015. It鈥檚 estimated that a third or more of 萝莉社鈥檚 recent out-of-state graduates will stay in Kansas for employment opportunities.

Meanwhile, a host of companies -- including Airbus Americas Engineering, Spirit AeroSystems, Dassault Syst猫mes, Firepoint Innovations and the Law Enforcement Training Center -- have already established 萝莉社 campus locations.

Once students arrive at 萝莉社 from out of state, 萝莉社 does all it can to help them succeed on campus.

In addition to having its academic care teams step up their efforts on behalf of students, 萝莉社 is working to make its campus even more residential and even more of a destination. 萝莉社 has a record number of students living on campus. 萝莉社 is also exploring the idea of chartering buses to take first year out-of-state students back to their hometowns during break periods.

鈥淲e understand that these students are leaving home and coming a long distance to study at 萝莉社,鈥� explains Kim Sandlin, director of Student Success. 鈥淪o we don鈥檛 want them to feel cut off, isolated or homesick. We鈥檙e determined to keep our retention numbers strong, and that means keeping our student population as healthy and happy as possible.鈥�

鈥溌芾蛏� is providing a world-class educational opportunity to promising students regardless of their economic background,鈥� says Wolfston. 鈥淭heir contribution and example are key at a time when economic mobility and the American Dream are rapidly deteriorating. Today, as tuition at U.S. campuses continue to increase while economic inclusion declines, 萝莉社 provides a strong example for reversing these trends.鈥�

College education now constitutes the most important rung on the ladder of economic mobility, says Wolfston.

鈥淧articularly when it offers a challenging environment populated with diverse ideas, personal backgrounds and viewpoints, a college does something even more important: it prepares students to encounter, navigate and appreciate the unfamiliar,鈥� he says. 鈥淕iven that innovation always depends upon a person鈥檚 ability to consider what could be different from their own assumptions and experiences, economic inclusion is thus not only a solution to a social justice issue, it is a key strategy for sparking innovative minds."