May 2025

Students discontinuing their college education before earning a degree is a pervasive challenge in higher education. 36.7% of Gateway program students did not complete their degree between 2018-2020 (combined), so the college secured a grant from the Wisconsin Technical College System (WTCS) to launch a re-enrollment initiative in partnership with ReUp Education targeting Gateway’s 23,000 stop-out students.

By leveraging ReUp’s expertise in student re-enrollment and employing predictive analytics, Gateway is learning to better understand patterns, risks and opportunities among students that do not persist to complete their degree. This data-driven approach informs our re-enrollment student outreach and support strategies.

Goal Statement

Gateway will tailor marketing communications and messaging to stop-out students, secure funding to alleviate financial barriers and support admission fees, and continue our ReUp partnership to ensure ongoing outreach and support of stop-out re-enrollment efforts.

Work To Date

Since working with ReUp Education in spring of 2023, Gateway has more than 1,034 stop-out students actively in our outreach pipeline, re-enrolling 411 students and ultimately generating $1.9 million in recovered tuition. Adding one part-time Re-Entry Navigator position at Gateway, we’ve created a point of contact for all ReUp referrals who assists students with the re-enrollment process.

Short-Term Goals

Our committee is actively pursuing two primary objectives–to secure external funding through the Gateway Foundation that will support fee waivers for students with a financial need and to collaborate with Marketing to create targeted communication strategies that highlight available support services and financial aid for diverse student populations.

Questions? Please email Bao Lee at leeb@gtc.edu.

Committee Members

Bao Lee (Committee Lead) - Director, Recruitment
Olivia Mayen - Director, Academic Advising
Kristin Gunia - Director, Marketing and Communications
Kevin Gerou - Academic Advisor
Sabrina Morgan - Coordinator, Gateway Promise
Mercedes Duran - Re-Entry Navigator/New Student Specialist