Improving Connections Between Students is Key to Boosting College Completion
Across the country, colleges are celebrating record enrollments for the fall semester. It’s a welcome continuation of a modest rebound that began last year after several years of pandemic-era declines. But even as enrollment climbs, completion rates remain stubbornly flat. Just 60 percent of students at four-year institutions finish within six years. At community colleges, fewer than half do. And with more high school students graduating less prepared for college academically, socially, and emotionally, the challenges are growing.
Institutions are well aware of the challenge and are working hard to improve completion and post-graduation success. However, students don’t reach graduation simply because campuses set targets or track metrics. For too many—especially the fast-growing first-generation, military, working, transfer, and student-parent populations in higher education—the difference between persisting and dropping out comes down to something harder to measure: whether they feel connected to their college community.
Over the past decade and half of student success efforts, we have learned that completion without connection is a significant challenge at best. Even so, many education leaders treat connection as a simple byproduct of enrollment. If they “got in” they must “be in.” Not so fast. In fact, only about one-third of students report that they are thriving, meaning they feel successful in their relationships, self-esteem, and purpose.
A student’s ability to begin, persist, and ultimately thrive often depends on the strength of their bonds to classmates, faculty, mentors, coaches, and advisors. Students who build these ties early are more likely to start strong, stay enrolled, earn their degree, and thrive after graduation. But without those networks, they may never earn a credential at all. They will, however, likely incur debt.
Student connections matter because they improve belonging, academics, and navigation–and all three are critical for completion. For example, in a large randomized study at California State University, Northridge, students who engaged with a belonging-focused peer-connection platform called Nearpeer were more likely to start college and remain enrolled through their first year. Meanwhile, new findings from Virginia Commonwealth University show that students who connect with peers early not only have higher GPAs, but also have fewer academic red flags and are more likely to stay enrolled after their first year. This strong evidence of impact has inspired VCU to begin building student connection and belonging even earlier in the student journey.
At National University, the “ANDers” campaign helps working adults and military learners see themselves in higher education and know they are not alone in balancing life and college. Military students in particular balance service, family responsibilities, and coursework in ways that can make higher education isolating. Intentional outreach signals that they are part of a campus community.
Connection is also academic. Research consistently shows that students who feel connected learn more effectively and recover more quickly from setbacks. That’s because learning itself is a social process. Bonds with classmates and mentors deepen understanding and create accountability. When institutions embed peer navigators and near-peer platforms into courses and learning environments, they strengthen both outcomes.
Navigation is another overlooked dimension of connection. Higher education is a maze of forms, deadlines, and acronyms. Even students with college-educated parents can find the system confusing. For first-generation students, it can feel impenetrable. Too often, they turn to peers outside the system for advice, only to receive inaccurate guidance that stalls their progress. Structured peer navigator programs flip this script.
At National University, peer navigators support students from orientation through instruction, helping them find the right resources at the right time. This reduces reliance on chance encounters or privilege-based external and internal networks that students at elite institutions have long taken for granted. Such universities have always understood the value of connection. Their graduates benefit not only from instruction but also from networks that propel them into careers and communities.
Networks give completion lasting meaning. A degree matters most when the skills it represents can be applied to building a successful career. “Who you know” remains an unfortunate cliche for a reason. As Carol Schneider and colleagues famously observed in Academically Adrift, the enduring value of elite institutions often lies less in measurable learning gains than in the networks students gain access to.
Developing networks cannot be left to privilege or luck. Community colleges, regional public institutions, and online universities have long recognized that success depends on intentionally creating connections for students rather than relying on chance. Advances in technology can scale this work by augmenting, even catalyzing, authentic relationships.
The aim is not to replace human relationships with algorithms or AI-driven chatbots, but to make human moments more accessible and more intentional. Calbright College, for instance, has partnered with the platform Riipen to connect students with employers through real-world projects embedded into online programs. For working adults, the projects help create networks, confidence, and career connections.
Put simply, connection is often what makes completion possible. It is also what gives a degree lasting value. Institutions that embed connection—and, by extension, belonging, learning, and navigation—into the student experience will graduate more students and prepare them well for resilient lives and successful careers. In a time of massive technological change, the most powerful innovations higher education can offer may involve our work to improve, expand, and deepen human connection.
Mark Milliron is the president and CEO of National University. Dustin Manocha is the founder and CEO of Nearpeer.
https://www.realcleareducation.com/articles/2026/02/19/improving_connections_between_students_is_key_to_boosting_college_completion_1165868.html