For decades, community college funding largely followed enrollment. The more students a
college served, the more funding it received. Success was often measured by access—how
many students enrolled—and institutions focused significant effort on expanding opportunities
for learners to enter higher education.
Today, many states are adopting outcomes-based funding models that place greater emphasis
on what happens after enrollment. Rather than focusing solely on headcount, these approaches
increasingly reward institutions for helping students complete credentials, transfer successfully,
and achieve meaningful workforce outcomes.
For community colleges, career advisors, and workforce development leaders, this shift raises
an important question: How can institutions better support students from the moment they
choose a program, and not just after they encounter challenges?
Performance-based and outcomes-based funding models have become increasingly common
across the United States, with states refining how they measure institutional success and
allocate public resources.
We can see this happening right now across several states:
While every state approaches funding differently, many share a common objective: encouraging
institutions to support students throughout their educational journey, not simply at the point of
enrollment.
Old funding models were built around a simple, singular goal: getting a student to register. That
approach leaves the most important parts of the story untold. We’ve entered an era where
getting a student in the door is just the beginning. Now, state funding is directly tied to the real-
world milestones that help students build successful futures.
Success is now defined by:
Enrollment remains important, but student success is increasingly measured by what happens
after students enter college. Completion, transfer, and workforce outcomes have become critical
indicators of institutional effectiveness.
Achieving these outcomes depends on many factors, including financial support, academic
resources, advising, and student engagement.
But another important factor is whether students begin in programs that align with their interests,
strengths, and ways of working.
When students discover that a chosen field isn’t a good fit, the consequences often extend
beyond changing majors. They may lose momentum, accumulate unnecessary credits, delay
graduation, or leave college before completing a credential. Those outcomes affect students
individually while also influencing the completion, transfer, and workforce metrics institutions are
increasingly expected to improve.
As colleges adapt to outcomes-based funding, helping students make informed decisions earlier
in their educational journey is becoming an increasingly important strategy for improving long-
term student success.
Traditional advising remains one of the most valuable tools institutions have for supporting
students. Increasingly, however, colleges are exploring additional ways to help students make
informed academic and career decisions before they commit to a particular pathway.
Behavioral science is one approach that can complement existing advising by providing
additional insight into how individuals naturally learn, solve problems, communicate, and work.
When combined with academic advising and career exploration, these insights can help
students better understand which environments and educational pathways may be the strongest
fit.
Organizations such as FitFirst support this approach by using validated psychometric
assessments to provide additional evidence that students and advisors can use when making
educational decisions. Rather than replacing traditional advising, these insights add another layer
of information that can help strengthen decision-making and support long-term student
success.
Using validated psychometric assessments grounded in the Big Five behavioral science
model, Fit First helps institutions better understand the relationship between an individual’s
behavioral tendencies and the environments where they are most likely to succeed.
The objective isn’t to tell students what they should do. Instead, it’s to provide additional
evidence that helps students, advisors, and institutions make more informed decisions together.
When used alongside traditional advising, behavioral insights can support:
As outcomes-based funding becomes more common, institutions are increasingly measured not
only by how many students they enroll, but by how effectively they help students achieve
meaningful outcomes.
That makes helping students identify the right educational pathway earlier more important than
ever.
When students begin in programs that align with their strengths, interests, and potential, they
are better positioned to persist, complete credentials, transfer successfully, and achieve positive
workforce outcomes.
There is no single strategy that guarantees student success. But as institutions continue
adapting to outcomes-based funding, creating stronger alignment between students and their
educational pathways will likely become an increasingly important part of improving the
outcomes that matter most.
