Chief of Staff, Strategy, and DEIJ Oakland Community College Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States
Session Abstract: As part of a new debt forgiveness policy, Oakland Community College investigated the total debt owed by students, both in collections and with just institutional debt. In conducting this analysis, the college wanted to disaggregate the data by demographic indicators and in doing so uncovered a stark inequity in the data. Upon further reflection, the college uncovered several policy issues that contributed to this. The information uncovered in this accidental discovery unveiled a blind spot in college operations that substantially changed the way the institution was pursuing some of its student equity initiatives. This presentation will (1) share the story of this process of discovery; (2) share the methods and analysis used; and (3) discuss the larger institutional impact and policy changes that followed. This presentation will be relevant to anyone wrestling to improve the equity of student outcomes at their organization.
