Theme 3: Deliver an Unmatched and Impactful Student Experience
We must take an already strong student experience and make it even stronger — empowering students with support and experiences that position them for immediate and lifelong success.
A highly tailored and exceptional student experience is a hallmark of K-State, particularly for our undergraduate students. Home to an increasingly changing student population, with faculty and staff who are committed to student success, K-State can further differentiate itself from other institutions and build upon an area of notable strength — leveraging and pooling our resources to reimagine what it means to prepare students not just for success, but for their roles as future leaders. This means leaning into how we serve a much broader and more expansive learning population that includes nontraditional learners.
One of the most impactful ways we will build upon our student experience is by preparing them for what comes next in life after graduation. As part of this commitment, we will both provide opportunities and require that every degree-seeking student participates in at least one high-impact, applied learning experience prior to their graduation. These opportunities can and will be broad in nature so that we can fulfill that commitment to everyone, recognizing that different types of experiences will resonate with different types of learners and disciplines. We will ultimately work to identify how best to integrate applied learning into all programs, beyond just those involving degree-seeking students.
At K-State, we are focused on the holistic learner experience, We know that student success is not built in the classroom alone. It grows when learners feel supported in every part of their lives. This means treating financial wellness, physical activity and social connection — alongside academic and mental health support — as integrated priorities across every part of the institution. In practical terms, it means focusing on enhancing both the affordability of a learner's time with K-State and the value they receive for their investment, while establishing a more comprehensive, integrated student advising and support model that aligns academic and non-academic services seamlessly around each learner.
At the cornerstone of all this, we will ensure employees and students alike have knowledge of available services and how to access programs and resources before they even step foot on campus, providing early and sustained access to resources that help ensure their success.
Significant investments in data, advising infrastructure, and direct student support are strengthening our ability to act on these commitments. The Willie AI Assistant initiative now sends proactive, text-based check-ins to all first-year and new transfer students — covering well-being, sense of belonging, academic preparedness and financial concerns with staff follow-up for students who need it. We are planning an expansion to all second-year students. In addition, an on-campus residency requirement has been established for all first-time freshmen, deepening early connection to the K-State community during the critical first year.
The Office of Data, Assessment and Institutional Research developed more than 80 business intelligence tools and dashboards and built a new cloud-based enterprise data warehouse, providing institutional leaders with timely, actionable insights across enrollment, student success and academic strategy. These tools allow us to proactively and swiftly target necessary interventions to improve our retention rates and student well-being, ensuring that K-State’s support systems reach the learners who need them most.
Reimagine embedded holistic student support for all learners to include academic, co-curricular and wellness resources
Expand access to applied learning experiences for all learners, including opportunities such as internships, undergraduate research, judging and design teams, on-campus employment, education abroad and student organizations
Create a supportive culture of holistic support for the whole student
Aggressively expand the one-stop-shop concept to streamline student resources and referrals to student services
Increase student undergraduate retention and graduation rates across all student populations, including nontraditional students
Develop standard orientation resources for all first semester students, including undergraduate, transfer and graduate learners.
Standardize advising protocols and technology to deliver proactive, consistent and data-informed advising across the university
Develop a coordinated, student-facing communication plan and platform that delivers the right information on deadlines, resources, opportunities and support services to the right students at the right time
Scale the Willie AI Assistant initiative to all second-year students, building continuity of support through the highest-risk period for attrition
Establish and maintain an on-campus residency requirement for all first-time freshmen
Embed success coaches within every academic college to provide in-college, relationship-based student support that complements advising
Expand student well-being programming through the Morrison Family Center for Student Well-being, Lafene Health Center, Counseling and Psychological Services and residence hall initiatives
Strengthen faculty participation in academic progress reports to surface student concerns earlier in the semester, enabling timely intervention before challenges escalate into withdrawal or academic failure
Develop and expand targeted belonging and success programs in partnership with academic colleges, ensuring that students who face the greatest barriers to persistence have visible, college-level communities of support
Scale proactive, data-driven student outreach platforms to identify students showing early signs of disengagement and connect them with advising and support resources before they fall behind
Leverage the enterprise data warehouse and the Office of Data, Assessment and Institutional Research’s institutional intelligence dashboards to equip academic and student affairs leaders with timely, actionable data on enrollment trends, student progression, financial aid impact and retention risk across all learner populations
Establish universal career milestones as a foundation for undergraduate development across all colleges and majors, repositioning the Career Center as a strategic curricular partner to embed career readiness directly into the academic experience
Integrate applied learning experience for all degree-seeking students
Host immersive, discipline-focused, on-campus experiences for high school juniors and seniors
Partner with industries and communities to expand paid internship opportunities for students
Develop experiential transcripts to complement academic transcripts that showcase student competencies and skills
Enhance affordability and value for all learners
Accelerate work to align college and institutional financial aid activities and provide coordinated, proactive outreach to students
Create opportunities for industry partners to sponsor applied learning for students
Revise academic calendar to provide graduate assistants with funding from 9 to 12 months
Establish endowed doctoral student funding lines
Evaluate and refine undergraduate financial aid strategies to improve yield among admitted students and reduce financial barriers for first-generation and Pell-eligible learners
Grow the K-State Family Scholarship program, which establishes approximately 30 new endowed scholarships annually and identifies new major-gift donors, as a sustained engine for expanding access and connecting K-State families to the institution through philanthropy
Maximize scholarship deployment, ensuring that the more than $295 million raised since FY22 for student success and affordability reaches students efficiently and that no awarded scholarship dollars sit idle while learners face financial barriers
Enhance degree audit and academic planning tools so that students — particularly those navigating re-entry or complex pathways — can clearly see their progress, understand their options and move efficiently toward graduation
Ensure all students have access to an individualized academic degree planning tool connected to the degree audit so students can map a personalized, semester-by-semester path to graduation and advisors can identify schedule risks, financial aid implications and course sequencing issues proactively
Imperative 1 Grow enrollment to 30,000 total learners
Imperative 2 Improve retention and graduation rates for all student populations
Imperative 3 Provide every degree-seeking student with applied learning experiences
Imperative 5 Nimbly and proactively meet the needs of learners, employers and society
Imperative 7 Be a positive force for the Kansas economy
Imperative 8 Focus on operational excellence and being One K-State in all we do
Imperative 10 Grow total, combined fundraising to $2 billion by 2030
Impact through Research
A K-State PhD student is helping save lives through his research with the American Heart Association.
IMPACT THROUGH ENROLLMENT
Our Transfer Navigators program partners with Kansas community colleges to provide students with a seamless transfer experience.
Impact through resources
The Staley School of Leadership's work with the Flint Hills Breadbasket, a partnership that provides direct applied learning experience for students.
Impact through Education Abroad
Students in the College of Architecture, Planning & Design's experience a trip of a lifetime with education abroad in Orvieto, Italy.