Co-Design Partners
Arizona State University
Scott Weatherford, Executive Director of Universal Pathways
Sarah Johnson, Director of Earned Admission
Tamara Webb, Earned Admission Fellow
Matt Lopez, Deputy Vice President, Academic Enterprise
Enrollment
Joe Chapman, Director of Operational Excellence
Central Connecticut State University
Christina Robinson, Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management
Carolyn Freer, Enrollment Management Specialist for External Partnerships
George Mason University
David Burge, Vice President, Enrollment Management
Metro State University
Carrie Carroll, Associate Vice President of Strategic Enrollment
Brian Heuer, Senior Admissions Counselor
Northern Arizona University
Carmin Chan, Vice Provost for NAU Online
Corrine McCawley, Assistant Vice Provost of NAU Online
Portland State University
Eki Yandall, Assistant Vice President for Enrollment Management
St. Paul College
Kay Francis Garland, Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management & Student Success
Pepe Wonosikou, Dean of Student Success
University of St. Mary
Gwen Landever, Executive Director for USM-Johnson County & Graduate Programs
Nicole Hess-Escalante, Associate Vice President of Academics
University of Tennessee-Knoxville
Shay Scott, Vice Dean & Chief Operating Officer
As higher education faces accelerating demographic shifts, declining traditional applicant pools, and growing demands for equity and affordability, the role of admissions is being fundamentally reexamined. For too long, access to a four-year degree has been governed by narrow, static indicators of readiness that do not reflect the complexity of today’s learners or the varied ways in which academic potential is demonstrated. At this moment, broadening access through alternative admissions pathways is not only timely—it is essential to the future relevance, sustainability, and public mission of higher education.
This report represents the culmination of a year-long collaboration made possible through the Gates Foundation and led by Arizona State University’s Learning Enterprise in partnership with the University Design Institute. Together with institutional leaders from across the country, this work set out to better understand how four-year institutions are experimenting with, adapting to, and preparing for nontraditional routes into degree programs. The result is not a single prescriptive solution, but a shared framework—grounded in lived institutional experience—that identifies emerging archetypes of alternative admissions and the conditions required to make them effective.
For Arizona State University and the Learning Enterprise, this engagement is deeply aligned with our charter and mission. ASU measures itself not by whom it excludes, but by whom it includes and how they succeed. The Learning Enterprise exists to extend that mission beyond traditional boundaries by creating flexible, performancebased pathways that meet learners where they are—whether they are recent high school graduates, working adults, or students seeking to return and complete a degree. Collaborating with institutional learning partners through this
initiative reinforces a core belief: that innovation in admissions is most powerful when it is codesigned, evidence-informed, and rooted in institutional reality.
Earned Admission serves as a central proof point in this work. What began as an experiment at ASU has demonstrated that open-access, creditbearing coursework can function as a credible, performance-based pathway to admission.
Learners admitted through Earned Admission persist and succeed at rates comparable to, and in some cases exceeding, their traditionally admitted peers. More importantly, Earned Admission has created space for critical engagement across the sector—challenging long-held assumptions about readiness and offering a tangible model for reimagining the front door to higher education.
This report should be read as a practical blueprint rather than an academic think piece. It reflects the voices of admissions leaders, faculty partners, and decision-makers navigating real constraints— policy, technology, governance, and trust—while remaining committed to expanding opportunity. Together, these perspectives offer a testimony to what is possible when institutions unite around a shared purpose: transforming admissions from a gatekeeping function into a system of multiple, equitable on-ramps that support learners not only in getting in, but in getting through.
Scott Weatherford, Ed.D Associate Vice President, Universal Pathways & K-12 Learning Solutions
Learning
Enterprise
Arizona State University
About the Expanding Universal On-Ramps Initiative
Arizona State University’s Learning Enterprise received a 12-month planning grant to explore and expand universal on-ramps to degree programs, both within ASU and at fouryear colleges and universities nationwide. This initiative is a response to the growing interest in alternative admissions pathways that broaden access to higher education for a more diverse population of learners.
A central focus of the grant was to better understand how fouryear institutions are implementing, developing, or considering nontraditional routes to admission, particularly through openaccess, credit-bearing coursework such as ASU’s Earned Admission (EA) program. Through Earned Admissions, ASU meets students where they are by allowing those who do not meet traditional admissions criteria to demonstrate college readiness through coursework, providing a proven alternative pathway to degree enrollment.
Building on the success and lessons learned from Earned Admission, ASU’s Learning Enterprise is using this opportunity to strengthen and scale accessible admissions models. The initiative also aims to co-design with institutional partners new, adaptable approaches to open access, credit-bearing coursework that can be implemented across diverse contexts.
Purpose
The Expanding Universal On-Ramps Initiative seeks to:
• Examine the current landscape of alternative admissions across U.S. higher education.
• Identify institutional needs, opportunities, and readiness to adopt or expand alternative admissions pathways.
• Co-design scalable and evidence-based models for inclusive admissions that improve access for underrepresented and nontraditional learners.
Ultimately, the goal is to develop a framework and set of archetypes that can inform institutional policy, design, and practice—positioning alternative admissions not as a peripheral innovation but as a mainstream strategy for educational access.
Methodology
To achieve these goals, ASU’s University Design Institute (UDI) was commissioned as a design partner to lead research, design, and engagement activities throughout the planning year. The initiative included three primary phases:
Assess the Landscape:
• UDI conducted a series of structured interviews and qualitative surveys with 21 admissions, enrollment, and academic leaders at 12 different fouryear institutions.
• Using the material from the interviews, key trends, institutional priorities, perceived barriers, and emerging opportunities were identified that were used in the development of an alternative admissions pathways matrix.
Define Admissions Pathways and Archetypes:
• UDI hosted an initial co-design workshop with nine Co-Design partners to:
• Test and further refine the alternative admissions pathways that were developed during the landscape assessment.
• Develop a set of archetypes that maps relationships among learner types, institutional missions, and alternative admissions pathways.
• Explore open-access courses for credit and their potential role in admissions strategy.
Develop and Test Potential Pilots
• UDI hosted a second co-design workshop with Co-Design partners to:
• Identify potential pilots under each of the archetypes and necessary conditions for implementation.
• Synthesize findings and outline practical steps for institutions to advance their potential pilot.
• Support partner institutions for early-stage viability testing to evaluate readiness for pilot development and implementation.
Together, these activities formed the foundation for a national framework of inclusive admissions models, designed to support higher education institutions in expanding access, fostering equity, and meeting the needs of today’s diverse learners.
Rethinking Access Pathways to Higher Education
Across U.S. higher education, admissions has long served as the “front door” to opportunity. It is the moment when institutions decide who gains access to a four-year degree. Yet for too many learners, that door remains too narrow. Shifting demographics, economic pressures, and a growing commitment to equity are prompting colleges and universities to reconsider how they define “college readiness” and whom their systems are designed to serve.
The question of how to expand access through alternative pathways to admission sits at the center of a co-design initiative led by Arizona State University’s Learning Enterprise (LE) and the University Design Institute (UDI). The Expanding Universal On-Ramps Initiative examines how four-year institutions are experimenting with, adapting to, or planning for nontraditional routes into degree programs and identifies a set of archetypes for alternative admissions pathways that can guide colleges and universities seeking to develop more inclusive models.
The report synthesizes insights from qualitative interviews and surveys with enrollment and admissions leaders at 13 U.S. universities and the results from a series of design workshops with nine Co-Design Partners to identify alternative admissions archetypes with the potential to expand access pathways. Together, these activities provide a snapshot of a sector in transition. Institutions are aware of the challenges, but aligned around a shared goal to make admissions not a gatekeeping function, but a system of multiple entry points designed to meet learners where they are.
Colleges and universities are recognizing that traditional admissions models no longer reflect the realities of today’s diverse learners. Institutions are designing and implementing alternative admissions pathways, with the goal to not simply to widen the door to higher education, but to ensure that more learners can enter, persist, and succeed.
Multiple Entry Points to Meet Learners Where They Are
Alternative admissions pathways, including bridge programs, credit for prior learning, transfer agreements, and open-access, credit-bearing courses, can provide effective routes to expand opportunity and access and ensure academic readiness for success.
When designed to address the specific academic and support needs of a targeted set of learners, alternative admissions pathways can help colleges and universities advance their mission, support student success, and thrive in the years ahead.
Current and emerging forms of alternative admissions pathways can be categorized into three archetypes focused on expanding student access and success by providing targeted support based on the preparedness of the learner:
Performance-Based Pathways
These pathways provide performance-based entry routes for capable learners who do not meet traditional admissions criteria. Examples of these pathways include open-access, credit-bearing coursework, conditional admission programs, articulation agreements and dual degree pathways, and stackable credentials.
Pre-Admission Pathways
These pathways support learners who are near admissibility but require targeted preparation in key academic areas prior to admission. These programs strengthen early success, reduce first-year attrition, and promote equity in persistence. These pathways include test-optional admissions, summer bridge programs, and early college programs.
Readmission and At-Risk Pathways
These pathways offer reentry options for students who have stopped out or are facing academic difficulty, enabling them to rebuild GPA, demonstrate progress, and return to or maintain eligibility in degree programs. These pathways include open-access, credit-bearing coursework, competency-based credits, and credit for prior learning.
Collectively, these archetypes form a blueprint for inclusive admissions innovation—models that balance access, rigor, and institutional mission while addressing the diverse needs of learners across the educational lifecycle.
The Co-Design Workshops that were part of this initiative demonstrated that the articulation of these archetypes supports institutional innovation by creating a shared language and framework that could be used to design and implement alternative admissions pathways aligned with mission and learners and allows for sharing of innovations and promising practices across institutions to support national measurement and scaling.
Archetype 3
Archetype 2
Archetype 1
Recommendations:
Alternative Admissions Pathways
Drawing on insights from institutional interviews and Co-Design Partner workshops, the following recommendations outline concrete steps colleges and universities can take to build, strengthen, and scale alternative admissions pathways.
Establish Institutional Alignment and Shared Vision
• Clarify how alternative admissions aligns with institutional mission, enrollment goals, and equity commitments.
• Create a cross-functional steering group, including admissions, academic units, advising, IT, and faculty leadership, to guide design and decision-making.
• Develop a clear understanding of the learner population being served and how the new pathway addresses their needs to reduce ambiguity and foster campus-wide buy-in.
Strengthen Data Infrastructure and Outcome Tracking
• Ensure data systems track learner progress from pre-admission participation through persistence and graduation.
• Build dashboards that allow faculty, leadership, and partners to evaluate learner performance across pathways.
• Use predictive analytics to identify early indicators of readiness and areas where additional learner support is needed.
Engage Faculty Early and Often
• Involve faculty in reviewing course alignment, academic integrity safeguards, and standards for awarding credit.
• Offer structured opportunities for faculty engagement to support innovation and recognize faculty contributions.
• Communicate clear evidence from pilot programs showing how learners from alternative pathways perform compared to traditional admit cohorts.
Create Sustainable Funding and Resource Models
• Conduct a financial analysis to identify costs for staffing, advising, technology integration, and faculty compensation.
• Explore revenue-sharing models, stackable course pricing, or philanthropic funding to support students.
• Review tuition and financial aid policies to ensure they do not unintentionally disadvantage learners entering through alternative routes.
Clarify Policy and Governance Structures
• Define how alternative admission pathway credits transfer, articulate, and apply to degree requirements.
• Review governance processes for evaluating and approving new courses or pathways.
• Ensure transparent communication so students, advisors, and academic units understand pathway expectations and requirements.
Enhance Technology Capacity and Integration
• Prioritize learning management systems (LMS), student information systems (SIS), and customer relationship management systems (CRM) integrations that support open-access coursework and learner tracking.
• Implement secure assessment solutions to address concerns around academic integrity and generative artificial intelligence.
• Develop scalable onboarding and advising tools designed for learners entering outside traditional admissions cycles.
Develop Comprehensive Learner Support Systems
• Provide proactive advising and early alerts for learners enrolled in open-access or performance-based pathways.
• Offer targeted academic support, such as tutoring, writing centers, or readiness modules, to ensure success in for-credit courses.
• Align student services (financial aid, counseling, career services) to support learners before and after formal admission.
Pilot, Evaluate, and Iterate Before Scaling
• Begin with small-scale pilots to test logistics, student outcomes, and institutional fit.
• Use pilot results to refine policies, address barriers, and strengthen implementation processes.
• Share findings across departments and peer institutions to accelerate learning across the higher education sector.
Leverage Partnerships
• Collaborate with community colleges, workforce organizations, and online learning platforms to extend reach and build robust pipelines.
• Establish articulation agreements, joint degrees, and stackable credentials that lead to degrees to expand access for underserved learners.
• Participate in national networks or coalitions focused on redesigning admissions at scale.
Center Equity and Student Success in All Pathway Design
• Prioritize learners who have historically been excluded from traditional admissions processes—adult learners, part-time students, working professionals, first-generation students, and international learners.
• Ensure pathways are transparent, low-risk, affordable, and designed to support persistence and completion.
• Regularly assess outcomes and use findings to continuously improve supports and structures.
SECTION 2
Advancing broad-based admissions in higher education
The U.S. Landscape for Alternative Admissions:
High Interest, Varied Readiness
Across American higher education, the question of who gains entry to a four-year degree and through what pathways is rapidly changing. Driven by demographic shifts, economic pressures, and a renewed commitment to equity, colleges and universities are rethinking traditional admissions models and experimenting with alternative admissions pathways that open new routes into degree programs. These pathways represent an evolving ecosystem of innovation—flexible, mission-driven, and increasingly responsive to the needs of learners historically underserved by conventional processes.
Interest in alternative admissions pathways has grown, in part because the number of traditional aged students attending college immediately after high school is anticipated to decline beginning in 2026 and colleges are incorporating enrollment strategies that increase accessibility to working adults, those with some college and no degree, or students who have not met established admissions requirements. To sustain enrollment and advance their public missions, institutions are seeking ways to engage these learners and expand access to higher education through new and more inclusive entry points.
A Mix of Established and Evolving Models
Alternative admissions is not a single approach but a collection of practices, many of which have existed for decades but are now gaining renewed attention and are evolving to meet new learner needs.
The following table summarizes the major types of alternative admissions pathways being utilized by colleges and universities. Each represents a distinctive mechanism for broadening participation and strengthening persistence from access to completion.
Bridge & Transition Programs Community College Transfer Agreements
Test-Optional / Guaranteed Admissions Policies
Purpose Target Learners Examples
Help students prepare for and adjust to the academic and social demands of college, as well as build institutional confidence
Provide clear, structured pathways from two-year colleges to four-year degree programs
First-generation students, underrepresented groups, recent high school graduates below traditional thresholds, athletes, ESL students, and stopped-out adult learners
Summer bridge programs, first-year success courses, mentoring/advising supports, dual-enrollment
Credit for Prior Learning (CPL) / CompetencyBased Pathways Open-Access, Credit-Bearing Courses DualEnrollment & Early College Programs
Expand access by reducing barriers to application
Students beginning at community colleges for affordability, flexibility, accessibility, readiness and/or to improve their GPA. Includes high school students that are planning on or starting at community college then transferring “2+2” articulation agreements (2 years at community college + 2 years at university), statewide transfer compacts, guaranteed admission with associate degree
Students with strong academic or experiential backgrounds who may underperform on standardized tests; first-generation, ESL learners, or those who don’t believe they can succeed in college
Recognize skills and wisdom gained outside of traditional classrooms
Adult learners, working professionals, veterans, and returning students
Test-optional admissions, direct admission based on GPA, reducing review processes
Allow learners to demonstrate college readiness and earn credit through online, low-cost, or free platforms
Non-traditional learners, adult professionals, globally distributed students, or those exploring higher ed
Prior Learning Assessment (PLA), portfolio reviews, ACE credit recommendations, certificate to credit, competency-based education (CBE), non-traditional/non-credit coursework, technical skills
Coursera, edX, LinkedIn Learning, Udacity credit-bearing courses recognized by institutions, ASU Earned Admissions
Provide high school students with college-level coursework before graduation
High school students, or younger, seeking acceleration, cost savings, confidence building, or challenge
College-credit courses taught while in high schools, AP courses, early college academies, postsecondary enrollment options
Where implemented, these pathways show encouraging outcomes. Institutions that track performance report comparable retention, GPA, and graduation rates for students entering through nontraditional routes. However, data collection remains inconsistent. Fragmented tracking systems and limited data capacity hinder efforts to evaluate long-term impact or scale successful pilots.
Opportunities and Tensions in Developing New Admissions Pathways
Admissions leaders who participated in this project’s landscape assessment describe themselves as being in a stage of “cautious exploration.” They are open to innovation but constrained by governance structures, policy complexity, technology limitations, and limited staffing capacity. Even so, optimism remains high. Their universities are increasingly viewing alternative admissions not as a short-term experiment, but as a strategic necessity for institutional sustainability and equity. They are focused on developing and refining models that balance opportunity with quality by creating pathways that not only expand who gets in but also ensure academic preparedness so students are more likely to persist and succeed once they are enrolled. Insights from the project interviews and design workshops reveal four themes that illustrate both the promise and complexity of expanding alternative admissions.
A Fragmented National Approach to Alternative Admissions
Institutions often design admissions strategies that reflect their individual missions—whether focused on equity, economic development, or selectivity. While this diversity of purpose supports innovation, it also creates a fragmented national landscape where “alternative admissions” takes on many different forms. The absence of a shared framework or common definitions makes it difficult to scale successful models, benchmark outcomes, or build coordinated policy support across higher education.
There are plenty of students that we can serve, and the fact is, a lot of potential students don’t ever enter higher education because they don’t realize that it’s a place for them.”
- University H
“We’re all open to adult learners, and yet we still follow a very traditional model… I think it’s a population we’re forcing into our mold, when what we need is to build a model for them.”
- University K
Limited Capacity for Sustained Support
Expanding access through new admissions pathways is only the first step; ensuring that students succeed after entry is an ongoing challenge. Institutions face bottlenecks in faculty engagement, advising resources, and technology integration that limit their ability to provide sustained support. Without strong wraparound services and academic alignment, alternative pathways risk becoming entry points without completion outcomes.
“
Is it truly successful that you had 100 students in your program and 20 of them made it?”
- University K
Policy–Practice Gaps and Operational Misalignment
Even when colleges adopt flexible policies intended to support alternative admissions, many struggle to implement them consistently. Disconnects between policy intent and institutional practice, driven by decentralized governance, unclear ownership, and uneven communication, create confusion for both learners and staff. As a result, well-intentioned innovations often remain programs at the periphery of the university rather than integrated systems of access and success.
“You’ve got to have a campus and university leadership who’s willing to stand up and say, we’re going this way, because it’s the right thing to do.”
- University F
Technology, Resources, and Quality Concerns
Even when colleges adopt flexible policies intended to support alternative admissions, many struggle to implement them consistently. Disconnects between policy intent and institutional practice, driven by decentralized governance, unclear ownership, and uneven communication, create confusion for both learners and staff. As a result, well-intentioned innovations often remain programs at the periphery of the university rather than integrated systems of access and success.
“
We’re not going to sacrifice the quality of the academic programming just to grow headcount.
“
We have this belief that nobody can teach this course at a level of competency that’s nearly as good as us. But that’s not true, and it’s unsustainable.”
- University F - University K
From Barriers to Readiness
Despite these challenges, admissions leaders who participated in the project interviews and design workshops shared a growing readiness to innovate. They see alternative admissions not as a departure from academic standards, but as an important change in enrollment strategy and a way to align their missions of access and equity with the changing realities of their learners. Several key trends are shaping their strategies:
• Data-informed decision-making: Increasing use of predictive analytics and advising tools to identify, support, and retain learners entering through nontraditional routes.
• Growth in stackable credentials: Modular pathways that allow learners to progress from short-term credentials to full degrees aligned with workforce needs.
• Cross-sector collaboration: Stronger partnerships among universities, community colleges, and employers to connect access, learning, and labor market opportunity.
However, leaders cautioned that scaling these efforts will require more than enthusiasm. The barriers identified in this project, fragmented vision, limited capacity, policy–practice gaps, and infrastructure constraints, are real but surmountable. Progress will depend on leadership engagement, integration of data systems, policy changes, strong faculty engagement, and coordinated cross-departmental student support. Without these practices, even promising innovations risk stalling before achieving lasting impact.
From a Single Gate to Multiple On-Ramps: How Institutions Are Redefining Admissions Pathways
The Expanding Universal On-Ramps Initiative landscape assessment found that institutions are using a diverse set of approaches to alternative admissions. Some are refining established models such as bridge and transition programs, community college transfer agreements, and credit for prior learning (CPL). Others are implementing newer practices like, competency-based education, test-optional policies and open-access, credit-bearing online courses.
Together, these models signal a shift from a single, selective “front door” to a network of multiple on-ramps that meet students where they are and recognize learning in multiple forms. Institutions are particularly focused on serving adult and nontraditional learners, building flexible pathways, and fostering cross-institutional collaboration that balances innovation with mission alignment.
Turning Pathways into Progress
Expanding alternative admissions pathways is not simply about creating new routes into college. It is about transforming how institutions define readiness, recognize learning, and sustain student success. When designed and scaled thoughtfully, alternative admissions pathways can build a stronger foundation for equity, persistence, and lifelong learning, ensuring that every learner not only has a way in, but also a clear path through to graduation.
Each admissions pathway described in the previous table reflects a deliberate effort to align institutional mission with the realities of today’s diverse learners. The challenge ahead lies in moving from individual institutional efforts to a more sustainable system of pathways that address access and completion gaps across the country. Looking across these multiple pathways, three archetypes have emerged that reflect complementary strategies for expanding participation while providing targeted academic and student supports to ensure learners are prepared for success.
Exploring Pathways and Designing Pilots
During the UDI-facilitated workshops, Co-Design Partners engaged in a structured, collaborative process to design their own Alternative Admission Pathway pilots that responded directly to the needs of the student populations they serve. Rather than applying a single model across institutions, the universities examined their own admissions policies, academic practices, and equity gaps to identify where traditional processes created unnecessary barriers to access, persistence, or completion.
During this process, the Co-Design Partners identified pain points experienced by students and explored innovative approaches to admissions and re-entry. The resulting pilots reflected distinct institutional contexts, missions, and learner demographics, while sharing a common commitment to expanding access, supporting student success, and maintaining academic quality. The following examples illustrate how three of the participating universities operationalized these archetypes to create scalable, equitable pathways that better support learners who are often underserved by traditional admissions models.
Archetype 1: Performance-Based Pathways
These pathways provide performance-based entry routes for capable learners who do not meet traditional admissions criteria.
This university’s pilot pathway is designed to strategically expand access by addressing barriers created by traditional admissions requirements. While the university mission emphasizes empowering learners of all ages and backgrounds through accessible and affordable education, current admissions policies limit opportunities for otherwise capable students. In particular, the requirement that all previously attempted transfer coursework meet a minimum GPA, regardless of academic history or personal circumstances, and the expectation of 12–24 transferable credit hours for entry into fully online programs constrain access for many prospective learners.
This pilot pathway responds to these challenges by reframing admissions around demonstrated academic readiness rather than prior credentials alone. The pilot enables prospective students to establish admissibility through successful performance in designated online coursework, reducing reliance on standardized test scores, high school GPA, or existing transfer credit. This performance-based approach emphasizes current capability, motivation, and persistence while maintaining academic standards and supporting student success.
The anticipated outcome is a more equitable and flexible admissions pathway that reduces unnecessary barriers and aligns institutional access with student potential. Over time, this pilot pathway is expected to generate positive outcomes at both the individual and state levels, including increased postsecondary attainment, improved workforce readiness, and a stronger talent pipeline. Collectively, these outcomes reinforce the university’s commitment to educational access, student success, and long-term societal and economic impact.
Archetype 2: Pre-Admission Pathways
These pathways support learners who are near admissibility but require targeted preparation in key academic areas prior to admission. These programs strengthen early success, reduce first-year attrition, and promote equity in persistence.
This university’s pilot proposes an expansion of their universal admissions program through the creation of an online conditional admissions pathway that leverages existing prior learning and competency-based education content. The pilot is designed to serve recent high school graduates below traditional admission thresholds, current high school students through concurrent enrollment, returning adult learners, and stop-out students. This university’s current universal admissions model faces barriers including relying largely on regional community college partnerships, limited access for online and out-of-state learners, and has produced relatively low rates of re-matriculation to the university.
The proposed pilot addresses these limitations by establishing a fully online pathway that allows learners to remain within the university’s ecosystem while building academic readiness. By repurposing prior learning and competency-based education coursework into a flexible, competency-based format, the model expands geographic reach, improves access, and enables learners who do not initially meet traditional criteria to demonstrate readiness and familiarity with this university’s expectations.
Success will be measured by improved outcomes across the student lifecycle, including higher rates of matriculation, enrollment, retention, and degree completion. Over time, this initiative will support this university’s goals for expanded access, improved persistence, and more equitable pathways to student success.
Archetype 3: Readmission and At-Risk Pathways
These pathways offer re-entry options for students who have stopped out or are facing academic difficulty, enabling them to rebuild GPA, demonstrate progress, and return to or maintain eligibility in degree programs.
This university’s pilot, created in partnership with a local community college, is designed to reengage students who have been academically suspended or dismissed and are often underserved by existing institutional processes. Current Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP) and academic warning reviews frequently reflect a punitive and subjective framework that assumes individual student failure and may allow for implicit bias, leaving many capable students without viable options to continue their education and contributing to persistent equity gaps.
This pilot reframes academic recovery as a supported, developmental pathway rather than a disciplinary outcome. It offers low-cost courses that do not impact financial aid eligibility and pose minimal academic risk. Credits earned through successful completion may be transcribed for credit, while unsuccessful attempts do not appear on the student transcript, and courses may be retaken without penalty. The pilot also includes a co-requisite focused on holistic student support, providing advising, encouragement, and skill development alongside coursework.
The primary objectives of this pilot is to increase rates of re-enrollment, persistence, and degree completion among academically suspended students, while reducing equity gaps across the institution. Success will be measured through improved return and graduation outcomes and more equitable academic recovery processes. Over time, this initiative aims to strengthen institutional responsibility for student success and ensure that students who experience academic setbacks have clear, supportive pathways to degree completion.
Open-Access, Credit-Bearing Courses
An Innovative Pathway to Performance-based Admission
Among the most innovative developments in alternative admissions is the rise of open-access, creditbearing courses. These are online learning opportunities that allow anyone, anywhere, to earn lowcost university credit and demonstrate college readiness before formal admission. Offered through platforms such as Coursera, edX, or institution-hosted programs like Arizona State University’s Earned Admission, these courses expand the front door to higher education by removing traditional barriers such as GPA thresholds, transcripts, and application requirements.
Originally designed to serve nontraditional learners, working adults, and globally distributed students, open-access courses combine academic rigor with flexibility and affordability. More than a technological advancement, they represent a new philosophy of access and equity—one that measures potential through demonstrated learning rather than prequalification.
Across U.S. higher education, institutions are beginning to experiment with open-access, creditbearing coursework as a performance-based pathway to admission. Some universities allow prospective students to enroll in for-credit courses as a way to demonstrate readiness, with successful completion leading to conditional or full admission. Others are partnering with third-party platforms to reach new audiences of adult and international learners, while a growing number are developing institution-hosted programs that mirror the Earned Admission model pioneered by ASU.
9,000+ previously inadmissible learners have been admitted to ASU through the Earned Admission pathway to date. Most learners earn their admission within one year of starting the pathway. Admission through the pathway has increased rapidly (average 25% YoY growth since 2023).
75% of learners admitted through the Earned Admission pathway have a GPA of 3.0 or higher, compared to 45% of all ASU Online students.
81%
The average term-to-term retention rate for Earned Admission learners once admitted, comparable to to the average retention rate for all other ASU Online undergraduate students.
1,140
ASU graduates began their journey at the university through the Earned Admission pathway.
Navigating Tensions and Building Readiness:
Foundations for Building Open-Access, Credit-Bearing Admissions Pathways
As colleges and universities reimagine access and enrollment, open-access, credit-bearing coursework has emerged as a promising innovation. Institutions participating in the Expanding Universal On-Ramps Initiative expressed strong interest in how such models could expand their enrollment strategies, promote equity, and better align with the realities of today’s learners. Yet enthusiasm is tempered by questions of sustainability, policy alignment, academic rigor, and campus readiness.
The largest barrier identified was financial viability. Institutions noted the upfront costs of faculty compensation, instructional design, advising, and technology would be a challenge in the current funding environment. Tuition-policy complexities would make the awarding of pre-admission credit challenging. Governance and curricular processes were also cited as significant hurdles. Institutions would need to determine how open-access credits apply to degrees, ensure consistency with existing policies. Finally, addressing faculty concerns, particularly around academic integrity, quality assurance, and the use of generative AI, would need to be a priority before adoption will be possible
Institutional Readiness: Four Core Requirements
To move from interest to implementation, Co-Design Partners identified four interdependent areas of readiness necessary to scale alternative admissions pilots:
Operational Infrastructure
Institutions need clear, coordinated systems to support alternative admissions, including:
• Updated policies for conditional admission, readmission, satisfactory academic progress (SAP)/stop-out, and credit transcription
• Documented workflows for student entry, progression, and transition into degree status
• Defined cross-functional roles across admissions, advising, registrar, and student success units
• Alignment with existing transfer and prior learning assessment (PLA) processes
Technological Requirements
A cohesive technology ecosystem must support outreach, instruction, and progress tracking:
• Customer relationship management (CRM) systems with pathway-specific communication journeys and eligibility routing
• Student information system (SIS) updates to track non-degree or conditional students
• Learning management system (LMS) platforms that permit access for inadmissible or returning learners
• Dashboards for early alerts, progression, and pathway performance
• FERPA-compliant integrations across CRM–SIS–LMS–PLA systems
Student Success Supports
Open-access models require intentional, wraparound supports to promote persistence:
• Dedicated success coaches or navigators
• Advising structures with clear academic pathways and early alerts
• Tutoring, writing support, accessibility services, and tailored orientation
• Belonging supports through multicultural centers, TRIO, veteran services, and peer communities
• Financial guidance, IT/laptop access, and transparent communication plans
Human and Financial Resources
Pathways require targeted staffing and sustainable funding:
• Success coaches, advisors, instructional designers, and faculty with online or competency based education (CBE) expertise
• Oversight staff to coordinate pilot operation and evaluation
• Faculty stipends, GA positions, or reallocated instructional resources
• Financial models (scholarships, deferred transcription fees, grant support, or revenue-generating courses) to offset startup and operational costs
• Strategic use of existing digital learning and student services capacity
Together, these requirements outline what institutions must build to translate conceptual interest into scalable, high-quality alternative admissions pathways that expand opportunity while maintaining academic integrity.
Looking Ahead: Building Readiness for Implementation
The landscape of alternative admissions pathways reveals a sector on the cusp of meaningful transformation. Institutions are recognizing that the traditional admissions paradigm that is anchored in standardized tests, static criteria, and linear educational journeys no longer aligns with the realities of today’s learners or the needs of the workforce they are preparing to enter. As demographic pressures intensify and the profile of college-going students continues to diversify, alternative pathways offer a necessary and forward-looking response.
The next phase of progress will require universities to translate interest into action. This means testing new models, aligning internal systems, and building the cross-campus collaborations needed to ensure that emerging pathways are not only accessible, but also rigorous, well-supported, and scalable. Among the innovations explored, openaccess, credit-bearing courses stand out as a powerful mechanism for shifting admissions from a point of selection to a platform for opportunity, helping learners demonstrate readiness, earn credit, and ultimately persist and thrive in their academic journeys.
Yet innovation alone will not guarantee sustained impact. True transformation requires systemic change: stronger data infrastructure to track outcomes and guide improvement; sustained faculty engagement to uphold quality and academic integrity; shared technology platforms capable of supporting learners at scale; and, above all, a renewed, institution-wide commitment to supporting student success beyond the point of entry. Without these foundations, even the most promising models risk remaining pilots rather than pathways.
Ultimately, the goal is not simply to let more students in, but to help more students through. Reimagined in this way, admissions becomes more than a gatekeeping mechanism—it becomes the first step in a comprehensive, learner-centered system designed to support individuals throughout their educational journeys and across their lifetimes.
Reimagining Access:
Advancing broad-based admissions in higher education
