Meredith Ruland graduated from high school in central Ohio more than a decade ago. She earned an associate’s degree at a community college, then enrolled at a small liberal arts school called Ramapo College of New Jersey, where she hoped to finish her bachelor’s.
To pay tuition and rent, Ruland worked nearly nonstop. First she was a receptionist at an OB-GYN office, then a preschool aide, a pet sitter, and a crew member at Trader Joe’s.
“Longtime, part-time student is what I coined myself,” she said, sighing. “I’ve done full-time semesters, but I’ve taken a lot of breaks for working.”
The 28-year-old has also taken breaks because of her disability. She has a connective tissue disorder. Overwhelmed by work, her health and a full course load, she left school in 2024.
Her story is increasingly common in America. The number of “stop-out” students has been growing in the U.S.
Today, more than 43 million Americans have some college credit but no degree. That’s up from 36 million in 2019, according to the National Student Clearinghouse.
As schools face declining enrollments and states worry about maintaining skilled workforces, many are working with a national organization called ReUp Education to reconnect with those adult learners.
Last summer, Ruland got one of those calls.
“I thought it was a solicitor,” she said, laughing. “I usually prank them, so I answered.”
But as they talked, she realized that on the other end of the line was a college coach who already knew about her school history, her credits, and her potential path to finishing a four-year degree.
Colleges are facing a financial and enrollment reckoning. There are roughly two million fewer college students nationwide than a decade ago, and the share of high school graduates going straight to college has dropped from about 70% to around 50%.
The country is also approaching a demographic cliff. The number of college-age students is projected to fall sharply this year — 18 years after the Great Recession, when many families decided they couldn’t afford to have kids. That’s forcing colleges and states to look hard at students they once lost.
“If we can’t skill up our people, we will fall behind,” said Jonathan Gowin, the Alliance Engagement Director for the Northeast region at Complete College America, an advocacy group that’s trying to close that gap. “If institutions don’t get this right — re-engaging the some-college-no-degree population — then we will lose our institutions.”
ReUp Education CEO Terah Crews said her organization has already helped bring back tens of thousands of adult students through their work with states including North Carolina, South Carolina, Illinois and New Jersey, which launched the nation’s first statewide ReUp initiative in 2022. In less than three years, more than 13,000 adults re-enrolled in New Jersey schools.
Crews said these partnerships work because public schools have limited resources. That makes it difficult for them to reconnect with adult students who usually need dozens of calls before re-enrolling.
“Someone who’s got a full-time job or multiple part-time jobs and kids, they don’t immediately enroll in a couple weeks,” Crews explained. “They actually have to organize and intentionally design their life and they have to think through it.”
In Massachusetts, several public colleges are working with ReUp. John Drew, who oversees enrollment management at the University of Massachusetts Boston, said the school has re-enrolled 260 former students through that partnership.
“There is a gap when a student leaves our campus and they haven’t completed their degree,” Drew said. “We wanted to make sure we had the resources to bring them back.”
Six other public institutions in Massachusetts are also working with ReUp: Bunker Hill Community College, Cape Cod Community College, Greenfield Community College, MassBay Community College, Fitchburg State University and UMass Dartmouth.
ReUp Education CEO Crews knows firsthand this rough, nonlinear path to a college degree.
“I went back to school as an adult learner, first to community college, eventually finishing up at the University of North Carolina,” she recalled. “It was there that I discovered my passion for higher education, mostly because it had done so much to change my life trajectory.”
For Ramapo College student Ruland, speaking to someone at ReUp who understood her experience made a big difference. After a few calls and meetings, she re-enrolled in school. And she continues to talk to an advisor almost weekly.
“We always discuss school scheduling, including my personal and work schedule,” she said. “The number one thing I really struggled with throughout the last ten years was actually finding somebody who really supported and cared about my education.”
She’s still working at Trader Joe’s. But this spring, she’s on track to graduate with a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies.
