Complete College America

What does it really mean to use AI in service of students?

At the Central Valley Higher Education Consortium's recent summit, our Chief of Staff & SVP for Strategy Dhanfu E. Elston made the case that AI's promise in higher education isn't about efficiency for its own sake — it's about closing gaps, building momentum, and ensuring every student has a genuine path to completion.

"The technology only matters if it moves students forward."

Watch the full conversation here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvucjXbPBZY

AI and Emerging Technologies for Student Success: What’s Next for Higher Education across the Nation Panel 3 of CVHEC’s 2026 Central Valley Higher Education Summit featured a national perspective by Dr. Dhanfu Elston of Complete College America on artificial...

Good news: we've extended the Call for Session Proposals for the 2026 CCA Annual Convening!

New deadline: June 3, 2026

This year's theme — Doing the Work: When Higher Education and Workforce Integrate, Students Succeed — is focused on real implementation stories, hard-won lessons, and data-backed results.

Join us December 1–3 in San Diego. Submit your proposal today:

The 2026 CCA Annual Convening – Complete College America Register Now We are headed west in 2026! Save the date for the 2026 CCA Annual Convening, taking place in San Diego from December 1 to 3, 2026. Registration is now open, and you can book a room through the hotel block once you complete your registration. Call for Session…

Big news: CCA President Yolanda Watson Spiva just published a major piece in Campus Technology — and it's a must-read for anyone in higher education.

Her argument: colleges can't keep treating AI as a side project. With AI already transforming classrooms, advising, and operations, institutions need coordinated, campus-wide strategies — not just individual experiments.

It's Time for Higher Ed to Get Serious About AI Strategy -- Campus Technology Without a coordinated strategy that involves multiple academic and administrative units across the entire campus, colleges risk wasting resources, duplicating efforts, and ultimately failing to deliver on the promise of deploying technology to improve learning and operations.

🔍 We're looking for our next Director of Communications and Advocacy.

Complete College America is seeking a seasoned communications leader who thrives at the intersection of policy, advocacy, and storytelling. You'll lead our external communications strategy, engage partners and policymakers, and champion the voices of students who deserve better from our higher ed system.

What we offer:
✔ Fully remote position
✔ A team of passionate, mission-driven reformers
✔ National reach across our state alliance network

Deadline to apply: June 5
Apply now: https://completecollegeadmin.bamboohr.com/careers/42

Know someone who'd be a great fit? Please share.

Director of Communications and Advocacy Director of Communications and Advocacy Job Description Organizational Overview The barriers to college completion are complex and intertwined. No one educator, department, institution, or state can solve them. Without a simultaneous and intersectional approach, those barriers will continue to rob a...

Access without completion isn't enough. 🎓
CCA President Dr. Yolanda Watson Spiva sat down with Growing Inland Achievement's Education Insight podcast to talk about two decades of data on college success — what's holding students back, and what's actually moving the needle.
Hit the link in bio to listen. 👆
https://inlandempiregia.org/podcasts/education-insight-what-20-years-of-data-reveals-about-college-success/

New Episode Alert: CCA on the Air

What does it really take to transform academic advising at scale? On the latest episode of CCA on the Air, we sit down with Brett Barclay, Dean of Academic Advising at Greenville Technical College, to find out.

For nearly three years, GTC has been part of CCA's Accelerator — a key initiative within the Gates Foundation's Intermediaries for Scale Investment — and they've used that time to fundamentally rethink how advising works for their students.

In this special feature, Brett shares:
- How GTC approached advising transformation
- The lessons learned along the way
- What's working — and what's next

If you care about student success, advising redesign, or what real transformation looks like in practice, this episode is a must-listen.

Tune in now and hear how Greenville Technical is reshaping the student experience, one conversation at a time.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/65MiSkZNItNQgfyTBS6hk7?si=5Q_fmI-kQKe3veqElYgBhw

CCA Accelerator Special Feature: Transforming Advising at Greenville Technical College CCA On the Air · Episode

The Voices for Justice Podcast is LIVE with a brand-new episode!

Recorded live at SXSW EDU, host Dr. Nia Woods Haydel leads a powerful conversation with Dr. Kayla Elliott, Christina Coffman, and Dr. Feliza Ortiz-Licon on disrupting inequitable systems in higher education.

Together, they explore how leaders, advocates, and policymakers can work collectively to expand opportunity, challenge unjust systems, and ensure all learners have access to success.

👉 Watch or listen to the full episode now:
Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/3jmmu5yn
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEvXTC0AsWY

We have our 2026 March to Graduation Madness champions!

- 𝗠𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 Champion: Prairie View A&M University
- 𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 Champion: Southern University and A&M College- Baton Rouge

For the third year in a row, either one or both champions are HBCUs. That’s not a coincidence; it’s a reflection of what these institutions have always prioritized: access, affordability, and student success for communities that have been historically underserved by higher education.

In CCA’s 2026 March to Graduation Madness, schools competed on on-time graduation rates, Pell Grant access, and net price of attendance. Prairie View A&M and Southern University won for all the best reasons, round after round, on the metrics that matter most for students.

Congratulations to both universities! And congratulations to every student at every institution in this tournament who is on the path to completion. You’re the real reason .

After weeks of competition measured not by points on the board, but by graduation rates, Pell Grant access, and net price of attendance, we have our 2026 March to Graduation Madness championship matchups:

𝗠𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 Championship:
Prairie View A&M University vs. Tennessee State University

Two HBCUs in our final student success match-up. Let that land.

𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 Championship:
vs.

An HBCU in Baton Rouge and one of the nation’s most-recognized public universities. Both earned their spot by delivering for students.

This is what happens when you measure success by how well institutions serve their students. The data led us here.

Who will be crowned the ultimate champions for college completion? Stay tuned for the final results tomorrow. 🔥

We have our Final Four — and the completion brackets are looking pretty powerful for students earning degrees and credentials. 🏀🎓

In CCA’s 2026 March to Graduation Madness, schools earn their spot by outperforming on the metrics that matter most for students: on-time graduation rates, Pell Grant access, and net price of attendance. After three rounds of competition, here’s who’s left standing:

𝗠𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 Final Four:
🔵 UCLA vs. Prairie View A&M University
🔵 The University of Texas at Austin vs. Tennessee State University

𝗪𝗼𝗺𝗲𝗻'𝘀 𝗕𝗿𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗲𝘁 Final Four:
🔴 University of Texas San Antonio vs. Southern University and A&M College- Baton Rouge
🔴 UCLA vs. The University of Texas at Austin

Let that sink in. Three HBCUs (Prairie View A&M, Southern U., and Tennessee State), and a Hispanic-Serving Institution (UT San Antonio) are all in the Final Four of both brackets— alongside large research universities like UCLA and Texas. This is what it looks like when you measure institutions by how well they serve ALL their students.

Who will make it to the championship? Stay tuned. 🔥