What makes one university better than the others? There are many ways to answer, but one factor always remains at the soul of the question: How well does it equip students to succeed in school and in life? 

“A forward-thinking university reaches out to ensure all students have the resources and develop the skills they need to work very hard and succeed – not just in the complicated business of earning degrees but also in the task of building careers and contributing their unique talents to the world,” said Paula Myrick Short, University of Houston senior vice president for academic affairs and provost. 

Short points to experiential and field-based learning opportunities, mentored research, service learning and learning abroad as the kinds of experiences that allow UH students to build their skills and help define where they want to go with their careers.

“No-excuse priority” is how UH President Renu Khator refers to a decade-long quest to increase every measurable factor that defines student success at UH.

The goal is twofold: First, assure students and families that UH is their partner in making degree completion possible – on time and within budget.  And second, prepare students for the professional life after graduation.  That requires more than landing a job. It means helping students build the skills to confidently traverse the path from career dreams to real-life futures. 

Deliberate, Compassionate Bridge Building

“Our wide-ranging efforts to increase student success start before a student even arrives on campus,” said Teri Elkins Longacre, vice provost and dean of undergraduate student success. “From data-informed, proactive advising to programs such as UHin4 that remove barriers to timely degree completion, we are continually evaluating and addressing every step that promotes or hinders student success.”

Providing academic maps helps ensure that students enroll in courses each semester that apply to their chosen degree program. Advising technology that charts out coursework, suggests tutoring and supplemental instruction as needed and notifies an adviser if a student shows signs of trouble also plays a key role in delivering successful outcomes.

How is UH surpassing so many student success milestones? “With the right synergy,” is the short answer from Dan Maxwell, interim vice president for student affairs and enrollment services.

“We want to ensure every single student can access the tangible academic and emotional support they need to feel comfortable here and work confidently throughout their journey toward completing their studies,” Maxwell said. His team connects with students from the moment they show interest in UH all the way until they graduate – even longer for master’s and doctoral students.

The ingredients for helping students succeed comes in many forms, such as the student-led Cub Camp, new student orientation, University Career Services, Cougar Cupboard, tutoring centers, mental health services and more. Cougar Promise covers tuition and mandatory fees for low-income students and reduces costs for eligible students. Families are invited to be involved, too. 

“We engage the parents. We truly understand that parents are allies in student success. A new program called Campus ESP shares official communication with parents,” said Donell Young, associate vice president for student affairs and dean of students.

Bridging the Transition

Junior music major Timothy Turnley learned about UH in high school from teachers who are UH alumni. His band teacher stressed the outstanding quality of the UH music education program (among the best in the country, according to Turnley), while his English teacher praised the academics and offered advice for college life and living in Houston.

From his UH music professors, he learns about the intricacies of percussion instruments and the discipline and scheduling traits necessary for musicians. His professors, he said, are teachers, mentors, counselors, career advisers and endless sources of knowledge about the music scene – local, around the world and through time. 

“Most of my and my fellow music students’ inspiration comes from our professors at UH,”  Turnley said. “They help us bridge the transition from our parent-led life into our self-led life.”

For Diamond Family Scholars like Marcela Molina, life serves up extra struggles.

“The Diamond Scholarship helps recent high school graduates who were in foster care, a ward of the state or orphaned. I was two of those,” she said. 

Both of her parents died early – her mother when Molina was 13, her father just three months before she turned 18. Before that load of grief and turmoil landed, leaving her a ward of the state, Molina had started silently dreaming of college.

“In poor upbringings, nobody talks about education. I have cousins [in Honduras] who haven’t completed first grade. The mindset is to just work. I felt hopeless, trapped in poverty and struggle,” said Molina, born in Houston as the youngest of four. 

It all changed with the Diamond Family Scholars Program. Molina’s expenses would be covered, and she and other Diamond Scholars would form something like a family.

“I’d never met another orphan, but now I’ve found friends with similar stories. People like us go through lives with nobody really seeing us,” Molina said. “Becoming a Diamond Scholar was our one opportunity to make it.”

These days, Molina dreams of being a psychologist and providing the hope missing in her youth. Such goals have the power to change lives.

Success That Sticks

So, at the deepest core, what really explains UH’s significant and unprecedented progress in student success and national rankings?

Some observers point to the many benchmarks achieved. Others say it’s about rigorous and relevant academics, research opportunities or job preparation. For others, the jewel is athletics or the social scene. 

If you ask Maxwell how to measure UH’s growing success, he will tell you it’s all those things and more. It’s the “stickiness.”

“No matter the needs or background, it is our job to find the best ‘sticky’ points – those things that make an individual student feel at home, right here, and be eager to stay loyal to the University of Houston,” he said.  “Think of it as always being where we belong for as long as we need to be.  We like our Cougars to feel ‘sticky’ with the University. We want them to work very hard, earn their degree, then soar in their chosen path in life. And we want them to always remain Cougars deep at heart.”