This week, a press release announced that WSU had been recognized by the U.S. Department of Education

“Last fall, the education department launched a program to celebrate colleges and universities that are working to remove barriers and help more students graduate,” the release said. “Schools were evaluated based on performance metrics related to access, success and post-college outcomes. Weber State was selected from a pool of 6,751 schools and was the only institution in Utah recognized.”

Jessica Oyler, vice president for Student Access & Success, told the Standard-Examiner on Friday the DOE recognized 200 institutions in total across the country.

“We talked a lot about some of our outreach strategies that we have,” she said. “Over the last five years, we’ve done text messaging campaigns. We’ve increased the number of advisors that we have at the university by 60%. Our strategic plan really focuses on, ‘Where can we close graduation gaps?’ It might be first-generation, PELL-eligible, underrepresented race and ethnicities — some of those groups were graduating at rates lower than the rest of their peers, so we talked about it as a campus, ‘What are some things we can do to really positively impact that?’ Part of it was sending out texts and emails to just check in with students or encourage them to do the next step in their academic plan, whether that be meet with an advisor or set up a tutoring appointment or register for the next semester.”

She said WSU also sent check-in surveys to students to see how they were connecting to other students and how the year was going.

The press release further adds that WSU is also extending that access and outreach to area high school students.

“The university’s strategies include efforts to reduce the cost of college, like WSU’s Concurrent Enrollment program — which costs just $5 per college credit hour — so Utah students can graduate high school having already completed their associate’s degree,” the release said. “Every year, the university offers 130 Concurrent Enrollment courses.”

Oyler said it’s meaningful to get this recognition.

“It really speaks to some of the work that we’ve done as an institution to meet our students where they are,” she said. “It’s exciting, not only to be recognized in the state of Utah, but also to talk to our faculty and staff on campus and say, ‘This recognition is because of you and the connections that you’re making with our students.'”