Removing Barriers to Graduate Student Success Part III: The Administrative Maze We Ask Graduate Students (and undergraduate) to Navigate
I'm going to take you through a really tedious sequence of events, but I gave you
another cute cat picture so bear with me.
A graduate student, 15 credit hrs into a 30 credit hour master's degree, stops out during the spring semester because of an unexpected financial hardship. Their plan is simple: take one semester off, stabilize their finances, and return in the fall to finish their degree.
By August they are ready to come back. They go to the university portal where they would typically register for classes but they can't get access. They try to go directly to the registration system but the system tells them they are not recognized. They email their department and the department tells them to contact the registrar. They put in a ticket. The registrar's office tells them that they need to contact graduate admissions and submit a readmission application.
The student is puzzled. "Why do I need to be readmitted? I only took one semester off."
They go to the graduate admissions website but can't find information on readmission and the reason for it. They email graduate admissions. The response tells them that after one full term without enrollment, the university system turns their record inactive. In order to be able to access the university portal and register for classes, they need to be readmitted. They are given a link to an application.
They click on the link and attempt to fill out the application but the system is asking them to login using the credentials they used when they applied to graduate school. They applied three years ago. Not surprisingly, they don't have that information and they cannot reset their password because the system doesn't recognize the email they are using. They probably used a different email three years ago.
After emails with IT and more emails with graduate admissions they finally get the application submitted. It takes several days for the application to be approved because it requires department approval by the faculty advisor who is on vacation.
The re-admission application is finally approved but they can't register until their advisor does something in the system. Another few days pass before the student can be advised.
It is now a week before classes start. Perhaps they should have started this process sooner but how were they to know that it would take two weeks just to get to a point where they could register for their classes?
Finally, finally, they are able to register. But now there is an issue with their financial aid. They put in a ticket to the office of financial aid. Wait for a response.
By this time, they are receiving emails saying their classes will be dropped if they don't make a payment or enroll in the payment plan.
"But I just got registered!"
You found the description above tedious. The student found it immensely frustrating.
For many institutions, this story is not hypothetical. It is one example of the administrative maze students are asked to navigate.
The Hidden Barrier We Rarely Discuss
When conversations about student success occur, we often focus on advising, mentoring, funding, academic preparation, or mental health. Those issues matter enormously.
But there is another barrier hiding in plain sight: administrative complexity.
Graduate students must successfully navigate a dizzying collection of processes and requirements, including:
- Registration holds
- Residency paperwork
- Assistantship contracts
- Health insurance enrollment and waivers
- Degree audits
- Graduation applications
- Dissertation formatting requirements
- Appeals processes
- Leaves of absence
- Readmission procedures
- Countless forms requiring multiple approvals
Each individual requirement may seem reasonable. Collectively, they can become overwhelming.
Complexity Is Not Experienced Equally
Administrative hurdles affect all students, but they do not affect all students equally. Students who have strong support systems, flexible work schedules, financial resources, and familiarity with higher education often find ways through bureaucratic obstacles. Students experiencing stress, financial hardship, caregiving responsibilities, disability-related challenges, or unfamiliarity with university systems face a very different reality. For these students, every additional step creates another opportunity to stop, delay, or disengage. A missed deadline can delay graduation. An unresolved hold can prevent registration. A misunderstood policy can jeopardize funding. A confusing process can become the final straw for a student already carrying significant burdens.
In many cases, administrative complexity amplifies the very inequities institutions are trying to reduce.
We Designed the System One Rule at a Time
Most administrative challenges are not the result of bad intentions. They are often the result of years of incremental additions across multiple offices on campus--bursar, registrar, financial aid, scholarship, academic department, the graduate school. One office creates a new form to solve a problem. Another office creates a new process to address another problem. Another policy is created to address another problem. An exception process for another policy is needed, adding another layer of documentation and another form. Over time, the student experience becomes fragmented across multiple offices, websites, portals, and approval chains. No single office owns the entire journey.
The student becomes responsible for connecting all the pieces.
What feels like a minor administrative task to an institution may feel like an obstacle course to a student.
A Different Question
Universities often ask: "How can students better understand our processes?"
A more useful question may be:
"Why are our processes so difficult to understand in the first place?"
If a student needs to submit multiple tickets to multiple offices, emails, websites, and phone calls to complete a routine task, the problem may not be the student. It may be the process. Student-centered administration requires us to examine every step through the eyes of someone who has never navigated it before.
Can they find the information? Does the website anticipate their questions?
Can they complete the task without specialized knowledge? Do they understand the vocabulary we use (Degree audit, Banner, readmission, matriculation, late-stage)?
Can they decipher on their own the cryptic information given to them about registration holds?
Can they get help from a single point of contact? If not, is there a clearly identified path for resolution so they student knows who to contact next?
What We Are Learning
At the University of Memphis Graduate School, one area receiving significant attention is the process students encounter when returning after a stop-out. Students who have already demonstrated their commitment to graduate education should not have to navigate a confusing labyrinth simply to resume their studies.
With the help our Registrar, Darla Keel and CIO, Jeff Delaney we have changed our systems to allow students to stop out for two full semesters without the need to apply for re-admission. This means the student who takes the spring off can register again without barriers the following fall. They still need to be advised and do a variety of other steps but at least they don't have to jump through the hoops described above.
Thankfully we had already migrated our readmission process to SLATE and we have worked with our admission counselors and program coordinators to make sure that those applications are processed as quickly as possible. We have also harnessed our CRM to communicate to students who have stopped out about the readmission and re-enrollment process. Students often forget to do their FASFA, for instance, which can slow their financial aid review.
We can't remove every step but we can clearly identify and communicate those steps and remind students of them.
The goal is not simply to make processes more efficient. The goal is to make persistence easier. Every unnecessary obstacle removed is one less reason for a student to abandon a degree they have already invested years pursuing.
Success Is More Than Academic
Graduate student success depends on excellent teaching, mentoring, funding, and research opportunities. But it also depends on successfully navigating the systems we build around them. As institutions work to improve graduate student success, retention, and completion, we should remember an important principle:
Every form, every deadline, every portal, and every approval process represents a student experience.
The question is whether that experience helps students move forward—or makes them wonder whether continuing is worth the effort.
What administrative hurdle caused you the most frustration as a graduate student? What is one process universities could simplify immediately?