While every community college offers some advising support, the SENSE program at Chattahoochee Valley Community College in Alabama is an unusual effort to automatically offer coaching to a certain group of students and to guide them through whatever life and academic challenges they might face until they complete their program.

SENSE, now in its third year, aims to solve a challenge that affects community colleges across the country: poor completion rates.

Apprenticeships are, in many ways, the holy grail for working learners—providing an education that’s targeted to in-demand roles and paying them full-time wages for work they do while they’re learning.

It’s a powerful package. But there’s one big catch: Apprenticeships leave out the 95 million frontline workers who already have jobs, but who still may need additional education to move up in their careers.

Having a child changed everything for Malia Capers-Cristabol—including her hopes and dreams for a college education.

She is far from alone. Without adequate support such as childcare, financial aid, and schedules that accommodate their other responsibilities, many student-parents never make it to or through college. Capers-Cristabol was fortunate. She beat the odds, thanks to the personalized support she received from Austin Community College.