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Taylor Decuir, liberal studies student, was chosen to be on the Board of Regents Student Success Council during its inaugural year to help support the success in reaching the state’s Master Plan goal of doubling the annual number of postsecondary credentials by 2030.

The purpose of the council is to leverage the knowledge of stakeholders who are most directly involved with student success and to provide practical guidance on the Board’s strategic planning process and priorities. The objectives of the council are to identify barriers to credential completion, determine and adopt best practices for supporting students at scale, develop strategies to close equity gaps and recommend policy solutions to improve service to students.

LAICU President Kenya Messer stated, “Since Taylor has been a stand-out member of the LAICU Student Advisory Council we nominated her to serve in the student representative seat on the BOR Student Success Council. I think that she will make a great addition to the council.”

Decuir said that she is grateful to be part of the discussions on how to increase access to higher education opportunities and resources. “While I have experience serving on SGA, my scope of awareness of student advocacy has broadened due to my experiences with the Board of Regents council. I’ve had the privilege of serving with an interdisciplinary mixture of faculty, student leaders, and administrators whose backgrounds and experiences reflect the diversity of Louisiana’s higher education. This has exposed me to different perspectives beyond the student perspective of higher education. Similarly, I’ve been able to draw upon my experiences of being a first-generation student to contribute to important dialogues about increasing access to higher education, which often begins before students turn in applications or set foot on a college campus for the first time. For example, we discussed the importance of making dual enrollment affordable to high school students. I remember being in high school and wanting to be able to participate in dual enrollment but was unable to due to financial limitations.”

The council will serve as an essential group in ensuring the success of the Master Plan. It will regularly evaluate progress toward Master Plan goals and provide guidance that can accelerate achievement. Recommendations will be developed for research, which will be conducted in coordination with Louisiana’s systems, public and private institutions, agencies, and appropriate organizations to inform the councils’ work and drive student success. In addition to addressing specific Master Plan objectives, the council may consider other matters related to accomplishing the Board’s attainment goal, which calls for 60% of Louisiana’s working-age population aged 25- 65 to hold a postsecondary credential by 2030.

The official membership of the council is comprised of faculty, staff, and students from institutions and agencies, providing a comprehensive range of perspectives, experiences, and expertise to inform the work of the Board of Regents and of Louisiana’s colleges and universities. Faculty and staff appointees will serve a two-year term. Students will serve a one-year term.

“The discussions I’ve participated in about the allocation of resources and equity have helped me to recognize the overlap between the goals of this committee and FranU’s core values--especially justice. This resonates with me not just as a student leader but as a tutor for FranU’s LRC. I’ve witnessed both the necessity and the positive impact student support services such as tutoring have on enhancing course comprehension and student experience on campus. This realization has remained with me during my Board of Regents council meetings, and I know that these meetings are equipping me to continue advocating for greater access to Louisiana’s higher education,” concluded Decuir.