Where Student Momentum Begins
What happens between a student's application and their first day of class? And how early can they see the career they're working toward?
Swim Digital Group is bringing together up to 12 community and technical colleges for a national study of the student onboarding experience, from application to first class to a student's first meaningful connection to a career. Together, partner colleges will build the field's first shared benchmark of that journey.
Swim is funding up to $360,000 in Research Partner Grants
The First Mile
The First Mile Matters.
Ready to Participate?
Applications are open to community and technical colleges nationwide, and Swim will select up to 12.
We encourage enrollment, student services, and workforce leaders to apply together. The first mile crosses all three, and the study works best when the whole path is represented.
Applications close
November 16th, at 5PM EST.
INSTITUTIONAL EXCELLENCE DOESN’T HAPPEN BY ACCIDENT
Community colleges invest heavily in recruiting students, yet many of those students leave before a single class meets. Between admission and enrollment, they move through a series of handoffs: financial aid, orientation, placement, advising, and registration.
Each handoff is a place where momentum can be lost.
For many students, the reason to push through is a job, a wage, or a better life for their family. But the career conversation often waits until the end of a program, long after many students have decided whether to stay.
Colleges measure who applies and who enrolls. Very few measure what happens in between, or whether a student can see the career at the end of the program when it matters most. The First Mile Study looks at that gap: where students hit friction, when momentum is lost, and how early they can see the connection between the program they chose and the future they're working toward.
What Happens in The First Mile?
The student experience is not one-size-fits-all.
The First Mile Study will examine onboarding from multiple student vantage points, including the recent high school graduate, the working adult, the displaced worker, and the noncredit workforce student moving toward a credential.
Can students see where their program leads?
How clearly are wages, demand, and career outcomes shown when students choose a program?
When does career exploration begin?
Is it built into onboarding, or left to optional services later in the student experience?
When do students first meet the world of work?
When are they introduced to employers, apprenticeships, or work-based learning, and how do referrals from workforce boards and employer partners turn into enrollment?
Does onboarding work for working students?
Are processes designed around students balancing college with
full-time work?
How do workforce and continuing education students move into credit programs?
Do pathways connect?
Does previous experience count?
How are prior learning and work experience recognized at entry?
Help Define The First Mile
Swim will select no more than 12 community and technical colleges for the inaugural research cohort. Together, they will build the field's first shared benchmark of the onboarding journey, and each will see its own first mile more clearly than before.
Key Numbers:
12
Research Partner Institutions
$30K
Research Partner Grant Per Institution
$60K
Full Assessment Value
The full assessment is valued at $60,000. Swim covers half through a $30,000 Research Partner Grant, in recognition of each college's contribution of data and participation in the national study. The college's investment is $30,000.
What Research Partners Receive:
Mystery-shopper testing of your path from application to first class, across multiple student profiles.
A comprehensive onboarding journey assessment
Institutional benchmarking
Compare your first mile with the full cohort, including how many first-term students make a career connection.
Two peer research convenings
Work through the findings alongside the other colleges in the cohort.
An institutional action brief
Priority improvements across enrollment, student services, and workforce functions.
National research recognition
Be named as a Research Partner in the study's national white paper, or participate anonymously if you prefer.
What Happens Next?
Submit Your Application
01
Complete the online application and tell us about your institution and your team's interest in The First Mile Study.
Cohort Selection
02
Swim selects up to 12 colleges to build a balanced cohort across college size, region, and student population. Applicants hear from us by December 1, 2026.
Research Begins
03
Research Partners move into the assessment: onboarding journey research, mystery-shopper testing, institutional benchmarking, and three peer research convenings.
Turn Findings Into Action
04
Each college receives an action brief with priority improvements across enrollment, student services, and workforce functions. Findings from the full cohort feed a national white paper on strengthening onboarding, improving yield, and connecting students to careers sooner.
Follow the Research. Join the Conversation.
Follow Swim Digital Group for updates from The First Mile Study, new findings, and conversations about the work shaping student experience, enrollment, workforce, and institutional change.
"Students come to us with a destination in mind, and the first mile is where we either show them the road or ask them to take it on faith."
Trimeka Benjamin,
President and CEO, Swim Digital Group
