Access2Excellence effort signals a seismic shift at this school in the Southwest

Northern Arizona University’s Jacks on Track program, whose name is a nod to the university’s Lumberjack mascot, aims to bring back students who have left college anywhere from a semester to three years short of a degree. NAU is recruiting this untapped pool as part of an overall effort to boost college success, particularly for students who’ve typically been poorly served in higher education. “People would have probably gone their whole life without a degree because they were on academic probation or owed a couple of thousand dollars and so couldn’t register again,” said President José Luis Cruz Rivera. “But we fixed everything for them.”