WGU ADVANCEMENT
Strategic Priorities
Creating Pathways to Opportunity & Transforming Lives
At WGU, we are committed to creating pathways to opportunities and transforming lives through education. Our strategic priorities drive innovation, personalize student learning experiences, and expand workforce development opportunities. Together, these initiatives are driving a future where education is accessible, workforce-relevant, and impactful. For more information on any of these national initiatives, please contact Executive Director of Development Brandon Zollner at brandon.zollner@wgu.edu.
ReNEW Fund: Reinvesting in Nursing Education and Workforce
The American healthcare system faces a dire shortage of workers, with the cost of education preventing thousands of candidates from entering the workforce. WGU and Social Finance are partnering to create the ReNEW Fund, a sustainable and innovative model that prepares historically underserved learners for well-paying health careers and addresses healthcare workforce needs and shortages. For more information, visit our ReNEW website.
Apprenticeships: Bridging the Gap Between Teacher Education and Employment
Our apprenticeship-based degree model targets vacancies by enabling K-12 school districts to offer promising hourly frontline employees a zero-debt pathway to a bachelor’s degree and teacher certification. This approach will create a sustainable pipeline of local teaching talent well-versed in curriculum literacy and is both cost-effective and replicable across urban and rural areas.
Artificial Intelligence: Innovating Education Student Success
WGU harnesses the power of artificial intelligence to personalize and enhance the student learning experience. Our AI initiatives are designed to provide personalized learning paths, real-time feedback, and predictive analytics, enabling us to deliver education that is both adaptive and effective. AI native components already in motion, demonstrating readiness, capability, and commitment include:
- AI-driven Decision Intelligence is helping mentors deliver timely, individualized outreach to close equity gaps and improve completion.
- WGU Labs is testing AI enabled tutoring, early alert models, and belonging interventions to boost persistence.
- Responsible AI use guidelines ensures ethical, mission aligned implementation across programs.
- AI-assisted course design tools are being codeveloped to enhance feedback, simulations, and learning experiences.
- AI Skills Fundamentals and the AI Edge Scholarship are expanding access to AI aligned programs and diversifying the national AI talent pipeline.
BSN Prelicensure Program: Advancing Health Equity
WGU’s BSN Prelicensure program is now available in more than 24 states, and simulation labs are being established in strategic locations across the country to make high-quality nursing education accessible and attainable. With competency-based education, WGU meets students where they are and promotes workforce diversity. Our BSN Prelicensure program aims to advance health equity by adding more than 3,000 competent professionals to the nursing pipeline by the end of 2027.
Bridging the Rural Divide
When financial and digital access barriers are removed, rural learners persist and succeed at equivalent rates, reinforcing that access, not ability, is the primary constraint. Our partnerships in rural initiatives are making great inroads by showcasing:
- Access Investments Yield Measurable Outcomes - Scholarships, broadband access, and wraparound supports directly improve persistence and completion for rural learners.
- Workforce Alignment Drives Immediate Impact - Programs focused on healthcare, education, and technology address critical labor shortages in real time.
- Place-Based + Scalable - Combining regional targeting with national infrastructure enables both depth and scale of impact.
Partnership is the multiplier. Philanthropic capital enables innovation, de-risks new models, and accelerates solutions that neither higher education nor employers can achieve alone.
Questions?
For all questions about any of these national initiatives, please contact Executive Director of Development Brandon Zollner at brandon.zollner@wgu.edu.
