Professional Development Solutions for Higher Education

Student retention is vital for many reasons. Retaining students is necessary for an institution’s immediate and long-term financial stability, as well as maintaining its academic programs. Public institutions are generally accountable to local boards, state bodies, and national accrediting boards, which all view poor retention as a troubling indicator. Students who leave college are less likely to return and complete their degree and failing to complete a degree poorly impacts social mobility. By completing a degree, a student may do better in the job market and enjoy more lifetime earnings. 

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One way a college can improve its student retention is to offer high-quality success coaching and academic advising training, such as academic advisor certificates, success coach certification, student affairs mangement training, and faculty advising training. Academic advising and success coaching are common across higher education and are widely considered a key driver of student success. Institutions recognize academic advising must be a key component of any retention effort because of its inescapable campus presence. Habley called academic advising programs the “hub of the campus wheel” because of their connection to nearly every division at a college. Tinto concurred that strong retention programs place advising initiatives at the core of their effort to retain students, such as advisor training.

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In many cases, a college student’s only bond with an employee outside of the classroom will be with their advisor or success coach. Therefore, academic advising offices serve as a key catwalk through college, providing social capital for college students who may need more resources to persist through college. 

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Charlie Nutt, former Executive Director of NACADA (National Academic Advising Association) wrote “It is the people who come face-to-face with students on a regular basis who provide the positive growth experiences for students that enable them to identify their goals and talents. The caring attitude of college personnel is viewed as the most potent retention force on a campus”. 

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“It is the people who come face-to-face with students on a regular basis who provide the positive growth experiences for students that enable them to identify their goals and talents. The caring attitude of college personnel is viewed as the most potent retention force on a campus” 

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To impact retention, every success coach, advisor, faculty member, and student affairs leader must first understand a student's life and career goals before talking about majors and course selection. The bond between a student and their advisor must be a social one built on rapport and trust, where the meaning of college is constructed between the two.

 

It can be argued that the best coaching practices are those that elicit the investment of ample energy from the student and higher levels of student engagement are strongly linked with higher student retention and graduation rates. Therefore, success coaching and academic advising should be designed to increase interaction, self-disclosures, trust, and goal commitment, which require academic advising and coaching meetings to be collaborative, where an employee draws out rich information from the student.

 

One of the best ways to make this happen is for academic advising, coaching, and student affairs offices to seek out professional development and training in these areas, such as earning academic advising certifications, ensuring their team is training on best practices in communication, inquiry-based coaching, building rapport, matching the needs of students with key services, spotting mental health concerns, and setting goals. DC Education Group certificate courses and student affairs consulting are designed to achieve this for an employee, a team, a leader, or an entire college. Training that increases learning, retention, graduation, and satisfaction provides an excellent return on investment opportunity, such as an academic advisor certificate, certification in student success coaching, faculty advising training, and a certificate in student affairs leadership.