In February 2020, Colleen Arrey, Associate Vice President for Partner Success and Steve Ast, Senior Vice President for Partner Success at InsideTrack, embarked on a weeklong Listening Tour in South Carolina to learn more about unique approaches to student success in the state. They met with higher education administrators, faculty and staff at six institutions, including private liberal arts universities, regional state universities and flagship research universities. Participants in the interviews shared information about their strategies for recruitment and enrollment, student engagement, and retention, persistence, and timely program completion. They also discussed the values that motivate their work and the challenges that they, their institutions and their students face. Several common themes emerged throughout these conversations. In particular, we were struck by a deep dedication to helping students complete their education and the connection of this work to broader goals such as:

• Supporting regional economic development
• Providing equitable access to education
• Fostering social mobility
• Driving institutional innovation and excellence 

We have organized our learning, observations and recommendations into three broad categories below, as well as a final section on additional themes that surfaced throughout our conversations.

Additional Themes 

In addition to the topics addressed above, we noticed a few themes that resonated across the majority of the institutions we visited and are consistent with what we are hearing and reading about on a national level. If you are encountering some of the challenges listed below, there is support available. We would be glad to talk with you about the work we do with our partners or refer you to other organizations who may be able to help.

Responding to Change

• Admitting that things need to change.
• Shifting out of a culture of resistance
• Change fatigue 
• Rapid pace of change
• Number and frequency of initiatives that faculty and staff must manage in addition to their current responsibilities

Leveraging Resources 

• Finding the financial and human resources to support the work
• Budget limitations
• Structural flexibility within the organization
• Investing in the right strategies and finding the bandwidth to execute them well
• Maximizing the power of faculty engagement for recruitment and student success initiatives
• Scaling personalized student recruitment and support
• Staffing
• Methodology
• Technology

Finding Solutions

• Looking for a one-size-fits-all model or a silver bullet 
• Colleges and universities may have similar needs, but no single technology or service can be the perfect solution, especially if it is not tailored to the unique aspects of the challenges at the institution. 
• Accessing expertise from outside the organization
• Institutions emphasized the challenge of finding criteria to help them sift through marketing hype and choose the right partner.
• Distrust of external partners, regardless of reputation
• This concern was related to several factors: 
• a strong sense of ownership among faculty and staff — “We know our students and our institution best”
• suspicion of for-profit service providers, sometimes because of previous failed projects
• staff and faculty fear of change in role/duties or potential job loss

More Resources

Questions? We are here to help.

Have a question? Want to unpack some of these insights in more detail? Reach out directly to me at colleen.arrey@insidetrack.com or you can fill out the form below and I will get back to you shortly. Thanks and look forwarding to connecting.