Dive Brief:
- The University of Akron has hired Trust Navigator for its student success coaching, choosing an untested local startup over industry leader InsideTrack largely because of cost considerations.
- The success coaches will have one-on-one contact with all of the 4,000 incoming freshmen, sticking with them through graduation in an effort to raise retention and completion rates.
- Trust Navigator plans to hire locally, including many Akron grads, and, according to Inside Higher Ed, it offered a contract for about half of InsideTrack’s recommended proposal — $840,000.
Dive Insight:
A range of colleges and universities have turned to outside success coaches to help supplement internal campus advising services. This trend is spurred on by accountability metrics forcing schools to take more responsibility for their students’ ultimate success. In addition to state laws tying funding to various outcomes, the federal Department of Education is on the verge of releasing additional information about colleges and universities in a database that will help students and parents compare institutions. While this database will not come with government-assigned ratings, it will encourage students to consider average debt amount and educational outcomes for students across demographic groups.