Seven tips for starting a student success coaching program with an outside partner

By Eric J. Hagan. One proven way to improve retention is by supplementing traditional academic advising with student success coaching. Student success coaching helps students fit school into life and life into school while building up the skills they need to be successful, including study skills, time management, and stress management. As institutions explore the possibility of starting coaching programs to improve student outcomes, there are several challenges they will face. Having gone through the process of launching a successful coaching program at a large private non-profit research university in cooperation with an outside partner, there are seven few tips I’d like to share—lessons learned that I hope will save others time and frustration. Bottom line: the challenges are as much about fitting coaching in to your university’s culture as they are about the mechanics of the coaching program itself. More...