Category: Student Success

  • Carnegie Navigates Change in Higher Ed With Student Connection

    Carnegie Navigates Change in Higher Ed With Student Connection

    Carnegie announced a continued commitment to higher education that places student connection at the center of institutional strategy, aligning research, strategy, storytelling, media, and technology to help colleges and universities navigate today’s interconnected challenges. The update reflects an evolution in how Carnegie supports enrollment, trust, relevance, and student success in an era shaped by demographic change and AI-driven discovery.

    A Moment of Change for Higher Education

    As colleges and universities confront a period of sustained pressure, rising scrutiny, and rapid change, Carnegie today announced a continued commitment to how it supports higher education—placing student connection at the center of institutional strategy, decision-making, and long-term success.

    The Announcement at the 2026 Carnegie Conference

    The announcement was made on stage at the opening of the 2026 Carnegie Conference, where more than 400 higher education leaders and professionals gathered to examine the forces reshaping enrollment, reputation, strategy, and the student experience.

    More Than a Brand Update—A Strategic Evolution

    While Carnegie introduced an updated brand identity as part of the moment, company leaders emphasized that the announcement reflects a broader evolution in how the company is responding to the realities facing institutions today. 

    Carnegie is aligning its strategy around integrated, innovative approaches—bringing together research, data, AI-enabled technology, and strategy—to help leaders address challenges that are increasingly interconnected and complex.

    Why This Shift Matters Now

    “Higher education leaders are operating in an environment where the stakes are higher and the margin for error is smaller,” said Gary Colen, chief executive officer of Carnegie. “Our responsibility is to innovate with purpose—delivering clarity, focus, and solutions that help institutions make decisions that lead to better outcomes for students.”

    Student Connection as a Strategic Imperative

    Carnegie’s work is grounded in a single belief: when students succeed, higher education thrives—and the world wins. 

    As demographic shifts, changing learner expectations, technological disruption, and public accountability reshape the sector, Carnegie has aligned its strategy around helping higher ed institutions build meaningful, lasting connections with today’s diverse learners.

    Meeting the Moment Higher Education Leaders Are Facing

    According to Michael Mish, Chief Growth Officer, the timing of the announcement reflects what the company is hearing from campus leaders. “Higher education leaders need partners who deliver strategic expertise and forward-thinking innovation,” Mish said. “Our evolution is about connecting strategy and innovation in practical ways—so institutions can address today’s challenges while preparing for what’s next.”

    What the Updated Carnegie Brand Represents

    The updated brand brings greater cohesion to how Carnegie delivers research, strategy, storytelling, media, and technology—reinforcing its role as a strategic higher education partner focused on trust, relevance, and results rather than short-term wins.

    A More Integrated Approach to Research, Strategy, and Execution

    “Our intent wasn’t to make a statement about ourselves,” said Tyler Borders, Chief Brand Officer. “It was to be more precise about our role and our responsibility in this moment. The brand reflects how our work has evolved and the standard we expect of ourselves as a partner to higher education.”

    What’s Launching Next

    As part of the rollout, Carnegie has launched an updated digital experience and will introduce new research, offerings, and insights. 

    New Research and Insights

    This week, the company is releasing a comprehensive research report focused on online learners. In February, Carnegie will debut an updated Carnegie Intelligence newsletter, expanding how it shares perspective and practical guidance with higher education leaders.

    Introducing Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)

    Carnegie is also introducing a new Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) solution designed to help higher education institutions improve visibility in AI-powered search experiences—ensuring institutions are accurately represented as students increasingly rely on AI to answer questions about programs, outcomes, cost, and fit.

    Navigating the Now and the Next—Together

    “This is ongoing work,” Colen added. “Our commitment is to keep earning trust—by helping institutions navigate what’s next without losing sight of what matters most: changing students’ lives for good.”

    For every college and university facing urgent and complex challenges, Carnegie is the student connection company that helps you navigate the now and the next in higher education. Our experts design custom strategies fueled by data, technology, and insights—empowering you to connect with today’s diverse learners and stay focused on what matters most: changing students’ lives for good. 

    Frequently Asked Questions About Carnegie and Student Connection

    Who is Carnegie in higher education?

    Carnegie is a strategic partner to colleges and universities focused on enrollment, reputation, strategy, and student success. The company helps institutions navigate complex, interconnected challenges by aligning research, strategy, storytelling, media, and technology around what matters most: students.

    What does it mean to be a “student connection company”?

    Being a student connection company means helping institutions build meaningful, lasting relationships with today’s diverse learners. Carnegie focuses on connecting strategy, data, storytelling, and execution so institutions can support student success, institutional relevance, and long-term impact.

    What prompted Carnegie’s updated brand and renewed commitment?

    Carnegie’s updated brand reflects an evolution in how the company responds to the realities facing higher education today, including demographic shifts, technological disruption, and increased public accountability. The refresh clarifies Carnegie’s role as a strategic partner helping institutions navigate these interconnected challenges without losing focus on students.

    How does Carnegie help colleges and universities navigate change?

    Carnegie supports institutions through integrated research, strategic planning, brand and storytelling, media and digital marketing, and technology-enabled solutions. This approach helps leaders align enrollment goals, reputation, data, and execution to drive meaningful outcomes.

    What is Carnegie’s Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) solution?

    Carnegie’s Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) solution helps colleges and universities improve how they are represented in AI-powered search environments like ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews, and other answer engines. The solution focuses on content clarity, factual alignment, and structured optimization so institutions are trusted sources when students ask AI-driven questions.

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  • The Future of Online Learning Is AI-Powered

    The Future of Online Learning Is AI-Powered

    AI-powered online learning is reshaping how higher education supports students, scales care, and prepares learners for an evolving workforce. This article explores how AI can help institutions close support gaps, improve outcomes, and lead intentionally in the future of online education—grounded in insights from Carnegie’s Online Learner & Leader Study.

    Online Learning Is Now Central to Institutional Strategy

    Higher education has always evolved in response to new tools, new learners, and new expectations. What makes this moment different is not just the pace of change, but the opportunity it presents.

    Online learning now sits at the center of institutional strategy. It is where access, innovation, workforce relevance, and financial sustainability intersect. And increasingly, it is where presidents and academic leaders have the greatest leverage to shape the future rather than react to it.

    AI is accelerating that shift toward AI-powered online learning. 

    Not as a disruption to fear, but as a capability to design for scale, support students more intentionally, and lead with clarity in a complex moment.

    This Moment Is About More Than Technology

    There is growing recognition that online learners are not a monolith. They are career builders, caregivers, degree completers, and explorers and they’re often balancing work, family, financial pressure, and uncertainty about what the future of work will demand.

    At the same time, higher education leaders are navigating an equally complex reality. Online enrollment growth is a priority. Budgets are not keeping pace. Staffing models were not designed for always-on, asynchronous, national audiences. Support teams are stretched thin.

    The result is a widening gap between what students need and what institutions can sustainably provide.

    This is not a failure of commitment. It is a structural mismatch.

    And it is precisely where AI creates a meaningful opportunity.

    AI as the Bridge Between Need and Capacity in Online Learning

    When leaders talk about AI in higher education, the conversation often jumps to tools, policies, or risk. Those matter. But they miss the larger shift underway.

    AI as Institutional Infrastructure

    AI is not just another system to adopt. It is a new layer of infrastructure.

    AI is like water. It should not live in a single pipe or department. It should flow through the entire institution—quietly, consistently, and in service of core needs.

    Nowhere is that more evident than in online student support.

    What Online Learners Say They Need

    Findings from Carnegie’s Online Learner & Leader Study demonstrated this clearly. Learners overwhelmingly said they value flexibility and autonomy. Most prefer asynchronous formats. But that same flexibility increases demand for timely, personalized, and reliable support—often outside traditional business hours. 

    Higher ed leaders in our study acknowledge the challenge. They also acknowledge the constraint: limited staffing and limited budgets.

    Scaling Support Without Replacing Human Connection

    This is where AI in online education can change the equation.

    Thoughtfully deployed AI support does not replace human connection. It scales it.

    AI enables institutions to provide consistent, responsive assistance for high-volume needs—course navigation, program policies, technology troubleshooting—while ensuring students can escalate to a human when it matters most. It helps institutions move from reactive support to proactive guidance. From fragmented touchpoints to a more seamless experience across the student lifecycle.

    Just as importantly, it allows institutions to do so in a way that is financially sustainable. By absorbing routine, high-volume interactions, AI frees human teams to focus on moments that require judgment, empathy, and expertise—protecting both the student experience and the institutional cost structure as online enrollment scales.

    In other words, AI becomes the connective tissue between student expectations and institutional reality.

    Differentiation Will Belong to the Institutions That Embed AI—Not Bolt It On

    As online options proliferate, differentiation has become harder to claim and easier to lose. Program quality remains foundational. But quality alone no longer determines which institutions students consider.

    Students navigate a crowded, search-driven marketplace. They look for clarity. Credibility. Signals that an institution understands their lives and is equipped for what comes next.

    AI as a Signal of Readiness and Relevance

    Increasingly, how institutions use AI in online education will be one of those signals.

    Not because students want novelty. But because they expect modern, technology-forward experiences that reflect the world they already inhabit.

    Integration Across the Student Lifecycle

    The institutions that stand apart will not be those with the most pilots or the flashiest tools. They will be the ones that integrate AI intentionally across systems:

    • Across the student lifecycle, from recruitment and onboarding to advising, persistence, and completion
    • Across support functions, ensuring consistency, transparency, and availability
    • Across academic and co-curricular experiences, reinforcing relevance and readiness

    This kind of integration sends a powerful message: we are prepared for this moment—and for the future our students are walking into.

    The inverse is also true. Institutions that delay or limit AI to isolated pilots risk falling behind not because of rankings or prestige, but because the lived experience they offer no longer matches learner expectations. Inaction is not neutral—it is a strategic choice with competitive consequences.

    Student Success and Workforce Readiness Are Now Intertwined

    AI is reshaping how learners think about their futures. Many express optimism about its potential. Just as many express anxiety—about job stability, ethical use, and keeping pace with change.

    They are not just asking institutions for credentials. They are asking for preparation.

    Preparing Students to Work Alongside AI

    The responsibility for higher education is clear. Institutions must help students develop not only knowledge, but fluency. Not only skills, but judgment.

    That does not require turning every online program into a technical degree. It does require embedding AI literacy, ethical reasoning, and applied use across disciplines—so graduates understand how to work alongside AI, not compete against it.

    Online learning is uniquely positioned to lead here. Its scale, flexibility, and digital foundation make it an ideal environment to normalize responsible AI use as part of learning itself—not an optional add-on, but an expected competency.

    When AI is embedded thoughtfully, student support and workforce preparation reinforce one another. Students experience AI as a tool for organization, exploration, and problem-solving. Institutions model how complex systems can be used responsibly, transparently, and in service of human goals.

    Supporting Faculty While Preserving the Human Core

    The same is true for faculty. 

    When AI is used to reduce administrative burden, support feedback and personalization, and streamline course management, it preserves faculty time for mentorship, inquiry, and teaching—reinforcing, rather than eroding, the human core of education.

    Governance Matters—But It Cannot Be the Only Strategy

    Many institutions are appropriately focused on AI governance, ethics, and integrity. Policies are essential. Guardrails matter.

    But governance alone does not constitute leadership.

    Balancing Discipline With Momentum

    The risk is not that institutions move too quickly. It is that they move cautiously without moving strategically.

    The Online Learner & Leader Study reveals a familiar pattern: learners are already engaging with AI in their daily lives, even as institutions deliberate. They are experimenting, adapting, and forming habits—often without institutional guidance.

    This creates an opportunity for higher education to lead with purpose.

    The most effective approaches balance discipline with momentum:

    • Clear guidance on ethical and acceptable use
    • Transparency about where and how AI is deployed
    • Human-centered design that keeps people—not tools—at the center
    • A focus on outcomes, not novelty

    Central to this balance is trust. Responsible stewardship of student data, clear boundaries around use, and transparency about decision-making are not compliance exercises—they are differentiators in a landscape where trust increasingly shapes choice.

    AI readiness is not about perfection. It is about alignment.

    What This Means for Higher Ed Leadership

    For senior leaders, the question is no longer whether AI will shape online learning. It already is.

    The question is whether institutions will allow that future to emerge unevenly—or design it intentionally.

    What Leadership Looks Like in an AI-Powered Future

    The institutions that lead will:

    • Treat AI as enterprise infrastructure, not a side project
    • Use AI to close support gaps, not widen them
    • Embed AI across the student lifecycle to improve experience and outcomes
    • Prepare students for an AI-enabled workforce with confidence and clarity
    • Differentiate themselves through coherence, not complexity

    Practically, this means starting where impact is greatest—often at key lifecycle moments like onboarding, advising, and student support—while building governance and implementation in parallel. AI readiness is not an IT initiative; it is a cabinet-level responsibility.

    This is not about replacing what makes education human. It is about protecting it—by ensuring systems can scale care, guidance, and opportunity in a moment of constraint.

    Looking Ahead: The Future of Online Learning

    Online learning is no longer peripheral. It is central to institutional resilience, relevance, and reach.

    AI will not determine the future of online education on its own. Leadership will.

    The data is clear. The expectations are rising. The tools are here.

    The opportunity now is to integrate AI in higher education like water—quietly, purposefully, and everywhere it can make learning more accessible, more supportive, and more aligned with the futures students are trying to build.

    For leaders interested in grounding these decisions in research and real learner insight, the Online Learner & Leader Study offers a clear view into where expectations and realities diverge—and where alignment can unlock meaningful impact.

    Frequently Asked Questions About AI in Online Education

    How is AI being used in online education today?

    AI is increasingly used to support online learners through personalized assistance, timely support, and scalable student services. Common applications include course navigation, advising support, technology troubleshooting, and proactive outreach.

    Why is AI important for online student support?

    Online learning increases flexibility but also raises expectations for responsiveness and personalization. AI helps institutions meet these expectations at scale while allowing human teams to focus on moments requiring judgment, empathy, and expertise.

    Does AI replace human interaction in online learning?

    No. When deployed thoughtfully, AI supports and scales human connection rather than replacing it. It handles routine, high-volume needs so faculty and staff can focus on meaningful engagement.

    How does AI prepare students for the future of work?

    AI-enabled online learning helps students build fluency, ethical awareness, and applied experience with AI tools—preparing them to work alongside AI in evolving professional environments.

    What insights does Carnegie’s Online Learner & Leader Study provide?

    The study highlights gaps between learner expectations and institutional capacity, particularly around flexibility, support, and preparedness for an AI-enabled future—offering leaders data-driven guidance for aligning strategy and execution.

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  • Supporting Students Through Feedback: Approaches for Faculty – Faculty Focus

    Supporting Students Through Feedback: Approaches for Faculty – Faculty Focus

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  • “Say My Name, Say My Name”: Why Learning Names Improves Student Success – Faculty Focus

    “Say My Name, Say My Name”: Why Learning Names Improves Student Success – Faculty Focus

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  • “Say My Name, Say My Name”: Why Learning Names Improves Student Success – Faculty Focus

    “Say My Name, Say My Name”: Why Learning Names Improves Student Success – Faculty Focus

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  • How Colleges Should Respond to FAFSA’s Lower Earnings Warning

    How Colleges Should Respond to FAFSA’s Lower Earnings Warning

    On December 7, 2025, the U.S. Education Department announced a new initiative aimed at helping students make informed choices in higher education and maximize their potential for success. Starting now, students applying for federal financial aid may receive a FAFSA “lower earnings” warning for certain colleges and universities that fall below state or national salary benchmarks for high school graduates. Access to this crucial data point is designed to help students evaluate the return on their educational investment.

    What Is the FAFSA Lower Earnings Warning?

    The FAFSA “lower earnings” warning identifies colleges where median earnings four years after graduation fall below those of typical high school graduates, helping students assess potential ROI.

    According to department data, nearly one-fourth of all higher-education institutions (1,365 colleges) currently fall into the “lower earnings” category. These new FAFSA warnings will overwhelmingly impact for-profit (88%) and non-degree granting (80%) institutions, so the short-term impact on traditional higher education is limited for now.

    But the broader signal is unmistakable: federal policy and public expectations are moving squarely toward transparency, outcomes, and return on investment (ROI). Even if your institution is not directly affected, the cultural and regulatory shift redefines what students and families expect, and how institutions must communicate and deliver value.

    How should you respond?

    1. Invest in a Data-Driven Strategy for Student Success

    This shift continues to validate the trend in national scrutiny on the value of higher education, calling for a continued emphasis on transparency about outcomes. A truly effective student success strategy requires comprehensive data that tracks the entire learner journey and post-graduation impact measured against internal and external benchmarks.

    In a recent Carnegie blog, we shared a list of essential data elements to include when leveling up your data infrastructure for student success. In alignment with these metrics, institutions should prioritize a focused set of value-driven metrics:

    • Undergraduate and program-level earnings
    • Job placement and program alignment metrics
    • Experiential learning access (e.g., internships, co-ops, research opportunities)
    • Affordability and equity indicators (including net price, unmet need, and gaps in outcomes)

    This kind of outcome-focused dataset is essential for real institutional improvement. It should be actively used to inform strategic functions across the college (e.g., curriculum development, early career engagement, academic advising, student employment, and leadership opportunities).

    Without clear, outcome-focused and post-graduation earnings data, institutions lack the necessary insights to genuinely improve student success and cannot articulate their value or ROI to students, families, or the public with any confidence.

    2. Proactively Articulate Your Value Proposition

    Although this report shows that most college graduates do out-earn high-school graduates, that reality is no longer assumed by the public. Institutions must actively and clearly demonstrate the full short-term and long-term benefits their degrees provide.

    If economic mobility and social responsibility are promises we make to prospective students and families, these promises should be measured and communicated as a means to re-recruiting your students throughout their journey. The task for four-year colleges is to effectively articulate their long-term ROI and full value proposition, which includes:

    • Career Earnings and Economic Mobility: Explicitly linking their degrees to higher lifetime earning potential.
    • Skills and Competencies: Highlighting the critical thinking, communication, and adaptability skills that drive long-term career success.
    • Personal, Social, and Civic Outcomes: Highlighting the less-visible benefits of a holistic education, including confidence, belonging, wellbeing, leadership development, and community engagement.

    In this newest Federal Student Aid report, the key data point under question is undergraduate earnings four years after graduation as reported on the College Scorecard (with adjustment for inflation). Reviewing your institution’s standing against state, national, and even comparison institutions’ benchmarks is an important starting point, but the real question is broader: Are you clearly communicating the full spectrum of outcomes your graduates achieve—not only economically, but in terms of skills, well-being, and long-term direction?

    3. Implement a Holistic Plan for Student Success

    As you gather data and more fully articulate your value proposition, it becomes essential to activate a corresponding plan and structure that supports student success. Many institutions may have retention efforts in place, but may lack a strategy that extends from matriculation to graduation and beyond.

    Ongoing Process for Continuous Improvement: Student demographics and workforce needs constantly change, so the success strategy can’t be static.

    • Holistic Definition of Student Success: Moving beyond simple retention or graduation rates to a more complete picture of student well-being and post-graduation readiness is essential. This expanded definition must include metrics that drive action. For example, if improving salaries at graduation is a priority, what experiences must be in place in year one, and how will you measure progress?
    • Structure + Ownership: Establish a clear, accountable framework for your institutional student success strategy. This structure should ideally include designation of accountability for student success within a cabinet-level position, but should also include a thoughtful integration of key offices with responsibilities for essential student success metrics.
    • Collaboration Across Essential Areas: True student success requires breaking down institutional silos. A cross-functional committee with delegated authority can provide an important opportunity for connection between what happens in the classroom (curricular) with everything else (co-curricular).
    • Annual Action Plan: Commit to regular, institutional-level reviews (e.g., annually) of all success metrics to determine which initiatives should be scaled, revised, or retired. Key to the plan will be the use of leading indicators such as early academic performance, engagement, and experiential learning access to guide mid-course adjustments.
    • Ongoing Process for Continuous Improvement: Student demographics and workforce needs constantly change, so the success strategy can’t be static.

    Student Success Solutions We Offer

    Carnegie collaborates with higher education institutions nationwide to enhance their student success and ROI strategies through a strong focus on data-driven decision-making. Our support is designed to produce measurable outcomes, with a core mission: to help you deliver on the promises you make to every student you serve.

    Our Services Include:

    • Student Success Assessment: Identifies structural gaps, opportunities, and strategic priorities across your advising, data systems, curriculum alignment, and career pathways.
    • Career Ecosystem Blueprint: Provides decision-makers with a robust understanding of their current career outcomes, career services operations, including strengths, opportunities, and challenges, and builds a shared vision for embedded career engagement and employer relations as a critical function for institutional health.
    • Strategy Session (1 Hour): A working session with Carnegie’s Student Success team to help leadership teams rapidly assess where they stand — and what steps to take next..

    If you haven’t considered it yet, we invite you to the Carnegie Conference in January. This is a perfect opportunity for leaders who are ready to delve deeper into how their institution can create and execute a student success strategy centered on return on investment. Participants will have the chance to share best practices with colleagues and walk away with tangible, actionable solutions for immediate implementation.

    Partner With Us

    As national scrutiny of higher education continues to increase, articulating the long-term value of your degrees and prioritizing student success will enable you to demonstrate relevance, lead, and grow in this current environment. Carnegie is dedicated to helping your institution move forward.

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  • Five Data-Informed Steps for Optimizing College Student Retention

    Five Data-Informed Steps for Optimizing College Student Retention

    Where do you start as you are creating a student retention plan? The answer is with data. Simply put, data are the lifeblood of successful student recruitment and retention efforts. You cannot possibly hope to maximize enrollment yields and student completion rates without strong data analysis and planning. The following five steps illustrate how to achieve a robust, data-informed approach to retention.

    1. Make data the foundation for decision-making.

    It sounds simple, yet we know that many campuses do not rely on data to guide strategies. Often “conventional wisdom” or “that’s the way we’ve always done it” override any actual research or data. Those types of processes are very flawed for crafting enrollment strategies, especially given the rapid changes that are reshaping the higher education environment.

    2. Collect all the data that are relevant to student success.

    Data are the lifeblood to successful student recruitment and retention efforts

    In discussing student retention, first-to-second year persistence and overall completion/graduation rates are useful metrics. However, they are lagging indicators gathered only after it is too late to intervene with students and do not provide a complete picture of persistence patterns. There are many data elements that can help not only provide a more accurate assessment of retention at your campus, but also allow you to intervene with students in a more timely fashion such as:

    • Student motivation data. How do students feel about attending college? What are their attitudes toward studying? What family and/or social factors could interfere with their success? Motivational data can go a long way toward focusing your student retention initiatives, especially when gathered as students first enroll at your institution. (Learn more about the motivational assessment tools that are available to support your efforts).
    • Credit hours attempted versus credit hours earned. This ratio is very revealing as it demonstrates if students are succeeding in their educational plans before reaching the critical juncture of withdrawing. These data can be especially helpful during a student’s first and second semesters.
    • Student satisfaction and priorities assessment. When students are not satisfied, they become less likely to persist. Improving their satisfaction improves the quality of their life and learning. When satisfaction is viewed within the context of importance (priorities), the data allows you to better understand which satisfaction issues are more pressing and in need of immediate attention. (Take a look at the satisfaction-priorities surveys options).
    • Common characteristics in student retention. Do students who persist or withdraw share common characteristics? Are there indicators of student success or red flags for persistence that would help you quickly understand which students you should target? (Contact me if you would like to learn more about data analytics options for retention guidance).
    • Institutional barriers to student success. Similar to student characteristics, are there certain factors across campus that may hinder persistence and completion? Conducting an opportunity analysis with an outside perspective can help you identify places where you could make improvements.

    3. Understand what the data are telling you

    Once you have made a commitment to collect the data and have gathered what you need to inform your decisions, you may ask yourself, “Now what?” This is your turning point for using data to improve student retention. You have to know what the data say about student persistence. Are there patterns to observe? Do you know which students or cohorts to prioritize? Which resources are having the greatest impact on student success? This is admittedly one of the more difficult tasks in data-informed retention planning and one where experience can make a big difference. However, once you successfully analyze your data, your retention efforts have the potential to improve!

    4. Take action based on the data

    Here we close the loop with steps one and two. Now that you are informed by data, you can build retention initiatives on solid information. You will be able to focus your limited resources more strategically on the students who need the most help and/or are the most receptive to assistance. You will be able to direct your attention to improving areas that matter to students. You will be able to be proactive based on the knowledge of characteristics of successful (and less successful) students. The power of data comes when your institution takes action based on what it has learned about your students.

    5. Use what you know about retention to guide recruitment

    There is a tendency to look at student recruitment and retention as two unrelated silos. But one of the biggest factors in student retention is the shape of the incoming class. It is vital for campuses, when recruiting, to extend their concept of the funnel past the initial enrollment state and through the career of the student. By determining which students not only have the desired characteristics you want, but also the best chance to persist and success, your entire campus benefits.

    Are you curious about how institutional choice plays into student satisfaction (the idea that students have enrolled in the college they want to attend), along with importance factors in the decision to originally enroll and how satisfied students are with financial aid? (All of these are links between recruitment and retention efforts). If yes, I invite you to download the 2025 National College Student Satisfaction and Priorities Report.

    If you are looking for support with data collection, data analytics and/or understanding what opportunities exist for your campus in the area of student success, contact me to learn more.

    Thanks to my former colleague Tim Culver for the original development of this content.

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  • Unique Data About the Online Student Experience

    Unique Data About the Online Student Experience

    The Priorities Survey for Online Learners (PSOL) is the instrument in the Satisfaction-Priorities Survey family that best reflects the unique experiences of students in online two-year and four-year programs, including at the graduate level. The Priorities Survey for Online Learners provides the perspectives of online students aside external national benchmarks to inform decision-making for 150 institutions across the country. 

    It is critical to understand the full experience of online students who may have limited interactions with the institution, and the Priorities Survey for Online Learners allows leadership to know what matters to their online students in both their academic and non-academic interactions. Students respond on items related to instructional, enrollment, academic and enrollment services along with their general perceptions of the institution. This broad view provides direction to campus leaders to be able to best serve what may be a growing population for the institution. Online students indicate a level of importance and satisfaction with just over two dozen items.

    The combination of satisfaction and importance scores identifies strengths (areas of high importance and high satisfaction) to be celebrated and challenges (areas of high importance and low satisfaction) to be improved. Along with the external national comparison data specific to online students published annually, institutions can compare their students’ perceptions internally over time with annual or every-other-year administrations. In addition, the provided reporting gives institutions the opportunity to review their data for demographic subpopulations to focus initiatives appropriately. 

    All students enrolled in online programs, undergraduate and graduate alike, can be invited to complete the Priorities Survey for Online Learners. Like the Student Satisfaction Inventory and the Adult Student Priorities Survey (the other survey instruments in the Satisfaction-Priorities family), the data gathered by the survey can support multiple initiatives on campus including to inform student success efforts, to provide the student voice for strategic planning, to document priorities for accreditation purposes, and to highlight positive messaging for recruitment activities. Student satisfaction has been positively linked with higher individual student retention and higher institutional graduation rates, getting right to the heart of higher education student success. 

    “Having an independent organization with a well-known brand provide the student perspective is hugely important to us. The data is valued by our Board of directors and by our accrediting organizations. It shows how we are performing when it comes to institutions that are similar to us,” said Ada Uche, director of assessment and institutional effectiveness at Colorado Technical University (CO) about their regular administration of the Priorities Survey for Online Learners. 

    Learn more about best practices for administering the Priorities Survey for Online Learners at your institution, which can be done any time during the academic year on the institutions’ timeline.

    Ask for a complimentary consultation with our student success experts

    What is your best approach to increasing student retention and completion? Our experts can help you identify roadblocks to student persistence and maximize student progression. Reach out to set up a time to talk.

    Request now

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  • 2026 Courageous Leadership Award: Connie Ledoux Book

    2026 Courageous Leadership Award: Connie Ledoux Book

    Credo, Powered by Carnegie is pleased to announce that Elon University President Connie Ledoux Book has been selected as the recipient of the 2026 Courageous Leadership Award. The annual award honors a college or university president whose strategic vision, student focus, and collaborative spirit have moved their institution forward in meaningful ways.

    President Book embodies the very best of courageous leadership. Her clarity of vision, steady hand and deep commitment to student success have positioned Elon for long-term strength. She leads with purpose and partnership, and the impact of that leadership is felt across the higher education landscape.

    Bill Fahrner

    President of Credo, Powered by Carnegie

    Leadership and Impact at Elon University

    Elon has continued to grow and flourish since Book began her presidency in 2018. Under her leadership, the University has been consistently ranked among the best in the United States. Elon earned its fifth consecutive #1 national ranking for undergraduate teaching from U.S. News & World Report this year and is recognized as the only university in the country ranked in the top 10 of all eight categories of academic programs linked to student success and positive learning outcomes.

    A Decade of Strategic Vision: Boldly Elon

    Student success has been a hallmark of Book’s presidency. She led the creation of the 10-year Boldly Elon strategic plan, a comprehensive roadmap that:

    • Strengthens engaged and experiential learning
    • Expands academic excellence and global study
    • Deepens Elon’s commitment to mentoring and support

    The plan has guided major institutional investments that collectively advance Elon’s nationally recognized model of high-impact learning, including:

    • The Innovation Quad
    • The HealthEU Center
    • Expanded health sciences programs
    • New residential facilities
    • Strengthened student life initiatives

    Under her leadership, Elon has continued to build systems that support every student’s journey, ensuring they have the relationships, resources, and opportunities needed to thrive.

    Forward-Looking Expansion in Charlotte

    A recent example of Book’s forward-looking leadership is Elon’s expansion in Charlotte through:

    • The establishment of a part-time law school
    • The addition of a physician assistant program
    • A proposed merger with Queens University of Charlotte

    These strategic moves extend Elon’s reach into one of the Southeast’s fastest-growing metropolitan areas and position the university to bring its nationally recognized model of engaged learning to a broader community of students. The Charlotte initiatives reflect Book’s commitment to bold, future-focused action—strengthening student opportunity, deepening industry partnerships, and enhancing Elon’s regional impact.

    National Leadership in Higher Education

    Book has established herself as a national leader advocating for access to higher education. She recently served as board chair for the National Association of Independent Colleges and Universities (NAICU). She currently serves as NAICU’s representative to the board of the American Council on Education (ACE).

    Prior to being named Elon’s ninth president, Book served as the first woman provost of The Citadel. She previously served Elon University as an associate provost and as a faculty member in the School of Communications.

    Award Presentation

    The award will be presented at the Council for Independent Colleges (CIC) Presidents Institute Presidential Appreciation Dinner to be held January 5, 2026, in Orlando, Florida.

    Previous Recipients of the Courageous Leadership Award

    • 2025 | Richard Dunsworth, University of the Ozarks
    • 2024 | Barbara Farley, Illinois College
    • 2023 | Burton Webb, University of Pikeville
    • 2022 | Tiffany Franks, Averett University
    • 2021 | Mary Hinton, Hollins University
    • 2020 | Tom Flynn, Alvernia University
    • 2019 | Amy Novak, Dakota Wesleyan University
    • 2018 | Daniel Elsener, Marian University
    • 2017 | Kim Phipps, Messiah College
    • 2016 | Mary Meehan, Alverno College
    • 2015 | Mark Lombardi, Maryville University
    • 2014 | Joanne Soliday, Credo

    About Credo, Powered by Carnegie

    In 2025, Carnegie expanded its impact through the acquisition of Credo, integrating presidential strategy, institutional planning, and student success partnerships into its comprehensive suite of offerings. Today, Credo, Powered by Carnegie provides holistic, future-focused solutions that strengthen institutional health and support transformative student experiences.

    About the Courageous Leadership Award

    The Courageous Leadership Award is presented annually to a college or university president who exemplifies bold, visionary, and student-centered leadership. Established by Credo, the award honors presidents who demonstrate remarkable dedication to moving their institutions forward—academically, operationally, and culturally—through strategic vision, collaborative partnership, and an unwavering commitment to student success.

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  • What We Learned About College Students in 2025

    What We Learned About College Students in 2025

    Every year, I have the opportunity to stand at the intersection of student voices, fresh research, and campus decision-making. It is this vantage point I never take for granted. I get to listen, really listen, as students and their families try to make sense of one of the biggest choices they will ever face. And honestly? The data always surprises me. It knocks me off balance, in the best way, and keeps me rethinking how this work should be done. But this year felt different, and not just in the numbers.

    We conducted eight studies and heard from tens of thousands of students. Thousands of families shared their experiences with us. We also surveyed campus professionals at hundreds of institutions.

    When I step back and look at it all, one message just echoes above the rest: Students want to succeed. They are not asking for a handout. They are just asking us to meet them where they are. No matter the dataset, the demographic, or the question, it was there, a kind of quiet message threading through every open-ended response: “I’m trying. Please help me in a way that works for me.”

    Here is what I learned from all the students, families, and schools that trusted us with their stories this year. I have also listed the reports for each finding, which you can download and explore.

    1. Students start earlier, search differently, and expect more from digital experiences.

    Every year, I meet a new wave of students. Many are Gen Z, and the youngest are now part of Gen Alpha. These students do not just move nimbly through the internet. They approach it with a clear set of expectations.

    They want websites to be easy to use and up-to-date. They want virtual tours to feel real, not packaged or staged. When they watch a video, they hope it speaks to them, not over their heads. They want answers quickly, but they also want to feel a sense of care and connection.

    There is so much coming at them all at once. The choices are overwhelming. But even before they reach out to a human being, many are already wondering: “Can I picture myself at this college?”

    Their search is emotional before it is analytical. And they need us to show up fully, with clarity, transparency, and responsiveness.

    2. Institutions are truly trying, but capacity gaps get in the way.

    A pattern that stood out this year: the divide between what students hope for and what most colleges feel they can provide. Colleges care deeply and want to meet the needs and expectations of students, but their systems and staffing simply lag behind students’ wants and needs. Here are just three examples:

    • Students love personalized videos; however, many colleges continue to struggle with creating them.
    • Students want information that is tailored for where they are in 10th, 11th, or 12th grade, but most schools find it tough to do this consistently.
    • Students respond well to SMS reminders and instant guidance, yet some colleges hold back, worried about being intrusive.

    This is not a willingness issue. It is a resourcing issue. It forces us to rethink what “meeting students where they are” looks like, not just emotionally, but operationally.

    3. Families remain the quiet (and sometimes not-so-quiet) force behind every decision.

    Families have been clear about what they need from us. Communicate, early and honestly. Talk about cost in real terms. Help us understand what comes next, and what this investment might mean for our children.

    Families are not trying to control the process. They want to feel assured that their sons and daughters will be okay. It matters that families feel the investment is worth it, that their students will be supported, and that there is a clear path forward. At the same time, many families still struggle to obtain answers to even the most basic questions about costs, aid, or outcomes.

    We cannot truly support students while ignoring the people quietly cheering (and sometimes worrying) behind them. Equity means working in partnership with families, especially those walking into higher education for the first time.

    4. First-year students are deeply motivated and deeply worried.

    This report broke my heart, I have to be honest!

    Almost every first-year student says they want to finish their degree. They want to learn. They want to belong. They want to shape a future they can be proud of.

    Yet more than a quarter are already doubting whether college will be worth it, sometimes even before their first class.

    Their requests are not grand or out of reach. They want to make friends. They want to find the right major. They want to understand how careers really work. They want to know how to study well. They want advice on scholarships. These are not demands; they are invitations. Show them they belong. Prove that their presence matters here.

    Belonging is not a catchphrase. It is the foundation for everything else. These are not demands. They are invitations: “Show me I matter here.”

    5. Many students feel that institutions do not provide adequate financial aid.

    Cost is a driver for enrollment and the biggest barrier for families. Knowing how much financial aid they are eligible for can go a long way toward alleviating the stress of financing an education.

    However, across the board, about half of all students are not satisfied with the availability of financial aid. When looking at students at four-year private institutions, four-year public institutions, and community colleges, more than 80% said that adequate financial aid was important. Yet only half said they were satisfied that adequate financial aid was available. Adult students expressed similar levels of satisfaction.

    Given the enormous investment students and families make in a college education, we have to design processes that educate them early on the aid that is available, explain their actual cost of attendance is, and share outcomes to illustrate how their college education can lead to a better life.

    6. Retention is not a mystery. We know what works; the challenge is scaling it.

    There were no huge surprises about what helps students stay and succeed. Academic support. Mental health services. Early alerts. Success coaches. We know these things work.

    What is striking is how many places struggle to get support from every student who needs them. AI-powered tools are helpful, but not every campus utilizes them. Early assessments can significantly impact a student’s trajectory, but they are not universally applicable. Cross-campus plans work best, but not every college has enough hands-on deck to pull it off.

    Retention is not something one office “owns.” It is a campuswide philosophy grounded in clarity, coordination, and community.

    7. Gen Z are becoming the largest population of graduate students, and they expect more personalization

    It’s hard to believe that Gen Z is already moving on to graduate school, but that shift is well underway. The National Center for Education Statistics showed that, by fall 2023, 26% of graduate students were under 25 and 30% under 29.

    That means that the majority of graduate students are digital natives who have grown up online and are used to those online experiences being personalized and curated for them. When we conducted this year’s graduate student survey, 53% of our respondents said that personal contact was essential or very important to them in choosing a program.

    More than ever, graduate student recruitment needs to feel like it speaks to students and addresses their goals, their interests, and their needs.

    8. AI is not replacing people; students want us to help them use it safely and ethically.

    This one surprised me the most. Whether students are wary of AI or jumping in, nearly all say the same thing:

    • They want guidance.
    • They want an advisor to help them use these tools wisely.

    AI itself is not the enemy. Pretending students are not already experimenting with it would be the real mistake.

    Students are not asking us to choose between AI and human connection. They are asking us to integrate both thoughtfully and responsibly.

    What all eight reports taught me

    Students are trying incredibly hard in a system that was not always built for them.

    Our job is to build the bridge, not ask them to leap. Meeting students and families where they are is not a tagline. It is a responsibility. It looks like:

    • Clear digital pathways for exploration
    • Transparent communication for families
    • Personalization so students feel you are speaking to them
    • Support that begins early and never stops
    • Belonging as a core institutional value
    • Career clarity embedded throughout the journey
    • Financial transparency without fine print
    • AI literacy paired with human connection

    And above all: Designing every process with equity at the center, not at the margins.

    Because students are ready. Families are ready. They are doing everything they can.The real question is whether we are ready to meet them with the honesty, empathy, and support they deserve.

    You can find all of these reports in our Resource Library. And if you want to talk about how you can turn these insights into strategies that will help you engage, enroll, and retain more of your students, reach out to us. We can schedule a time to talk about meeting more students where they are and meeting your enrollment goals.

    Talk with our experts about enrollment and student success

    Let’s talk about how you can find the optimal strategies for engaging the students who are the best fit, optimizing yield, and maximizing student success.

    Schedule a time to talk

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