Tag: Advising

  • Readers Respond on Advising The Girl

    Readers Respond on Advising The Girl

    (Program note: In order to reduce the competition for attention, this column’s Monday and Thursday schedule has been changed to Monday and Friday.)

    Monday’s post outlined The Girl’s many academic strengths and mourned some changes in the field that make pursuing her preferred career a high-risk enterprise. She’s a wildly talented reader and writer—insightful, distinctive and often funny—who would make a great English professor if the world still offered jobs like those in any meaningful number. She’s looking closely at an information science option. I asked my wise and worldly readers if they had any thoughts on advice I could offer her.  

    Luckily, I have the best readers ever. Folks responded thoughtfully and graciously. Some highlights and patterns:

    • Readers within the library world responded with variations on “We love our jobs, but they’re getting scarcer, too.”
    • Even there, though, hope could be found. A few pointed out that having a master’s degree in a discipline can be a selling point with academic libraries. They often suggested getting a foot in the door at a university library, then using the free tuition offered to staff to get the master’s in English. I have to admit that free tuition is a nifty benefit.
    • They also pointed out that working full-time in a college or university library doesn’t preclude teaching the occasional English course on the side. Adjuncting for a living is brutal, but a course on the side—when the basic needs are met elsewhere—can be gratifying.

    One wise and worldly reader took issue with the assumption that graduate programs are about getting jobs. As he put it,

    “I tell students that, so long as you are going to grad school in a funded program, if no job in academia results, then you’ve had the privilege of spending fiveish years doing something that few people get to ever do. And then, in terms of career prospects, you’re right back where you were when you finished your B.A. Being in a funded grad program will allow you to tread water, financially speaking. So yes, you will be behind your friends from undergrad who went straight into careers and began building up equity in their homes and their 401(k)s, but that is the sacrifice one makes to get to spend time in grad school.”

    Concur in part and dissent in part. (That’s language from the Supreme Court, from back when they used to explain their decisions.) It’s certainly true that the kind of extended reading of academic texts that grad students do is rare outside of the academy. And on good days, there can be real intellectual excitement. But I also remember a lot of posturing, preening, bluffing and one-upmanship that seemed as petty as would be found anywhere else. And while it’s true that a fellowship is a rare privilege, it’s also true that the opportunity cost of subsistence-level living for five or more years is shockingly high. So yes, it can be intellectually rewarding, but I suspect there are other ways to get that without being quite so broke.

    Another reader reframed the issue, putting the field of study at the center:

    “If I really believe in the importance of transmitting human culture across generations, then should I maintain that it’s worth doing only when it’s economically expedient? Would I have any real credibility with my students if I seemed to tell them, out of one side of my mouth, that reading Walden and Moby-Dick is a valuable use of their time and a potential source of future wisdom and happiness, and then also tell them, out of the other side of my mouth, that they should make career choices that are at odds with what they’re gleaning from these books—and also, by the way, not be bothered if those books disappear from their children’s and grandchildren’s civilization?”

    It struck me as a variation on the much older idea of a calling. I’m sympathetic to that at some level—when I don’t write for a while, I feel out of tune—but I’ve seen the idea of a calling used to justify appalling levels of exploitation. While TG is wildly talented, she’s also pragmatic; her politics, like mine, are about rejecting poverty across the board, rather than romanticizing it. I consider her clear-sightedness a real strength. She wants to make an adult living, and I don’t blame her one bit.

    On the opposite end, one reader suggested that she pick up some training in automotive repair, start working in a shop, and use her communication skills to move up over time. It’s an interesting theoretical point, and it brought back fond memories of Car Talk, but I don’t see her doing that. (She confirmed my hunch.)

    High school teaching also showed up as a frequent option. Even as professor gigs seemingly vanish into the ether, many states have teacher shortages. As dual enrollment gains ground, opportunities for teaching at least introductory college-level courses may become easier to find. High school is a very different environment, but the option exists.

    Several readers’ stories (or their children’s stories) started with traditional academic pathways and veered into institutional research (the in-house research office on campuses) or instructional design. Both fields draw on a general knowledge of the ways that higher ed works, and a rapport with faculty is helpful in both. The job market for instructional designers appears to be much healthier than the market for either librarians or humanities faculty. That may be because instructional design can lead to corporate training jobs, as well as jobs in the academy. A wider scope of potential options is not a bad thing.

    Others made the point in various ways that career paths aren’t linear. One mentioned a daughter with a Ph.D. in physics who went on to become a successful patent attorney. Another started trying to be a librarian, switched to the tech world, got a Ph.D. in philosophy and now helps engineers with their people skills.

    I had to smile at this argument, because I know it’s true. If you had told me, in the midst of my doctoral program, that I’d spend much of my career in community college administration, I would have looked at you quizzically. Yet here we are. Degrees matter most at the early stage; by a decade or two into a career, it’s not unusual for the job title to be pretty distant from the degree. But TG is at the early stage, so it still matters.

    Thanks to everyone who wrote! I was gratified by the generosity of spirit that everyone showed. Best. Readers. Ever.

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  • Equity Gaps in Academic Advising

    Equity Gaps in Academic Advising

    Recently published research has found equity gaps in the impact of academic advising support on various student groups. While students from racial minorities are more likely to meet with an adviser compared to their white peers, they’re less likely to see improvements in their GPA or graduate on time.

    The research points to a need for improved advising processes, not just in increasing access to and knowledge of academic advising, but in developing holistic student support programs, said lead author Hua-Yu Sebastian Cherng, vice dean for research and equity at New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education and Human Development.

    The background: Academic advising is a critical part of student retention and progression, but not every student receives the support. A 2023 survey by Tyton Partners found one-third of student respondents were not aware of academic advising on campus, despite 98 percent of college employees saying the resource was available to their students.

    Similarly, a spring 2023 survey by Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse found, when asked what types of assistance students had received during academic advising, 8 percent of students said they had received no assistance since starting college. Additionally, 5 percent of respondents said they had never met with an academic adviser. Twenty-three percent of respondents said they have to set up meetings with an academic adviser if they’d like to meet, and 10 percent of all respondents said it was difficult to get an appointment with their academic adviser.

    The study: Hua-Yu’s study evaluated data from a large public research institution (total enrollment of 80,000) between 2017 and 2021, considering students’ grades, graduation rates, demographics and the number of appointments made with advisers.

    To ensure relevant comparisons, researchers matched students in the same school or academic program because advising requirements and processes varied by school, Hua-Yu said.

    Across the university, nonwhite and international student groups met with advisers more frequently than white domestic students, disrupting commonly held notions about who is aware of and using services on college campuses, Hua-Yu said.

    But the impact of advising was not affected by the frequency of appointments. Rather, despite meeting with advisers less frequently than minoritized students, white students were more likely to have higher GPAs compared to their white peers who didn’t meet with an adviser. White students’ frequency of meeting with an adviser also correlated with their graduation rates, the only racial or ethnic group that saw benefits in this way.

    “This is really damning evidence that advising is not doing what it’s supposed to be doing,” Hua-Yu said.

    Even among students with undeclared majors, where this institution felt it had a gold standard of advising supports and resources, data showed similar patterns: White students had better outcomes after meeting with advisers, despite their nonwhite peers having more meetings.

    Continuing-generation students were more likely to see benefits from advising appointments, compared to their first-generation peers, and low-income students who met with an adviser had slightly higher graduation rates compared to their higher-income classmates.

    The why: Hua-Yu theorizes that institutional messaging encouraging students to take advantage of advising could have been effective, resulting in more students having appointments with their advisers. But if marginalized students have complex concerns or are looking for advice on which path to choose, they are more likely to walk away from appointments without all the information they need or feeling like they don’t belong.

    A 2024 Student Voice survey by Inside Higher Ed and Generation Lab found 75 percent of students said they had at least some trust in academic advisers on campus; 20 percent said they didn’t have much trust in them.

    First-generation students were 7 percent less likely to meet with an adviser and less likely to graduate, compared to their continuing generation peers, the IHE survey found.

    According to Hua-Yu, continuing-generation students are less likely to seek advice on changing their major when talking to staff, compared to their first-generation peers, because they have other support systems that can offer that insight. Instead, they’re using advising appointments to address logistical and bureaucratic impediments to reaching their goals, he noted.

    Building better: The findings, Hua-Yu emphasized, do not fault advisers but rather underline concerns with academic advising structures and staffing issues at colleges and universities across the country. A 2024 report by Tyton Partners found high caseloads and adviser burnout and turnover are some of the top challenges for the field.

    Advisers have caseloads as high as 400 students, which can limit their ability to engage with students intentionally and address their concerns at a deeper level, Hua-Yu said. Instead, leaders at institutions should recognize that quality advising can make a substantial difference in student outcomes and, in turn, advocate for resources and support to improve advising experiences.

    Hua-Yu called for more training for advisers on how to work with students in a specific program of study, as well as with a variety of student identities. Academic advisers cannot become social workers or mental health professionals, but improving how advisers are onboarded and supported can make substantial differences, Hua-Yu said.

    Advisers can also be given a set of questions to encourage more meaningful relationships with students during advising appointments, such as asking about students’ lives, their goals and their support systems.

    What’s next: Using the same data set, Hua-Yu and his team plan to investigate the use of flags or kudos within the advising system to see how early intervention could affect student success.

    The researchers are also exploring the role of gender on advising supports; initial results show white male students are less likely to engage in advising compared to other student groups.

    Incidentally, the data set covers a period of remote instruction during the COVID-19 pandemic, so Hua-Yu and his team are exploring shocks to advising processes and supports after spring 2020. So far, researchers noted there were more advising meetings taking place, just remotely, and these advising appointment levels remained higher than pre-pandemic.

    Seeking stories from campus leaders, faculty members and staff for our Student Success focus. Share here.

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  • Advising in a time of uncertainty

    Advising in a time of uncertainty

    • By Sarra Jenkins, Director of Future Pathways at Loughborough Grammar School.

    The headlines made by the financial uncertainties within the Higher Education sector have been widespread in recent months. QMUCU has a running list of the currently 90 organisations with redundancy and restructuring programmes, and the Office for Students predicts more than one-third of universities will face ‘serious cash flow problems’. For the sector and those in it, this creates uncertainty. It also creates uncertainty for students making decisions on their university choices, in both an emotional and logistical way. So, what challenges do university advisers face when advising students in the current climate?

    Before application

    When students are considering their higher education options, research is crucial. I have previously written about the importance of ‘best fit’ for trying to ensure a student will thrive at university. However, when students are researching institutions about which headlines have been written in terms of their financial security, it creates uncertainty and raises questions for students. These questions are often ones that do not have obvious or immediate answers, but they can make it difficult for students to feel that they can make effective decisions.

    This also makes it difficult to advise students on the post-18 plans. When the sector within which the students are researching is facing the financial concerns that it currently is, it makes it challenging to advise them accurately. One training session I attended drew attention to this, but effectively argued that students should not be too concerned with what is going on. This is well-meaning advice, but it does little to reassure them in the face of the headlines they see when they conduct their research.

    Course withdrawals during application

    Another way students may experience the impact of the financial issues in higher education is through course withdrawals. There have been news reports of universities deciding to cut courses due to the financial challenges they face. But this also affects prospective students. If a course is withdrawn before an application is made, at least the research that a prospective student carries out can take this into account in their decision-making. However, what about after an application is made?

    I had a student this year who was delighted to get an offer from the university they wanted to be their first-choice institution. They had put considerable effort and focus into their post-18 research and were able to get their application sent very early in the application cycle. This allowed them to focus on their A Levels and on getting the grades they would need to get in if they received an offer. In October, they received the offer they wanted, only to have it withdrawn in January after it was decided the course would not run in this academic year. As all of this occurred before the Equal Consideration Deadline, the student could remove this withdrawn option and put another university and course onto their UCAS form. But this logistical solution hides the emotional toll this took on the student.

    Initially, all of their well-formed and carefully researched plans were now in disarray. They could look at other options, and we did identify similar courses at different institutions. But understandably, these other options were not what the student wanted or had planned for. Having received an offer, they had set both their heart and their head on accepting it. Having it withdrawn was not simply a case of ‘finding something else’; rather, it undid months of research in the manner that every university adviser hopes their students will approach this decision.

    Students may also see other changes occurring during their application. At one university, headlines were created when departments were merged. In this case, I had a student who held an offer at one of these departments, and who then raised questions about what this meant for them. The answer might be that such changes may have relatively little impact on the student experience, however it does create uncertainty and unsettles the student.

    As a university adviser in this situation, we can try and help the student make the best decisions in the circumstances. But it does undermine the plans they had started to put together, either internally or in reality, about their next steps. This could also potentially undermine the success and speed of their transition to HE.

    Course withdrawals during a course

    Some withdrawals happen once a course has begun. Whilst universities might be supportive of students who find themselves in this unfortunate situation, it still undermines the research a student has done and the subsequent choices that they have made in accepting and taking up an offer.

    I had a student get in touch this year having had their course withdrawn just before Easter of their first year. Being so relatively new to university, the student came back and sought advice and support for an entirely new application. They had been offered a place on a different course by their university, but it did not have the focus and modules that they wanted. Instead of seeking a transfer, they sought to re-apply to university and begin again elsewhere in the first year.

    Again, whilst universities or school university advisers can try and help students make the best decisions in these circumstances, a decision has ultimately been placed on the student beyond their control. This does happen within the world of work too, however when students are paying to take up their higher education choices, it is important that they have agency in the choice and that their decision is right for them, not simply a fallback over which they had little control.

    Moving forward

    None of these situations reflects a preferred situation for a university, let alone a student. Clearly, none of these decisions are taken lightly by universities. Equally, this is, of course, not a UK-specific problem. Having visited the Netherlands recently, we saw protest signs about higher education cuts in Utrecht, and as I write this piece, reports are coming from the US of the Pentagon ending all funding for social science research. Those facing redundancies and restructuring are undoubtedly feeling the brunt of these financial concerns.

    Additionally, though, perhaps it is worth recognising the impact of this uncertainty on prospective students. The resilience they need to deal with such changes may yet not be fully formed, and this is one of the first major decisions in their lives over which they are likely to have considerable agency. Knowing these possibilities can help university advisers better prepare students. As universities look to their new intake in September, and open day season in the coming months, perhaps they could consider the reassurances that are possible to prospective students too.

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  • The Power of Tailored Advising in Supporting Student Success

    The Power of Tailored Advising in Supporting Student Success

    This post was co-written with Natalie McVay.

    As a college graduate, RNL’s Natalie McVay has direct experience and helpful insights on the impact of advising on student success outcomes. After attending two separate institutions with differing levels of advising support, Natalie identified specific elements of “transactional” advising that nurtured her success, guiding her on her path to degree completion. For more information on Natalie’s perspective—including advising methods that impacted her ability to retain at her first institution, resulting in her decision to transfer—see RNL’s on-demand webinar The Student’s Perspective: Retention and Motivation.

    A proactive approach to student success

    In an era where student engagement and retention are top priorities, institutions are seeking innovative ways to support students at risk of leaving. Tailored transactional advising is a proactive approach to advising, relevant for all advising philosophies. This approach identifies students in need and provides opportunities to intervene with targeted resources to improve their experience. This strategy not only demonstrates the institution’s commitment to student success but also provides a clear return on investment (ROI) for the student.

    Identifying students’ needs and intervening with resources

    Using analytics and data-driven insights, institutions can identify students who are at risk of leaving due to various factors such as low academic performance, lack of engagement, or other challenges. By intervening early, advisors can offer support, connecting students with resources that match their specific needs.

    However, it’s not about overwhelming students with a laundry list of available resources. Instead, advisors must show students how the institution is committed to their success, highlighting the specific benefits and value of the resources being offered within an appropriate timeframe. And they need to provide the specific resources that each student is looking for.

    Identifying students’ needs and offering support to address those needs at key points in their academic journeys can be the critical influence needed to retain at-risk populations and to ultimately improve student success outcomes.

    One way to gather relevant data about students is through RNL’s Retention Management System (RMS) which measures non-cognitive motivational indicators that pinpoint each student’s (and cohort’s) strengths, risk factors, and receptivity for support at three pivotal transitions in their academic journey. (Learn more about the RMS.)

    The power of written proof

    When students are struggling, they may feel disconnected from their institution. One way to engage them is by incorporating communications that reflect students’ specific concerns along with relevant campus resources to address those concerns. Tailored, timely and data-informed communications can be a key source of guidance in helping students successfully meet their goals. This approach acknowledges students’ individual concerns and shows that the institution is invested in their well-being.

    The impact of words in transactional advising

    In a transactional advising scenario, words have the power to make a significant difference. A well-crafted email or in-person message can convey empathy, understanding, and a genuine interest in your student’s success. The tone and language used can either make or break the student’s perception of the institution’s commitment to their success.

    Let’s consider two email examples in response to a student who is struggling with study habits and sense of belonging, and who is also receptive to career guidance:

    Option 1: A basic transactional approach

    “Have you taken advantage of these student resources?

    • Study groups
    • Peer group chat
    • Meet with an alumni

    We want to ensure you have the support you need to succeed.”

    Option 2: A more personal and supportive transactional approach

    “Natalie, my goal is to connect you to the right resources here on campus!

    If the study group doesn’t feel like the right fit, make sure to check out the peer group chat. I know there are other students like you waiting to take the first step. I also have a contact list of alumni who would love to connect with you about various career paths they chose after completing their degree here at [institution].

    I’m in your corner!”

    The second option not only acknowledges Natalie’s struggles but also employs empathy and a genuine interest in her well-being while offering options to address her specific concerns. By using words that convey a sense of support and connection, advisors can build trust and help students feel more invested in their own success.

    Utilizing mail merge and word play

    Institutional data, such as student success initiatives and predictive analytics, can be used to populate emails like these. Mail merge capabilities can help advisors send personalized messages to students, making them feel seen and valued. Word play, such as using phrases like “I’m in your corner,” can make a significant impact, creating a sense of connection and community.

    By leveraging tailored transactional advising, institutions can demonstrate their commitment to student success and provide a more personal and supportive experience for students. By using data-driven insights and targeted resources, advisors can make a meaningful difference in a student’s life, helping them stay enrolled and achieve their goals.

    According to Natalie, tailored transactional advising influenced her desire to consistently re-enroll and, ultimately, graduate as an adult student from the institution that helped deliver her 2nd student experience: “My commitment to them was higher because I felt their commitment to me.”

    Watch the webinar

    To learn more about this approach, listen to the on-demand webinar on the topic. 

    You can also connect with RNL professionals to learn how the Retention Management System can work at your institution, providing you with data you need to make personal connections with students to keep them enrolled. 

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