Course correction: Helping students find and follow a path to success
Key takeaways
- More than half of students change their majors
- 48% of advisor meetings were initiated solely by the student
- 71% of students find value in learning communities and block scheduling
Two- and four-year institutions across the country are adopting educational reforms and implementing technology solutions to get and keep students on the path to success – but what do students think about these measures?
In a recent survey of 1,000 U.S. students, two-thirds report feeling overwhelmed by the process of choosing a major and more than half changed majors at least once, resulting in delayed graduation/completion dates and increased tuition costs.
Students rely on their advisors for help but advisors are challenged to scale their efforts to meet demand. Almost half of student-advisor meetings were initiated solely by the student and on average, students met with their advisors just twice last year.
Components of guided pathway reforms are helping ease the burden. Students are finding value in meta-majors and learning communities/block scheduling. They also welcome technology solutions that help them stay on the path to success, like degree auditing tools, nudges, and virtual one-stop shops.
To learn more about student attitudes and experiences, and how institutions can implement technology solutions that extend human interaction to better support students, download the survey.
The big question for institutions is how to scale the advisor relationship to drive more, individualized conversations with students that will help them set their goals and stay on track.
