Inside Higher Ed: Lack of Awareness Causes Students to Fall Through the Cracks

Colleges and universities employ various strategies to promote student success, but how many are students aware of, and how many are supporting students in the ways they should?

A new report by Tyton Partners found 60 percent of students were unaware of the full scope of services offered to them at their college or university, creating gaps in student-facing offices that could negatively impact student retention and success.

Methodology

Tyton conducted two surveys in spring 2023, receiving responses from 2,048 students and 1,756 employees from 900 institutions, both two- and four-year.

Three in five employee respondents were front-line advisers (including faculty with an advising responsibility) or nonacademic support providers.

Tyton’s surveys, on which the report is based, found two out of three students were unaware of available student support resources, including academic advising, career advising or academic registrations.

Academic advising was the most recognized support among students (62 percent).

Student awareness levels were lowest regarding the student health clinic, peer mentoring and student success coaches at 33 percent, 31 percent and 29 percent of respondents, respectively.

Students’ ignorance was in stark contrast to institutional employees’ responses, with a majority of employees able to identify every support in the survey, as much as 98 percent.

Article on Driving Toward a Degree 2023 originally published by Ashley Mowreader from Inside Higher Ed. Read the full article here.