Tyton Partners Reports Only 11% of Higher Education Admins and Academic Support Providers Say Their Student Success Data is Ready to Seed GenAI Models

BOSTON, AUGUST 21 — Today, Tyton Partners, a strategy consulting and investment banking firm focused on the education sector, released its latest publication, Driving Toward a Degree 2024: The Dual Frontier in Student Success: New Solutions and New Challenges. This nationally acclaimed study has explored the evolving landscape of student advising and support in higher education since 2015, emphasizing the role of innovative solutions like generative AI in addressing persistent challenges. 

As the U.S. higher education system continues to evolve to meet diverse student needs, the American Council on Education and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching will launch in 2025 a new classification system to assess colleges on their ability to improve social and economic status for today’s diverse students rather than traditional measures captured in the current Carnegie Classifications.  This change will push institutions to strengthen holistic support services. 

With primary support from InsideTrack and additional research support from Lumina Foundation, NACADA, Stellic, and UERU, Driving Toward a Degree 2024 highlights the nascent use of generative AI to address advisor capacity constraints. The report, based on surveys of over 3,000 higher education administrators, frontline advising staff, and students, also explores the increasing challenge of advisor burnout and turnover. 

Key findings from Driving Toward a Degree 2024 include: 

• Early experimentation with generative AI in student success outside of the classroom is percolating at some institutions: 

• 59% of students use AI tools at least once a month, showing promise as a catalyst to address advisor capacity challenges.   

• AI tool usage amongst frontline support providers is lagging, with 49% of academic advisors and counselors having never used these tools. 

• Only 11% of administrators and advisors say their student success data is ready to seed generative AI models. Though generative AI can supplement limited advisor capacity, most institutions are unprepared to leverage it for student success, despite some targeted implementations. 

• New emerging challenge for academic advising leaders to manage against: 

• For the past 3 years, advisor retention and turnover has steadily increased in rankings for challenges to improving advising. 

• Nearly 1/3 of primary role advisors indicate that they have been in their role at their institution for less than two years. 

• A fifth of primary-role advisors with caseload sizes of greater than 400 say they are unlikely to continue their role in the next five years. 

“At Tyton Partners, we recognize the critical role that effective advising plays in student success,” said Nicole Lin, Principal at Tyton Partners and lead author of the publication. “Our research underscores the potential of GenAI to alleviate some of the pressures faced by advisors, enabling them to focus on more meaningful, holistic interactions with students.” 

The importance of Driving Toward a Degree lies in its actionable insights and recommendations for institutions and solution providers. By addressing student success challenges and leveraging available resources, higher education can continue to empower students to fully engage with and benefit from the support services offered, while also enabling advisors to provide the best services without causing burnout. 

Read Driving Toward a Degree 2024 here.

About Tyton Partners 

Tyton Partners is the leading provider of strategy consulting and investment banking services to the global knowledge and information services sector. With offices in Boston and New York City, the firm has an experienced team of bankers and consultants who deliver a unique spectrum of services from mergers and acquisitions and capital markets access to strategy development that helps companies, organizations, and investors navigate the complexities of the education, media, and information markets. Tyton Partners leverages a deep foundation of transactional and advisory experience and an unparalleled level of global relationships to make its clients’ aspirations a reality and to catalyze innovation in the sector. Learn more at tytonpartners.com. 

About InsideTrack 

InsideTrack is a mission-driven nonprofit that fuels positive change by empowering and advancing all learners to achieve their educational and career goals through the transformative power of coaching. We help people get the education they need to enhance well-being, create opportunity and secure meaningful employment — ultimately facilitating economic and social mobility. Since 2001, we have served over 3.5 million learners, partnering with more than 380 institutions and organizations to directly improve enrollment, retention, completion, and career advancement — tailoring our coaching outcomes to fit the needs of our partners and the learners they support. Our coaching methodology is evidence-based and research-confirmed, supporting all types of learners at every stage of their journey — especially those who face systemic barriers to postsecondary success. We are a catalyst for transformational impact, ultimately empowering learners and the organizations that serve them. To learn more, visit www.insidetrack.org.