Like many offices of student success, the one at Kansas State University has the goal of ensuring that students leave with a degree that sets them on their chosen path. College is not just about finding your way anymore, says Stephanie Bannister, who became assistant vice provost for student success in June.
With more students joining the work force right out of high school, student-success offices like the one where Bannister works need to prove that attending college yields a better return on investment. More colleges are hiring administrators with “student success” in their titles and charging them with making students’ college experience rewarding and fruitful, whether the students are first-generation and low-income or show up well-prepared by their families and high schools.
Kansas State, where Bannister had most recently been assistant vice president for student life, created its student-success division last July. In her restructured role, Bannister oversees a variety of programs to support students, including academic coaching, tutoring, first-year seminars, and learning communities, as well as specific programs for first-generation and federally funded TRIO programs for disadvantaged students. These and other student-focused programs previously fell within the student-life office. Now the student-success portion has been brought under the supervision of a vice provost.
At Kansas State and other universities, student-success administrators bridge the gap between the classroom and programs aimed at student well-being. Many of their offices fall within academic affairs, which allows for better collaboration with faculty members, says Bannister.
Sarah Whitley, senior director of the Center for First-Generation Student Success at Naspa, the national association of student-affairs administrators in higher education, works with Bannister and other student-success administrators. “If you are trying to find ways to bring together services, the student-success umbrella is a good way to do that,” she says. People in these new positions feel a “tremendous sense of responsibility to the success of their students.” Amid debates over administrative bloat, she points out, they also have to be able to prove the value of student-success offices.
While universities may focus on measures like retention and graduation rates, Whitley says, less quantifiable markers of student success, like engagement outside the classroom, also draw the attention of administrators.
At Kansas State, Bannister says, “we use an individualized approach to sit and visit with a student to talk about what their academic goals are and where they see their challenge.” Once students have met with someone in the student-success office or the Academic Achievement Center, they are introduced to all the physical and online resources on hand.
Students take many paths to Kansas State’s student-success office. Some are categorized as qualified-admission students because, for instance, they missed a recommended high-school credit. Those students are required to participate in the academic-coaching program. Some come to the learning center after a recommendation from an academic adviser or a resident assistant, says Bannister. Student groups, such as Greek houses, have asked Bannister’s team to conduct workshops in academic coaching so their student leaders can then provide those services.
Navigating relationships with partners across the university is key, Bannister says, but “the ability to use data to inform strategically how we intervene and how we offer success services is increasingly important as well.”
She sees more universities investing in data and emphasizing data skills in their job listings for student success. Her team uses data every day, but it also pays attention to what it hears directly from students, to figure out how to provide better support. With the help of the success office’s data system, SSC-Navigate, students can request tutoring in various subjects, and Bannister’s office can assign tutors as needed rather than scheduling tutors for blocks of time before students express interest.
The student-success office also records when students are coming into the center, to gain a better understanding of when to have specific programs available. For example, during finals, students don’t feel as if they have time for one-on-one scheduled appointments. Bannister’s team knows that it should devote more energy to the Learning Labs, where students can drop in whenever. “The way that we’ve been able to scale back without additional financial resources but an increasing caseload is by watching the data of student trends,” says Bannister.
Student-success efforts have also started to overlap with the application and admissions processes. In addition to speaking to new students at welcome events, Bannister’s team has been invited to college fairs and other events for prospective students.
“There is a push to be more proactive in using student success on the front end of student experience,” Whitley says, “and not just in ‘how are they performing’ on the back end.”
Bannister has re-evaluated systems that were in place for student success long before Kansas State created her position. Some policies, like holds on student accounts, were intended to redirect students but ended up discouraging them. With people dedicated to removing barriers and improving the university’s approach to student success, she is optimistic: “I feel strongly in the short time I’ve been in this role,” she says, “that we can absolutely make a significant change.”