New guide offers colleges a playbook for building an in-house student coaching program

Fuel student support services on your campus — and sustain the impact for years to come

We know that institutions are dealing with declining enrollment numbers, lower retention rates and increasing staff burnout. We also know that colleges and universities are dedicated to supporting their students and just need the adequate resources to do so. That’s why we created Empowering Teams, Transforming Outcomes: A guide to building a holistic in-house student support program. This in-depth resource is packed with lessons learned from supporting more than 130 partners to embed coaching into their student support and guidance — plus insights from dozens of higher ed leaders across the country. As part of our mission to empower and advance all learners, we share this with you as an actionable guide to support institutional transformation.

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Take your student support services from transactional to transformational

Throughout this report, you’ll learn how to maximize long-term coaching development and training in order to embed research-proven coaching methodology throughout your student-facing teams and create a holistic, sustainable in-house coaching program that will serve your students — and your institution — well. In this report, higher ed leaders share their expertise and insights on how to:

• Assess institutional needs and readiness
• Choose an evidence-based methodology
• Nurture internal culture to sustain impact
• Secure sustainable funding sources

You’ll also get firsthand examples from three different institutions at various stages of their in-house student coaching journey. California State University Bakersfield is embracing its Hispanic-serving mission by using a Title V grant to fund a multi-year coaching development and training partnership with InsideTrack. Loyola University New Orleans, having worked with InsideTrack to build a highly successful in-house coaching program, is now expanding that program to online learners — further extending the transformation. And years after their pilot program with InsideTrack ended, Austin Community College has carried on the impact via InsideTrack’s train-the-trainer program, training more than a hundred new coaches — and counting — at their institution.

Plus, explore a trio of ready-to-use tools that can help your college or university take the necessary steps to start revamping your student support processes today:

• Planning guide for institutional transformation
• Change management best practices checklist
• Funding options for student support initiatives

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Building capacity that lasts

The challenges faced by students and their schools will continue to make degree completion a daunting journey. And institutional bandwidth remains a concern for colleges and universities across the country. By equipping student support staff with evidence-based coaching frameworks, institutions can grow their capacity for student support in a manner that can be sustained — extending the impact of this holistic approach to more students who need it. The goal of this guide is to provide you with a field-tested roadmap for making it happen.

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