Coaches encourage students to persist against pressures of pursuing an education

Two of Tosha Elling’s three small children are whining. They want to go to the park, but Elling needs to get to her job and then jump online for a class she’s taking from DeVry. She’s getting nervous. “ My full-time job, parenting and school are pulling me in opposite directions,” she said. It’s no wonder Elling is exhausted. Her kids and her job are a priority, yet so is her future career in accounting. She takes a deep breath and follows it with a statement that hints at relief: “I’m so glad I have David Tilton in my life.”

Tilton is her personal coach offered to her by DeVry. As the competition heats up to retain students at both traditional and nontraditional institutions, collegiate coaching company InsideTrack is stepping up to answer the call. Personal coaching, once considered an exclusive for executives, is now available to traditional and nontraditional students, and Tosha Elling, for one, is thrilled. Now she has someone reliable to discuss her time management, goals and finances with. “Truthfully,” she said, “without David to talk with weekly, it’s doubtful I’d still be here.”

Sarah Calderon, InsideTrack’s online Campus Director for DeVry, hears that refrain often. After spending nine months coaching 75 to 100 students weekly, she knows the impact personalized success coaching provides. “Students I coached had a very a similar scenario as Tosha,” Calderon said. “Most were adults venturing into their first year of college, never having gone to any postsecondary schooling. Everyone was working at least part if not full time. Many lived at home or were single parents.”

Institutions in both the private and public sectors know how vital student retention is. The Department of Education’s latest college enrollment statistics indicate a little more than 57% of students entering a four-year college graduate with a degree from that school within six years. Keeping a student enrolled and motivated to graduate is the bottom line – an ever-increasing factor in state funding for public institutions and ultimate success for career colleges.

Where InsideTrack sees a positive impact is not necessarily with high-risk students. Success coaching delves into and assists in the management of extenuating issues for the postsecondary student. “The students we work with are typically smart enough to handle the work,” said Alan Tripp, InsideTrack Cofounder. “They are expected to be intrinsically motivated and capable of managing the barrage of new experiences that confront them in college. But whether they’re attending a small liberal arts college, a large state university, a career college, or even pursuing a degree part-time or online, students – like anyone else – need regular structure, guidance, personal support and positive feedback to succeed.” It’s a program that he, along with Co-Founder Kai Drekmeier, believes in strongly. Before developing InsideTrack, Tripp and Drekmeier developed SCORE! Educational Centers, a national system designed to aid K-12 students with academics and enhanced learning strategies.

There’s no doubt both Tripp and Drekmeier are committed to helping students master behaviors that will help them succeed in school. Success coaching, with intervention beginning with first- term enrollment, is key. According to InsideTrack, in controlled studies at 13 postsecondary institutions, most serving nontraditional students, the first-term attrition rate of students who received success coaching decreased by more than 30%.

Although in-person meetings are offered on some campuses, the majority of coaching is handled from call centers in San Francisco, Calif., and Portland, Ore. During weekly 30-minute sessions, coaches help students in seven key areas: managing finances, balancing commitments, campus community life, school systems and policies, career goals, health, and general effectiveness.

“Often the need is quite specific,” said Kendra Meuser, a coach at one major career college who offered insight on Pauline Braxton, one of her students. “I remember one coaching session where Pauline confided that her mind would freeze when taking a test. We worked on relaxation and test preparation techniques to help overcome her fear.”
Braxton said the encouragement was critical to her. “If it weren’t for Kendra, I probably would have dropped out of school by now,” Braxton said.

To date, more than 75,000 students on more than 24 campuses are utilizing the proactive tools offered by InsideTrack. The company’s goals are not to replace on-campus advisors or psychological services “but work in tandem with them,” Tripp said.

“Truthfully, without David to talk with weekly, it’s doubtful I’d still be here.”
— Tosha Elling, Student

Undoubtedly, there’s a valuable return on those students that persist after coaching ends. It appears that students who are helped in developing academic and positive behaviors are apt to stay in school.
Tosha Elling takes that to heart. “David is helping me manage my obligations. I know that without him as a sounding board, it’s simple, school wouldn’t be a priority.”

Overall, the coaching program is achieving goals that help students not only adjust to their new environment, but according to Tripp, further retention rates by at least 10-15%.
Costs for integrating the InsideTrack program averages around $800 to $1,400 per student for one year, paid for by the school, not the student.

Tripp acknowledges the cost benefit. “A proactive and direct approach to retention can generate significant financial returns,” he said. “Colleges implementing the program typically find that for every dollar spent on the program, they recoup three dollars in increased tuition revenue, which results in gains of millions of dollars per year.”
This year, InsideTrack made Inc. magazine’s annual list of the 500 fastest-growing companies in America.

The message is coming through loud and clear for students, and schools are listening. “A school’s reputation and bottom line can only improve as more students persist and graduate – something we are all working for,” Tripp acknowledged.

“You know when you swim out on a surfboard and catch the wave, but it’s overpowering and going over your head? Well, my coach is my lifeguard running up the beach. I know she’s here to save me from drowning,” said Braxton.