Economy

A Program to Guide You to College Success

Partnered with

ATTN: and Ellucian are teaming up to talk about the issues that get in the way of college students' success and how schools can address them with comprehensive software solutions.

Sayra Diaz has accomplished something incredible. Only 18 years old and already a full-time mom, she made it into college despite being the daughter of parents who didn't make it to high school and without much guidance on what to do. "I went into college not knowing very much," Sayra said. "My parents didn’t get very far in school. My stepdad got to sixth grade. My mom got to third grade. I had no idea where to start. I would cry every night and call my mom, and be like 'Oh, I’m going to quit.'"

Sayra is far from alone in sharing the challenging situation of balancing her school needs with her life demands and a lack of experienced guidance. 90% of low-income, first generation students don’t finish college on time. But strong guidance can be the difference between dropping out and graduating.

GraduationFlickr/Nottingham Trent University - flickr.com

“This is my first semester with Guided Pathways, and I feel more relaxed,” said Sayra. Guided Pathways is a project that helps community colleges bolster student success through structure and personalized guidance. This provide students with clear, coherent program maps that include specific course sequences, progress milestones, and program learning outcomes.

Simply put, Guided Pathways provides a clear roadmap to earning a degree in four years. Students like Sayra, who are juggling so many education and family obligations, really can't afford the time to take a class that doesn't propel them towards that degree. “[My counselor] started showing me, ‘These are the classes you have to take,’” Sayra said. “‘This semester, you’re going to take English with Math, and then two easy classes so that you don’t have an overload.’ Now I know what to do.”

Equipped with an academic plan and frequent advising, college can become less overwhelming for people who have more going on in their lives. Now more than ever, higher education can be customized to actual student needs.

It is not only advising and academic planning that can impede a student to succeed. Many times administrative tasks and technology itself can be a burden cutting into study time. The vast majority of students want a centralized app with all their account information to make transitioning to college easier. 25% of students say they have to log into 5 systems or more for all their college needs. Those kinds of administrative tasks get in the way of study time. These students have a lot more important things to do than respond to password recovery emails for rarely used portals.

LibraryFlickr/Hazma Butt - flickr.com

Ellucian values this time students have to spend on studying. Their software portfolio powers—and empowers—schools like Sayra’s to set their students up for the ultimate success. Colleges and universities of all sizes have to manage plenty of complicated, extensive processes—admissions, financial aid, records and human resources, just to name a few. But Ellucian’s comprehensive software is already built to help schools with Guided Pathways, as well as to assist other universities and smaller colleges to improve their communications, simplify administrative tasks, and deliver better, more integrated service.

From mobile solutions to comprehensive ERP's powered by their higher education data model, Ethos, Ellucian is working to make a simpler, easier and more efficient technology experience to help all students. They're ready to help schools like Sayra's become more effective in the advising and academic planning needs they have to support new amazing initiatives like Guided Pathways.