Each day, countless experiences sway student perceptions and decisions whether to attend, stay or leave a college or university. From making a payment to attending a sporting event to getting mental health support, each experience colors the next, shaping student sentiment about the institution and next steps in their higher ed journey. Increasingly, higher ed leaders are leaning on data to access deep visibility into student life. In turn, they’re gleaning powerful intel into hidden opportunities for driving student satisfaction, enrollment and retention.
Canisius University and the California College of the Arts are two such institutions using data to remove friction from student experiences.
Canisius University: “We have a motto here of helping the whole person.”
Over the years, leaders at Canisius University in Buffalo, New York, have sought to eliminate steps and delays in student support. It started with enabling credit card payments in 2001, culminating with combining student records and financial services support in 2017. More recently, the addition of Student Account Advisor — a TouchNet tool that integrates access to student data — has further enhanced centralized support for students.
Put simply, Student Account Advisor pulls all permission-based student data into one screen, eliminating the need for campus staff to log into multiple systems to access information they need to help students. Put another way, the tool makes it a one-stop shop for both staff and students, so students can get questions answered no matter where they engage or ask for support.
“It simplified transactions and created a true one-stop shop experience, enabling users to assist students and parents when discussing financial aid, student accounts and academic data points that are crucial to a student’s success,” says Kevin Smith, assistant vice president and director of student records and financial services. Since implementing the tool, there has been a positive impact on retention and the overall experience in student records and financial services has been very successful, leading Canisius leaders to extend Student Account Advisor to other high-contact offices such as those for associate deans and academic advising.
“We have a motto here of helping the whole person,” Smith notes: “Student success or retention isn’t just one office’s responsibility; it’s everyone’s responsibility across our campuses.”
California College of the Arts: “We want every incoming student to be successful on their journey toward enrollment.”
Leaders at the California College of the Arts (CCA) in San Francisco share a similar perspective, leaning on data from the moment a student applies to CCA to ensure they follow through with enrollment and attendance. The goal is to identify early indicators of disengagement and intervene before students change plans to attend the institution, shares Michelle Ziegmann, associate vice president of technology services.
“We’ve spent a lot of time implementing and monitoring the activity of incoming students, and trying to reduce ‘melt’ — which is when a student makes a deposit to indicate their intention to attend, but, at some point along the way, they change their minds,” Ziegmann explains. “We look for indicators that deposited students are on track to come to CCA, or whether they’re on the fence or changed their mind, and guide them along the journey to becoming a student at CCA.”
To make that possible, CCA gleans intel from the campus enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, which integrates with other data sources like our billing and housing systems. Some indicators CCA monitors include activities like:
- What progress has the student made in logging in and completing tasks assigned to them?
- Have they viewed their bill? Did they sign up for a payment plan?
- Have they submitted their FAFSA and, if so, have they accepted their offer?
- Have they communicated with CCA team members?
- Where are they in their housing application?
- Have foreign students completed immigration processing tasks?
CCA leaders track key indicators daily, and each new student receives a composite score, ranking as low, medium or high risk of defection. “Based on that score, how can we support them? What do they need next? It’s a guided student journey, and we provide just-in-time intervention to help them take the next step,” Ziegmann shares.
Looking ahead, CCA leaders are working to expand data uses to monitor risk indicators impacting retention, like students who registered for classes outside of their academic plan, students who are behind on payments, lagging participation in non-academic activities and so on. “For example, if a student has been using more of their meal plan compared to their peers, maybe there’s a food insecurity element and we need to talk to them about financial assistance,” Ziegmann explains. “Being able to see those connections will help us get the right interventions at the right time.”
In the meantime, CCA has also consolidated several support functions including financial aid, student accounts, academic advising and more into Student Services. “The offices still exist separately but collaborate to provide students with a one-stop shop for asking questions and getting help,” says Ziegmann. Because all departments can access unified student data, they can work together to resolve issues quickly without sending students all over campus to piece together a solution.
More universities integrate student data access
Far from isolated examples, Canisius and CCA signal growing reliance on student data integration at higher ed campuses. Leaders at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette have also expanded campus ID card uses to include digital access to buildings, dining, class check-ins, event attendance, and payments for goods and services, among others. The resulting data from those digital conveniences makes it possible for campus staff and faculty to better support students, such as professors checking who’s entering a lab or using campus resources.
Purdue University in Lafayette, Indiana is yet another example. Believing that the best kind of visit to the campus business office is no visit at all, Purdue leaders partnered with TouchNet to create a “no-stop” shop for students to manage financial transactions. “When technology works, it fades into the background. At the same time, university leaders can glean rich data insights to help steer their decision-making,” says Heather Richmond, vice president of marketing for TouchNet.
Letting data reveal your hidden student engagement and retention opportunities
Improved student data visibility doesn’t have to be an all-or-nothing venture, nor require a hefty tech overhaul. Rather, it can begin gradually, leveraging technology systems your institution already uses today. Begin by having clear systems of record, then integrate data reporting between systems, says Ziegmann.
Which data should you tackle first? Consider high-engagement offices that deal with students regularly, or data that can illuminate known problems you’re looking to solve. What point of friction or common inquiries could be eliminated to provide faster, easier resolution for students?
Finally, Ziegmann advises understanding the questions you have regarding retention or engagement, and what data could answer those questions. “As long as you understand where the source of information lives and have a way to get that information connected with other data, there’s an opportunity to pull these pieces together and present it in a useful way,” she concludes.
As competition swells for students’ preferences and dollars, data that already lives inside your technology systems can expose significant opportunities to impact retention with a high degree of certainty.
Learn how your peers are using data to boost student retention by accessing TouchNet’s survey report. Explore what’s possible for your institution when you schedule a complimentary consultation with TouchNet.
