The Next Generation of Student Success: What Parents Need to Know

Why it matters: Most college students are back on campus after Spring Break — and for freshmen, it's a moment of truth.

As higher education author and strategist Jeffrey Selingo (@jselingo) puts it: nearly one-third of freshmen don't return to their original campus for sophomore year. Around a quarter don't return to any college.

What's more surprising: those numbers mark a ten-year high.

The big picture: The "student success" movement in higher education has itself been a success — but since the pandemic, many college officials have told Selingo their efforts have plateaued. At a time of scarce resources, these programs remain expensive to maintain, requiring armies of advisors, early-alert technology, and predictive analytics.

According to the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, first-year persistence rates — the share of students who return to college for a second year — remain a critical barometer of whether institutions are truly serving their students. The data reinforces what Selingo describes on the ground: momentum stalls, and the gap between intention and outcome is real. (Source:NSC Research Center, Persistence & Retention)

The structural problem: Most colleges have spent decades building student success programs — but added them layer by layer without ever connecting them, argues Elliot Felix, who has worked with more than a hundred colleges on their student success strategies.

In his book The Connected College, Felix writes: "Smart, well-meaning, and hardworking people succeed at helping students in spite of these structures, not because of them."

The numbers bear this out: 65% of academic advisors juggle two or three different technology systems. For mental health staff, that figure climbs to 75%.

Felix identifies six specific connections institutions need to develop — from belonging to a community, to courses tied to careers, to partnerships with industry — but very few colleges have all six in place simultaneously.

What's next — Student Success 2.0: Selingo describes an evolution now underway. Student Success 1.0 was defined by retention and completion.Student Success 2.0 widens the lens to the entire student journey — connecting every touchpoint from advising to career planning.

The goal shifts from helping students get through college to helping them get ahead in life — a critical distinction at a moment when AI is already eliminating the first rungs of the career ladder that new graduates once relied on.

One practical fix gaining attention: Felix recommends co-locating services so students encounter help organically, rather than having to hunt for it across a fragmented campus. Selingo, who recently authored a paper on campus facilities stewardship, notes that many college leaders are only beginning to identify which campus buildings are underutilized and ripe for exactly this kind of conversion.

As Selingo writes in From Building to Stewardship (January 2026): facilities decisions are "no longer isolated operational choices but central questions of strategy, identity, and value." A well-designed space isn't just a building — it's a retention tool.

Where tuition insurance fits in: Even the best student success programs can't prevent every disruption. A medical crisis, a mental health emergency, a family hardship — any of these can force a student to withdraw mid-semester, leaving families with lost tuition and no path to recovery.

Tuition insurance bridges that gap. It protects the financial investment families have already made — so that a forced withdrawal doesn't mean a permanent exit from higher education. When a student needs to step away, tuition insurance gives families the financial stability to bring them back.

In an era where persistence is harder than ever, tuition insurance isn't just financial protection. It's part of the student success equation.

College Parents of America advocates for families navigating the college journey. Learn more about tuition insurance options and other tools for protecting your student's future at collegeparents.org.