Retention and Student Success
OUR APPROACH:
We utilize data-based decision making combined with qualitative investigations through focus groups and surveys to make our recommendations. We examine the entire student experience and interact with students at every level, both current and former. Previous recommendations have included changes to the financial aid strategy, the establishment of DEI initiatives, and the enhancement of student support services.
Turn Your Retention Data Into a Clear Action Plan
We offer a rapid, targeted solution to help institutions pinpoint what’s driving—or hindering—student persistence. Using custom dashboards built in PowerBI, we turn your data into clear, actionable insights that empower teams to make smarter decisions and strengthen student support where it’s needed most. Our team can work with your student information system or CRM, enabling the retention tool to integrate with existing data sources and function effectively within your current ecosystem.
Student Success & Retention Strategy
Our work in this area includes:
Operational & Strategic Review of Student Services & Retention Functions- Retention & Dropout Behavior Analysis
- Course & Curriculum Enrollment Analysis
- Predictive Retention Model Development
- Strategic Retention Planning
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Connect with Us
The University of Akron
In an effort to review and improve admissions recruiting, financial aid leveraging and retention of undergraduate students, The University of Akron (UA) engaged Kennedy & Company to assess the programming, processes, and data.
The New School
The New School engaged Kennedy & Company to work with the Eugene Lang College for Liberal Arts to discover and address the root causes of retention challenges at the New School. The project included stakeholder interviews, student focus groups, competitor analysis, and robust data analysis including basic demographic data as well as student participation and academic experience records.
"We wanted a net price calculator that was easy to use and could be deployed by our one-stop staff to help students understand the financial ramifications of their choices. Kennedy and Company’s tool does just that while also helping us remain compliant with federal aid regulations. Our staff have really enjoyed having this additional tool for their counseling toolbox."
Colleges “definitely will be concerned and do have a right to be, but it’s a great opportunity to review the current contract they’re operating,” Snow said. She suggested potentially negotiating a contract for a shorter time frame, as well as including an exit clause or a set of terms that could end an agreement without breaking the contract. She also believes more universities may want to see an increase in transparency, particular in marketing materials. “When you’re an institution, it’s on your behalf, but you don’t see the day to day of what they’re spending and how they’re spending it,” she said. “You can be in the dark of how you’re being marketed. And in the beginning, it didn’t matter as long as the enrollment came, but now it behooves them.
1st Aid Net Price Calculator is a user-friendly tool that keeps up with the academic offerings and dynamic tuition and fee structure at our university. It provides an estimate and meaningful information to prospective students and families, blending in the financial aid award philosophy. The Kennedy & Company implementation team was easy to work with and they structured a project implementation plan that met our needs. The NPC displays on both the financial aid and admissions web page, and it continues to meet our expectations.
We engaged Kennedy & Company to audit our set of touchpoints with prospective students, analyzing how customer data flows through different systems and detailing interactions at each step. In addition to a detailed analysis of our data ecosystem, the team developed a rigorous implementation plan to help different departments optimize their activities. Kennedy & Company was very thoughtful and comprehensive in their work, so that we gained visibility and are making meaningful progress on multiple interconnected issues.
Kennedy recognized that no one knows us as well as we do. They valued our experience and knowledge, and worked with us as an integrated team. Kennedy’s collaborative approach ensured that the end-product was well-suited to our culture, our values and priorities, and our competitive environment.
“Our collaboration with Kennedy & Company has been nothing short of transformative. Through their expert guidance and strategic implementation of Salesforce Education Cloud, Spartanburg Community College has elevated its marketing, communication, and student engagement efforts to an entirely new level. The result is a sophisticated, data-driven CRM ecosystem that not only enhances operational efficiency but also empowers our teams to support student success in more meaningful and measurable ways. Kennedy & Company has proven to be an invaluable partner in our digital evolution.”
“Kennedy & Company was helpful and responsive from our initial contact with them in creating an appropriate scope of work that fit our needs, all the way through to developing the Slate Reader and Application for our over 140 graduate programs with several hundred users. Even with a decentralized admission model and with so many users involved, we were focused on creating a single solution that would be malleable for all. They helped us create a solution that fit the needs of many and were diligent and tireless in responding to our trouble-shooting questions and quest for continuous improvement. We wouldn't hesitate to recommend them and look forward to continued work on other projects.”
“Kennedy and Company’s expertise in strategic planning has been transformative for the College of Engineering. Their productive conversations brought clarity to our vision and enabled us to identify common themes that will shape the future of the College. With their guidance and ongoing support, we have crafted a clear, actionable 10-year roadmap that perfectly aligns with our goals and with Villanova’s mission, confidently positioning us for continued innovation and growth.”
“I am sincerely grateful for our partnership with Kennedy & Company. Their team has played many instrumental roles helping Palmetto College plan and execute on our growth strategies. Palmetto College is a complex organization that includes four two-year institutions located throughout the state, as well as an online degree completion programs. Kennedy & Company has helped us both transform our enrollment plans and strategies, and also translated them into actionable tasks for our teams within the Salesforce CRM. This effort has improved our adoption of the CRM and enabled our teams to better engage students throughout their time with us.”
“Kennedy and Company quickly established themselves as a critical companion when it comes to both thought partnership and modeling the implications of complex challenges/solutions. With such a broad range of support their team can provide, they have helped Mason tackle some of its most important questions facing the institution as we both develop offerings for new markets and improve student outcomes.”
