L (Learn) I(Investigate) G (Grow) H (Hustle) T (Thrive) Your Path (Middle Georgia State University-2025)

MGA provides several academic and non-academic support services for its students. This has led to considerable enhancement in MGA’s student success outcomes including an 11% increase in retention of FTFT bachelor-degree seeking freshmen from the 2020 cohort to the 2023 cohort. While advising, student success, FYE and career and leadership services have all been focused on improving student success outcomes, all these services have faced challenges with student engagement. The LIGHT Your Path initiative is designed to enhance student engagement with all these services.

Observations from fall’24 and spring’25:

In fall’24, the total number of degree-seeking freshmen decreased by approximately 2.6% as compared to fall’23. The number of freshmen in the residence halls, however, increased by 6.2%.

In spring’25, the total freshmen population was approximately the same as compared to spring’24. Residential freshmen increased by 3.9% in spring’25 in comparison to spring’24.

Overall, the total number of degree-seeking freshmen in MGA’s residential halls increased in the 2024-25 academic year. The impact of MGA’s student success initiatives on different metrics is highlighted below.

Persistence:

Fall’24-spring’25- Freshmen persistence from fall’24-spring’25 increased by 3.6% as compared to the previous year. Of the 22% freshmen that did not persist from fall’24-spring’25, 78.2% were in good academic standing.  

Residential freshmen persisted at the same rate, 85%, from fall’24-spring’25 as compared to the previous year despite the increase in the actual numbers. Of the 15% that did not persist, 74% were in good academic standing.

Spring’25-fall’25-Freshmen persistence from spring’25-fall’25, decreased by 1.4% in comparison to the previous spring though residential freshmen persistence remained the same at approximately 68%. Further analysis of the data revealed that of the freshmen population that did not persist (38.0%) in spring’25, 66.1% were in good academic standing. 56.1% of the residential freshmen who left were in good academic standing.

The observation from both the total freshmen and the residential freshmen populations from the fall and spring semesters is that a large percentage that do not persist at MGA are in good academic standing. It will be important to figure out the reasons behind their transfer, the institutions they transferred to, and the majors they selected at the transfer institution. This insight would help to plan strategies for reducing the number of students who leave MGA while maintaining good academic standing.

Academic standing:

Fall’24- Approximately 75% of the freshmen population ended fall’24 in good academic standing. This was an increase of 2.9% as compared to the data for fall’23. The number of students suspended also decreased by 0.7% in fall’24 as compared to fall’23.

The percentage of residential freshmen who ended fall’24 in good academic standing increased by 6.4% as compared to fall’23. The suspensions for residential freshmen decreased by 1.9% in fall’24 as compared to fall’23.

Spring’25- 72.1% of freshmen ended spring’25 in good academic standing, a decrease of 0.4% over the numbers for spring’24. Two additional freshmen got suspended in spring’25.

The number of residential freshmen who ended spring’25 in good academic standing, 74.8%, increased by 5.7% when compared to the data for spring’24. The number of suspensions for residential students in spring’25 decreased by 2.9%.

Our data show that overall freshmen success in the fall semester exceeds the outcomes observed in the spring. Some of this may be attributed to students who do not succeed in the fall and repeat the courses in the spring. The strategy going forward will be early identification of these high-risk students and connecting them with the required resources.  

The results for students in our residential halls in fall’24 and spring’25 were encouraging. 75% of the residential freshmen were successful in completing both semesters in good academic standing. Using the faculty feedback system for early alerts, advisors and success coaches continue to reach out to students as the alert is raised to provide early and timely intervention and reduce the number of students ending the semester in negative academic standing.

First Year Experience:

The First Year Experience (FYE) implemented in Fall’25 guides students through a holistic program designed to foster success and belonging from the start of their college journey.  They begin with a "Welcome & Transition" that includes New Student Orientation, Convocation, and continued engagement through the D2L platform that provides information about campus resources, reminds students about upcoming events, and encourages discussion. Next, "Academic Foundations," strengthen essential skills for learning and engagement through Academic Advising, the First Year Seminar module in Domain I courses, and online and in-person Knights Academy sessions to help students develop deeper understanding of themselves and their place in college. "Personalized Support" is offered to First Year students through Academic Success Coaching and the Light Your Path initiative where students are provided with tailored plans to reach educational milestones. First year students are encouraged to cultivate and deepen relationships with their peers through "Peer & Social Engagement," which includes the Roundtable Peer Mentoring program and Knight Life events specifically targeted to First Year student audiences. Finally, "Beyond the Classroom" provides opportunities for students to explore career and leadership opportunities as well as real-world applications of their learning to include participation in Career and Leadership Development (CCLD) initiatives such as Knights Lead, and topic-based, faculty-led workshops that apply theory to real student concerns like financial literacy and coping with burnout. FYE is being expanded to include collaboration with Recreation & Wellness for FIT (First Year Students in Transitions) programs.

Knights Academy:

In the 2023-24 academic year, the baseline was established using data from a pilot project in which the Knights Academy was placed in D2L for incoming fall students. In Fall 2024, the Knights Academy was updated and migrated out of D2L into Knight Life (Presence), which provided an enhanced experience for students, reduced reading content, and made it more interactive. However, this brought challenges to track their progress. Some of the Knights Academy quests were migrated to SalesForce-Marketing Cloud (SF-MC), so that freshman could receive email campaigns to complete Knights Academy Quests. This allowed for better tracking and assessment of freshman engagement in Knights Academy Quests. In fall’24, the Knights Academy communication was sent through SF-MC to incoming new freshmen of which 5.1% engaged or completed the Knights Academy Quests. In spring’25, Knights Academy communication was sent to continuing freshmen from fall’24 and new spring’25 freshmen. Student engagement increased to 14.8% in spring’25, an increase of 9.7%. There was also a four-fold increase in the number of engagements in spring’25 as compared to fall’24.

Academic success coaching:

Spring’25:

In spring’25, success coaches were assigned to 14 sections of Quantitative Reasoning-co-requisite pairing with 229 students, 11 sections of English Composition I-co-requisite pairing with 200 students and 9 sections of Anatomy and Physiology I and II with 192 students. High-risk students were identified by the faculty and received assistance from the coaches to improve course performance. The outcomes from the math and English intervention are highlighted in Activity 2. A&P coach embedding was done as a pilot several weeks into the spring semester. Results of A&P I course from spring’25 as compared to spring’24 showed an increase of approximately 6% in the pass rates as well as a decline in withdrawal rates by 8.5%. However, no impact was observed either in the pass rates or in the withdrawal rates in A&P II. More work is needed to engage A&P faculty with the initiative for early intervention and timely assistance.

185 success plans were developed of which 61.6% were for freshmen, 20.3% for students in learning support, and 28% were for students on probation. In addition to working with students to develop success plans, the success coaches reached out to 283 students on probation to help them receive tutoring and other assistance as needed. Coaches also planned and conducted six workshops in spring’25 focusing on skills needed to succeed academically.

Note: 4 of the 7 Success Coaches that worked with students in these courses were employed beginning February and March in the Spring’25 semester. 

Fall 2025:

As of October’25, seven success coaches have reached out to 248 students on probation alerts, and are working with high-risk students in 26 sections of LS math, 22 section of LS English, and 9 sections of A&P I and II. 445 success plans have been developed for students that include 280 freshmen. Twenty-two workshops have been offered to support student success with 334 students attending to date. Coaches also held pop-up events to support students with 126 students attending so far.

The integration of Success Coaches into Learning Support courses has been a notable success. Faculty collaboration in these areas has been exceptionally strong, fostering a shared approach to supporting underprepared students and improving classroom engagement. Success Coaches have become valuable partners in identifying academic and non-academic barriers, equipping students with strategies for success, and enhancing both success and retention rates within this student population.  

Additionally, the expansion of Success Coaching into targeted outreach areas, such as the Roundtable Peer Mentoring program, academic support for student-athletes, and the development of residential workshops, has strengthened the success centers holistic support network. Partnerships with Housing and Residence Life have increased coaching visibility but need to be strengthened.

While progress has been sizeable, the Student Success Center (SSC) continues to address several structural challenges. As programming expands, streamlining operational processes and establishing clear structures for case management, communication, and data tracking remain priorities. The at-risk student population continues to present engagement challenges. Success coaches will continue to refine outreach methods, especially among students who are academically disengaged or hesitant to seek support, further utilizing platforms such as Salesforce, to improve responsiveness and follow-through, the online community being the largest challenge.  

Career and Leadership:

The Center for Career & Leadership Development (CCLD) has focused on initiatives that expand student awareness and understanding of the importance of early and frequent use of career development resources as well as elevating their professional preparedness for the workforce. In Fall 2025, the CCLD joined the Light Your Path initiative where key first-year career and leadership experiences were promoted to first-year students.  These experiences include engaging in the Stepping Blocks Career Platform, attending a career fair, meeting with a career advisor, and participating in one of the Student Leadership Programs.  These opportunities were promoted to students through orientations, Student Convocation, poster and lawn sign campaigns, Salesforce email marketing, direct email marketing, and Handshake email marketing.  CCLD also spoke to all first-year residential students during building meetings in August.  Housing & Residence Life also promoted the Stepping Blocks Career Assessment to students participating in the themed living communities.  The CCLD staff used annual events such as the Student Success Festival and Majors & Mocktails to engage students with Stepping Blocks in a one-on-one group setting.  Information was also included in the First Year Experience D2L platform and the First Year Seminar Career & Leadership Development Module. The career development staff also send bi-weekly messages through Handshake to their individual schools to encourage students to meet with a career advisor. 

Overall, freshmen participation in career fairs in fall’24 and spring’25 continued to be low as compared to the previous fall/spring. The Light Your Path initiative focuses on increasing opportunities for career assessment and promotes participation in career fairs. It is encouraging to note that as of October’25, 6.5% of enrolled freshmen have participated in the career fairs hosted so far. Freshmen engagement in activities promoted through KnightLife continues to grow and increased by 9.4% in fall’24 and 3.9% in spring’25 as compared to the previous fall/spring.

Advising:

The Academic Advising team continues to increase its’ visibility with students on campus through increased number of classroom visits, participation in various department events, and hosting multiple Advising Days targeting specific populations (Student Athletes, International students, and veterans). The Advising team uses mass and automated communication tools to support our early alert program and registration outreach campaigns. Advisors continue to build relationships with their advisees and foster a growth mindset through the services they provide. As of October 2025, MGA has observed an increase in advising office visits and more interaction with the advisors to discuss plans of study, any challenges, and to get registered as compared to last year. The advising team continues to build strong collaborations with other offices including the Registrar, Admissions, and Veteran and Military Services as well as programs including Athletics and International.