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  • September 2020 (Revised November 2020)
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Student Success at Georgia State University (A)

By: Michael W. Toffel, Robin Mendelson and Julia Kelley
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:28
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Abstract

Georgia State University had developed a reputation for driving student success by nearly doubling its graduation rate for students of all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds. It did so while growing its student body and the proportion of Black/African American, low-income, and first-generation students—groups with historically lower postsecondary graduation rates compared to national averages. Georgia State’s Student Success team, led by Tim Renick and Allison Calhoun-Brown, used a data-based approach to deploy micro-grant programs to retain students, implemented predictive analytics to improve student advising, and optimized course sequencing to help students graduate before they exhausted their financial aid. In 2016, they faced a growing “summer melt” problem where nearly 20% of incoming students who committed to attend never actually enrolled at Georgia State—and many never enrolled at any college. At the same time, they wondered how to balance continuing to incrementally improve student success at Georgia State and scaling their efforts to help the many other universities facing similar problems who sought to learn from their experience.

Keywords

Education; Higher Education; Learning; Curriculum And Courses; Demographics; Diversity; Ethnicity; Income; Race; Leadership; Goals And Objectives; Measurement And Metrics; Operations; Organizations; Mission And Purpose; Organizational Culture; Outcome Or Result; Performance; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Evaluation; Service Operations; Performance Improvement; Planning; Strategic Planning; Social Enterprise; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Issues; Wealth And Poverty; Equality And Inequality; Technology; Technology Platform; Education Industry; Atlanta

Citation

Toffel, Michael W., Robin Mendelson, and Julia Kelley. "Student Success at Georgia State University (A)." Harvard Business School Case 621-006, September 2020. (Revised November 2020.)
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About The Author

Michael W. Toffel

Technology and Operations Management
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Related Work

    • September 2020 (Revised November 2020)
    • Faculty Research

    Student Success at Georgia State University (B)

    By: Michael W. Toffel, Robin Mendelson and Julia Kelley
    • September 2020 (Revised November 2020)
    • Faculty Research

    Student Success at Georgia State University (A)

    By: Michael W. Toffel, Robin Mendelson and Julia Kelley
    • March 2021
    • Faculty Research

    Student Success at Georgia State University

    By: Michael W. Toffel, Robin Mendelson and Julia Kelley
Related Work
  • Student Success at Georgia State University (B) By: Michael W. Toffel, Robin Mendelson and Julia Kelley
  • Student Success at Georgia State University (A) By: Michael W. Toffel, Robin Mendelson and Julia Kelley
  • Student Success at Georgia State University By: Michael W. Toffel, Robin Mendelson and Julia Kelley
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