High-impact, effective advising is crucial to fulfilling the promise of a college degree. It's why academic advising and student success initiatives consistently appear in strategic plans, calling for robust and holistic support measures.

Tyton Partners' annual "Driving Toward a Degree" report sheds light on the persistent challenges faced by both students and support staff in the evolving student support landscape. While the report heavily focuses on generative AI as a potential solution, we believe that immediate, practical strategies can address these challenges more effectively.

Stellic participated in this year’s report because we don't just aim to understand these challenges—we actively strive to provide tangible solutions through our products, and our company mission. While no single solution can address every issue, we are deeply committed to improving the lives of advisors and empowering students to reach graduation.

With that in mind, here are four of the most critical takeaways from the report and how Stellic addresses them:
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1. Academic Advisors Face Overwhelming Caseloads and Burnout

For five consecutive years, high advisor caseloads have stood out as the number one barrier to improving academic advising, with 43% of advisors labeling this as the top issue. Additionally, advisor burnout and turnover have emerged as significant challenges, ranking as the second most prominent barrier.

How Stellic Helps:

• Automating Transactional Tasks: Stellic empowers students with intuitive tools for course selection, degree planning, and audits. By automating these transactional tasks, advisors can focus on more meaningful interactions without getting bogged down by administrative overload.
• Preventing Burnout: By reducing the manual workload, Stellic helps mitigate advisor burnout, allowing advisors to manage caseloads more effectively and reducing turnover rates.‍
• Facilitating Collaboration: Stellic's platform enables seamless communication between advisors and other departments like financial aid, residential life, and tutoring, reducing isolation and fostering a supportive community.
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2. Falling Behind: Lack of Contingency Plans for Off-Track Students

The report highlights that one of the least supported areas is contingency planning when students veer off track. When a student fails a requirement, institutions often lack a clear plan for the next steps.

How Stellic Helps:

• Early Alerts and Notifications: Stellic provides advisors with real-time data on student performance, including alerts when students haven't registered for required courses or are receiving low grades.
• Dynamic Degree Planning: The platform allows for easy adjustments to a student's degree plan, helping advisors and students to quickly reroute paths to graduation and explore alternative degree options that align with the student's goals.‍
• Proactive Interventions: At institutions like BYU-Hawaii, advisors use Stellic to identify and reach out to students who are at risk of delaying their graduation, enabling timely interventions.
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3. Disconnect Between Student and Advisor Priorities

Advisors often prioritize traditional topics like course registration and degree progress, while students are more interested in discussing personal goals, financial issues, personal stress/overwhelm, and application of prior-earned credits.

How Stellic Helps:

• Empowering Student Autonomy: By providing tools that allow students to independently handle transactional topics, Stellic frees up advising time for more meaningful conversations.
• Focusing on Holistic Support: Advisors can use the time saved to engage in discussions about financial concerns, career aspirations, and personal challenges, aligning more closely with student needs.‍
• Enhanced Data Access: Stellic gives advisors a comprehensive view of each student, making it easier to personalize support and refer students to additional resources when necessary.
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4. Navigating Too Many Disparate Systems

Half of the advisors reported an increase in the number of systems required to conduct effective advising sessions—averaging a minimum of three separate systems today. This fragmentation hampers efficiency and can contribute to advisor frustration.

How Stellic Helps:

• Unified Platform: Stellic integrates all critical components of degree progress and advising into one user-friendly platform, eliminating the need to juggle multiple systems.
• Streamlined Workflows: By consolidating tools and data, Stellic simplifies the advising process, making it easier for advisors to access the information they need quickly.‍
• Improved Data Quality and Integration: Stellic ensures high-quality, interoperable data, serving as a solid foundation for institutions to leverage future technologies, including AI.
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Final Thoughts

While generative AI holds promise for the future, institutions need immediate, practical solutions to address the pressing challenges in academic advising. Stellic offers a comprehensive platform that tackles these issues head-on—reducing advisor caseloads, preventing burnout, facilitating contingency planning, aligning advisor-student conversations, and unifying disparate systems.

By focusing on improving data quality, enhancing collaboration, and empowering both advisors and students, Stellic prepares institutions not just for the challenges of today but also equips them for the technological advancements of tomorrow.