Student satisfaction and outcomes in an academic performance initiative

Higher Education in America is facing several converging challenges including a nationwide decline in college-aged students, reduced government funding, an erosion in public trust, and continually rising costs needed to sustain the increasingly complex demands of a highly specialized workforce and the demands of an ever-changing student population. These convergent factors, and the competition caused by scarce funding, have forced administrators to quantify the positive effects of their allocation of limited resources to justify such investments. Therefore, to better understand factors influencing student outcomes, this quantitative study analyzed the relationships among student satisfaction, participation in a structured advising program, and student success metrics as measured by cumulative GPA scores and graduation rates. Demographic factors such as gender, race, and unmet financial need were obtained from the Office of Institutional Research and Assessment at a large, public, four-year research institution in the mid-Atlantic region of the country. Using these data, a longitudinal study utilizing secondary data analysis was conducted to explore the relationships among satisfaction, advising, demographics, and academic outcomes. Findings indicate that despite slight declines in satisfaction over time, participation in a structured advising program had a robust correlation with both GPA scores and degree completion. Specifically, students who participated in more advising sessions achieved higher GPA scores and were approximately three times more likely to graduate than students with lower advising participation. Demographic factors such as unmet financial need and race had small but significant negative effects on GPA. Despite the decline in satisfaction, participation in the advising program remained consistently beneficial for all students. Overall, evidence indicates that the advising program was a powerful support mechanism for promoting academic success and persistence among a diverse student population. Further, these results indicate that the observed satisfaction trends may be useful for informing institutional practices aimed at improving student outcomes, and underscore the value of holistic, equity-focused advising practices that integrate academic support, engagement, and financial assistance.