The Relationship as Intervention: Dual-Advising and First-to-Second Semester Retention

This study examines a dual-advising model's effect on first-to-second-semester retention at a small, private, professionally focused university in the northeastern United States. The model pairs a staff advisor with a faculty advisor around sustained, relationship-centered contact, and, drawing on Schlossberg's theory of marginality and mattering, treats the relationship itself, rather than transactional check-ins, as the intervention. Using a staggered rollout across two cohorts (AY 2024–2025), I estimate two-way fixed-effects difference-in-differences models (linear probability) with major and entry-year fixed effects and standard errors clustered by major. Dual-advising was associated with a 6.7-percentage-point gain in fall-to-spring retention ( p = .003) and a modest first-semester GPA increase ( p = .029), with no change in credits. Gains did not differ for first-generation or Pell-recipient students. Implications for advising theory and practice are discussed.