Doubling Down on Academic Advising as Gateway to Student Success

EAST GREENSBORO, N.C. (March 30, 2026) – With a strategic commitment to enhancing academic advising, North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University has doubled its professional advising staff resulting in a nearly 8% increase in retention rate.

The growth within N.C. A&T’s Center for Academic Excellence (CAE), a critical student success unit on campus, allows for about 6,000 freshmen and sophomores to receive professional guidance from trained advisors for two years, and transfer students for at least their first semester. This shift helped boost retention from 73.1% for the fall 2022 cohort to 81% for the fall 2024 cohort, positioning students for stronger academic outcomes and timely graduation.

“Increasing retention rates affirms investing in professional advising – particularly during students’ first and second years – was not only necessary, but essential to advancing student success, improving time to degree, and ensuring our students remain on a clear path to graduation,” said Dawn Nail, Ed.D., interim associate vice provost for Enrollment Management who most recently served as CAE executive director.

While A&T continues to offer robust academic support resources such as the Writing Center, tutoring labs and math remediation, the most transformative change has been the redesigned advising model.

In 2023, CAE began providing professional advising for all first-time freshmen – previously a service reserved for undecided students, while those with declared majors were advised by faculty.

Ahead of the fall 2024 semester, the center extended its reach to sophomores and hiring more advising staff, signaling that advising is not just a support service but a cornerstone of student achievement.

The expansion from eight to 16 professional advisors means CAE now serves almost half of A&T’s undergraduate students. These students benefit from comprehensive advising that includes:

• New student support: Registration, pre-advisement, and orientation information sessions.
• Academic planning and guidance: Year-round course planning, major exploration and transition advising.
• Student success services: Academic recovery for probation students and referrals to campus resources.
• Targeted coaching: Proactive, intrusive advising for designated student populations.

The new model frees more faculty of advising duties, reducing administrative tasks outside of teaching, research and service. It also improves communication and consistency – an upgrade students themselves identified as a priority during feedback sessions.

“The decision to expand professional academic advising was driven by clear institutional evidence and national research showing that early, consistent advising is one of the strongest predictors of student persistence and degree completion,” said Nail.