Supplemental Updates
CSU’s ongoing Momentum and student success initiatives are directly aligned with our planned ASPIRE 2026 framework, emphasizing intentional design, integration, and data-informed decision-making to improve student outcomes.
First-Year Interventions: RIVR and Coaching
The launch of the RIVR Sequence and the expansion of Academic Success Coaching represent critical first-year interventions that align with ASPIRE's focus on improving outcomes for First-Time Full-Time (FTFT) students. These initiatives emphasize proactive engagement, goal setting, and academic planning to improve course performance and retention across cohorts.
Momentum Grant Integration
The Momentum Grant strategically invests in first-year retention and degree progress by removing financial barriers and aligning grant activities with ASPIRE outcome measures. This integration ensures that financial support is tied directly to momentum metrics and measurable improvements in persistence.
Critical Course Interventions
CSU continues to implement data-informed interventions in high-DFW courses, leveraging early alerts, faculty collaboration, and embedded academic support to improve course success rates. These efforts intentionally connect course-level performance to institutional metrics for persistence and GPA improvement.
Intentional Summer and Fall Scheduling
Intentional scheduling practices and expanded summer programming have strengthened persistence between academic years. Efforts to coordinate course availability, waitlisting, and registration timelines center student needs and reinforce ASPIRE's emphasis on structured and streamlined academic pathways.
Course Breadth and Design
Curricular evaluation efforts are focused on streamlining the Core IMPACTs curriculum to enhance relevance and coherence. Reducing low-impact courses and promoting integrated learning pathways ensures that CSU’s course design directly supports ASPIRE 2025’s goals of purposeful and efficient progression toward degree completion.
Observations and Next Steps
Over the past year, CSU has advanced a unified student success strategy that aligns with the NISS Playbook, the USG Momentum framework, the ASPIRE goals, and the institutional priorities of Better Together 2030. This alignment has produced greater coherence across initiatives and clearer, data-informed pathways to improve retention, persistence, and degree completion.
Most Successful Strategies and Activities:
The most impactful strategies have centered on building intentional structures that hardwire student success into the student experience rather than offering it as a supplement. The launch of the Center for Academic Coaching and the development of RIVR 1101 have provided consistent, scalable platforms for proactive engagement, academic planning, and belonging. The introduction of career development modules in PERS 1506 has helped students connect their academic choices to purpose and professional goals early in their journey.
The integration of TargetX, the HOPE/Zell risk dashboard, and coordinated outreach strategies has also improved the institution’s ability to act on early indicators of risk. Collectively, these efforts demonstrate how the NISS Playbook and Momentum frameworks can be operationalized through clear systems, consistent training, and measurable outcomes.
Less Effective or Needing Adjustment:
Initiatives that relied on opt-in participation or resource-intensive manual processes have proven less sustainable. The limited enrollment in the Cougar Success Academy reinforced the need to embed supports within required courses and core academic structures. Similarly, the expansion of Freshman Learning Communities was constrained by scheduling challenges and highlighted the need for improved technological infrastructure, such as CourseLeaf, to streamline course scheduling, pairing, and registration.
Institutional Adjustments Made:
CSU has made significant adjustments by transitioning from isolated programs to an integrated ecosystem approach. This includes:
- Shifting from traditional advising to the Academic Success Coaching model to ensure every student receives consistent, proactive support.
- Embedding financial wellness and career readiness content into required coursework rather than standalone workshops.
- Reallocating resources from small, high-touch initiatives toward broader, scalable interventions that reach all students.
- Expanding cross-divisional collaboration to reduce duplication and strengthen alignment between Academic Affairs, Enrollment Management, and Student Success.
Future Direction and Next Steps:
In the coming years, CSU will continue to strengthen the integration of coaching, curriculum, and career to ensure that academic, financial, and professional development are experienced as a single, cohesive framework of student success. The university will:
- Scale the Academic Success Coaching model to all undergraduate students by FY27.
- Expand the Momentum Grant pilot to reduce financial barriers and increase persistence among at-risk populations.
- Implement sophomore-year interventions through RIVR 2101 to sustain engagement and belonging beyond the first year.
- Continue to refine high-DFW course interventions and curriculum design to improve learning outcomes and efficiency.
- Leverage data analytics and predictive modeling to target support earlier and measure outcomes across all Momentum metrics.
Guided by Better Together 2030, CSU remains committed to fostering a culture of care, accountability, and innovation, ensuring that every student is supported, empowered, and equipped to complete their degree with purpose and confidence.
