Roughly 3 in 10 college students drop out without earning any degree, resulting in higher unemployment and lower lifetime earnings than those who earn bachelor’s degrees, according to the Education Data Initiative. To help boost student retention, colleges and universities are using a variety of artificial intelligence tools that can help identify at-risk students early, offer customized learning, provide 24/7 assistance and improve engagement. “We’ve always known in higher education that we need to deliver more personalized, timely help to students who are struggling, but we haven’t always had the resources to deliver personal attention at scale,” says Timothy Renick, executive director of the National Institute for Student Success at Georgia State University. “Using technology can level the playing field, allowing us to leverage data and analytics to deliver personal attention at scale in a way that is much more cost effective than hiring hundreds of new staff.”
