Ep. 226: Ruth Veloria | Purpose-Driven Progress: Helping University of Phoenix Students Succeed

How do the needs of students at for-profit, mostly online colleges differ from those of typical college students? They often require financial aid, schedule flexibility, and academic support that can go far beyond the norm of traditional higher education. In this segment, we explore why graduation rates have traditionally been quite low at these colleges due to all the challenges students face. How do schools like this strike an appropriate balance of flexibility, support, and rigorous academic programs that will help their students succeed in the workforce?

Ruth Veloria is the chief strategy officer and customer officer at the University of Phoenix. She is on a mission to help more of the school’s students successfully overcome challenges so they can complete their studies and reap the rewards of their education. Ruth and the team at University of Phoenix have spent over a decade working to improve student retention and success rates.

In this episode, roughly a decade after Ruth first joined Rob on the podcast, she shares how the University of Phoenix has achieved a remarkable increase in student retention rates, from 64% to 74%. They now graduate over a third more students than they did 10 years ago. Ruth discusses how the Net Promoter System helped fuel the university’s deep commitment to learning from and acting on student feedback. She describes academic policies that are empathetic versus unempathetic, and how data analysis and feedback have been used to enhance student experience and to support policy and process change.

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Episode Highlights:

• Overview of a subscription-like model for student enrollment [03:15]
• Transition of Ruth from the School of Business to strategy and customer experience leadership [07:10]
• Approaches to student retention and success [11:45]
• Utilizing data analytics and technology to improve student outcomes [16:25]
• Adapting to Covid-19: Impact on student experience and education delivery [20:55]
• Insights into student acquisition costs and orientation processes [25:30]
• Reflections on the implementation and evolution of the Net Promoter System [30:15]
• Ruth’s advice for educational transformation and future goals [35:00]

Quotable Quotes:

• “We went from a 59 Net Promoter Score up to a 73 Net Promoter Score.” [16:33]
• “We created a lot of entrepreneurs. We got a lot of people excited about changes they could make in the student experience.” [24:19]
• “We actually set up a pilot team that was using a business leader and tech leader to come together to fix application problems. In fact, we still have that today.” [25:06]

Guest: Ruth Veloria, chief strategy officer and customer officer, University of Phoenix

Host: Rob Markey