Case Study: Youngstown State University boosts course completion and retention with Hobsons' Starfish

Youngstown State University Improves Course Completion Rates

Youngstown State University (YSU) is a public, urban research university in Ohio serving about 12,500 students. As student needs evolved, YSU’s homegrown early-warning system proved slow and fragmented—only 2% of faculty used it, advisors had to search multiple systems, and stakeholders often didn’t know who was addressing particular student concerns.

YSU implemented the Starfish platform by Hobsons in 2012 to centralize alerts, Progress Surveys, Kudos, and a Success Network that connects students with peer mentors. Between Fall 2011 and Spring 2015 course completion rose from 78.4% to 86.8%, fall-to-fall retention for first-time, full-time students increased from 67.5% to 73%, failures from non-attendance dropped from 4.41% to 2.4%, faculty participation climbed to 47%, and YSU earned a 2014 Starfish 360 Award.

Youngstown State University

Jennifer Behney

Assistant Professor of Foreign Languages