How to Design and Implement Advising Services in Community Colleges

Lessons from Two Decades of Research and Technical Assistance


By Andrea Vasquez, Susan Scrivener

Colleges support students with advising, counseling, or coaching in academics and other skills they need to succeed in school. Some colleges enhance those services through reduced adviser caseloads and more comprehensive, frequent guidance, which can improve students’ semester-to-semester retention and average credits earned. This overview describes important lessons on designing and implementing those services. College leaders and administrators committed to designing, building, managing, and continually supporting enhanced advising services can consult this checklist of recommendations as they redesign or enhance these services — as stand-alone services or as part of multifaceted interventions.

Vasquez, Andrea and Susan Scrivener. 2020. “How to Design and Implement Advising Services in Community Colleges Lessons from Two Decades of Research and Technical Assistance.” New York: MDRC.