Key takeaways:
- Student success pays off long after graduation: A recent study from Georgia State University (GSU) proves that targeted student success interventions produce an estimated 8x return.
- Underserved students have the most to gain: Pell Grant recipients who received support earned $8,000 to $9,000 more than peers who didn't. When underserved students get the right support, the returns extend far beyond graduation and into long-term career prospects and employability.
- The outcomes Georgia State proved are within reach for every institution: What most colleges lack is not ambition but rather the infrastructure to achieve it and Genio Notes bridges that gap. Across more than 1,000 institutions and 160,000 students, Genio Notes has proven to improve student persistence, specifically within New Majority Learners.
Institutions have long invested in student success, whether that be through learning support services, financial aid, or co-curricular programs. These are all designed to help students stay enrolled and graduate, but while the intention is there, what has been harder to prove, is what that investment actually returns.
The metrics often tracked, such as retention rates, graduation rates and GPA distributions are meaningful but stop at the campus gate because they don't convey what happens to the student five years later.
A 2026 study from the National Institute for Student Success (NISS) at Georgia State University (GSU) and the Burning Glass Institute has changed that. Researchers matched student-level records from a major public research university with national career history data to track what actually happened to graduates who had received targeted campus support.
What they found gives institutions the most compelling evidence yet that student success investment pays off, not just for the student, but for the institution's long-term standing.
What does the ROI of student success actually look like?
The Burning Glass Institute identified over 40,000 alumni who had experienced at least one of Georgia State University’s (GSU) targeted interventions during their enrollment.
These were students flagged as at-risk and supported through one or more of four targeted programs. Those programs were proactive academic advising, learning communities organized around broad subject areas, a microgrant fund to cushion small financial shocks, and a Summer Success Academy that gave incoming freshmen the chance to earn credit before their first semester began.
Researchers then traced those graduates' career trajectories using anonymized labor market data. The key findings were as follows:
- Students who had received the interventions graduated at higher rates and, critically, went on to earn more and progress further in their careers than comparable peers who had not received the same support.
- Students who benefited from the advising and microgrant programs earned approximately $5,000 to $6,000 more in their career fields than those who hadn't. In addition to that, 2.5% of alumni who participated in the microgrant program reached executive-level positions one year after graduation.
- For Pell Grant recipients, that earnings advantage rose to $8,000 to $9,000.
- Georgia State's programs kept more students enrolled through to graduation, and generated roughly an 8x return.
NISS’ Executive Director, Timothy Renick describes the model as revenue positive. That framing converts student success from an initiative that requires justification into a financial strategy that speaks directly to institutional sustainability.
What is the link between student success and graduate employability?
The Georgia State University findings are compelling in isolation, but they sit within a much broader body of evidence establishing the relationship between what happens during enrollment and what happens after it.
Decades of research in higher education have consistently shown that academic engagement, sense of belonging, and access to timely support are among the strongest predictors of degree completion.
Tinto's foundational work on student departure established that students who feel academically and socially integrated into their institution are significantly more likely to persist.
Likewise, Pascarella and Terenzini's research synthesis demonstrated that active learning, faculty and peer interaction, and collaborative-cooperative learning have measurable positive effects on students' acquisition of course content, problem-solving skills, and general intellectual development during college.
More recently, research from Ithaka S+R's evaluation of the Kessler Scholars Collaborative found that first-generation students who received structured, tailored academic support during their first year returned to their institution at a rate of 94%, significantly outpacing national first-generation persistence averages.
The Georgia State University study adds a critical layer to this body of work. It confirms that the conditions under which a student learns, shape whether they complete a degree and what they do with it.
How can colleges achieve student success outcomes without a significant budget?
Georgia State University has invested more than a decade and significant institutional capital in building the model the Burning Glass study measured.
However, smaller and mid-size institutions are operating with rising caseloads, stretched teams, and the expectation to do more with less. The students most likely to benefit from proactive support i.e. first-generation learners, working adults, Pell Grant recipients, students who are managing caregiving responsibilities alongside their studies, are often the students least likely to seek help when they need it.
Proactive identification and intervention requires infrastructure, and infrastructure costs money institutions may not have.
This is the gap that Genio Notes was built to solve.
With Genio Notes, institutions can equip every enrolled student, from the first week of term, with a structured, evidence-backed learning tool that supports active engagement in real time. Audio capture, transcription, built-in study tools, and a complete note taking masterclass give students the scaffolding at the moment learning is actually happening and before disengagement has time to set in.
For budget-constrained institutions, Genio also offers something Georgia State University built slowly over many years, the data. Usage reporting, engagement metrics, and outcome tracking give student success teams the evidence they need to demonstrate impact upward, make the case for continued investment, and identify the students who need additional support before a crisis develops.
Across more than 1,000 institutions and 160,000 students, Genio Notes has been proven to improve student persistence, specifically within New Majority Learners.
To learn more about Genio Notes’ features click here
How does Genio Notes support at-risk and underserved students?
The Georgia State University study's most significant finding is also its most actionable one for institutions thinking about equity. The students who benefited most from targeted support were not those with the most academic resources.
In Genio’s Learner Impact Report 2026 we surveyed 1,000+ learners in the United States, to learn more about our impact in creating positive learning outcomes in higher education.
The data reflects a student population whose needs and circumstances are becoming increasingly diverse, with many learners balancing their studies alongside work, caregiving responsibilities, and other competing demands.
- Student parents top the dataset for course enjoyment, with 88.6% saying they enjoy their course more because of Genio Notes, alongside a joint-highest GPA rise of +0.25 (7.6%).
- Working students saw study stress drop by 20% over the semester, the biggest reduction of any segment.
- First-year students saw a GPA gain of +0.24 (7.3%) over the semester, more than double the overall average.
- First-generation students recorded the highest persistence figure of any New Majority Learner segment, with 75.7% saying Genio Notes helped them stay in school.
- English as a second language students (ESL) saw an 18.2% drop in study stress over the semester, the second-highest reduction of any group.
- Mature students reported a 14% fall in stress, a 4.4% GPA gain, and 70.0% saying Genio Notes helped them achieve a better study-life balance.
For New Majority Learners in particular, the impact goes beyond note taking. Genio builds the habits and confidence that underpin long-term academic success.
“Previously, I had really bad grades and was close to actually failing out. One of my goals in college hasn't been to graduate, it's been to get in the 3.0 range. As of last semester, I have achieved that.” - Victoria, Student at Minnesota State University
To learn more about how institutions like yours are using Genio Notes to support students, click here to view our case studies.
What does this mean for institutions with limited budgets?
The above study is not an argument that only well-resourced institutions can achieve meaningful student success outcomes. It is an argument that investment in student success, structured deliberately and measured rigorously, pays back at a scale that justifies the spend.
For institutions operating with constrained budgets, the lesson is to adopt the same underlying logic with tools built for their reality.
Every dollar spent reducing preventable attrition is a dollar that returns as retained tuition. The employability conversation in higher education is shifting from aspiration to accountability. Institutions that are already building the systems and tools to support that shift will be better positioned, reputationally and financially.
Ready to see how Genio supports student success, retention, and graduate outcomes at institutions of every size?
