The person who focuses on retention, persistence, and academic success for students at a college or post-secondary program — proactively identifying students at risk, intervening early, and supporting students through challenges that might otherwise lead to withdrawal. As a Student Success Counselor, your work sits at the intersection of advising, coaching, and institutional retention strategy.
A typical week tends to mix proactive outreach to students flagged through early-alert systems, individual coaching sessions, study skills and time management support, follow-up with referred students, and data review of caseload outcomes. You'll often work with students whose academic struggles point to deeper issues — first-generation status uncertainty, financial precarity, mental health, family responsibilities. Retention and persistence metrics anchor how the role is measured.
Coordination involves academic advisors, faculty, financial aid, residence life, counseling services, and sometimes outside community partners. Early-alert and proactive outreach systems are central to how the work gets organized in most modern programs.
People who tend to thrive here are proactive, warm with students under pressure, and able to see academic concerns within broader life context. If you need clean wins or fast resolution, the long-arc and at-risk caseload can be emotionally heavy. If you find satisfaction in being part of the reason students who might have left instead persist to graduation, the work tends to feel deeply meaningful — even when the metrics don't fully capture the impact.
Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Social Services roles →The person who focuses on retention, persistence, and academic success for students at a college or post-secondary program — proactively identifying students at risk, intervening early, and supporting students through challenges that might otherwise lead to withdrawal. As a Student Success Counselor, your work sits at the intersection of advising, coaching, and institutional retention strategy.
Median pay for a Student Success Counselor is about $65K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $44K to $106K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Active Listening, Speaking, Social Perceptiveness, Service Orientation, and Reading Comprehension.
Most people in this role hold a bachelor's degree.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 3.5% through 2034, with roughly 342,350 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Student Ministries Director, Employment Specialist, and Senior Employment Specialist.
Truest gives you tools to understand your strengths, explore roles that fit, and plan your next move.
Explore Truest career tools