New Report: Student Coaching Helped Thousands of HBCU Students Re-Enroll, Persist, and Graduate

InsideTrack's five-year coaching initiative across 39 HBCUs achieved a re-enrollment rate 2.5 times the national average

PORTLAND, Ore., Aug. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- A new report from InsideTrack, the national student success coaching nonprofit that has worked with more than 3.6 million students over the past two decades, reveals that a five-year coaching initiative across 39 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) helped stopped-out students re-enroll at 2.5 times the national average while keeping actively enrolled students on track at a fall-to-spring retention rate of 83.8%. According to the report, thousands of students not only re-enrolled but ultimately persisted and completed their degrees as a result of the one-on-one success coaching delivered through the multi-campus partnerships.

"Effective partnership with HBCUs starts with respect for the history, culture, and leadership already present on each campus," said Henri A. LaSane, Ed.D., associate vice president of HBCU programs at InsideTrack. "Our role was to add capacity in ways that strengthened, rather than replaced, those institutional relationships. These results show that this approach can help more students stay connected to the support, momentum and sense of belonging that keep completion within their reach."

HBCUs make up just 3% of the nation's colleges and universities yet produce nearly 20% of all Black graduates. In recent years, these institutions have experienced a surge of interest and philanthropic support, with many seeing increased applications and, in some cases, record enrollment.

The report, "Empowering Student Momentum at HBCUs," tracks outcomes from Fall 2021 through Spring 2026, during which InsideTrack coaches supported more than 43,800 students across the 39 campuses. This included 23,886 students who had stopped out before completing their degree and 11,815 enrolled students navigating barriers to persistence, such as balancing work and family responsibilities, financial challenges, or the transition into college.

Of those who received outreach from a coach, 1,343 stopped-out students returned to school, and more than 2,300 have gone on to graduate, according to outcomes verified through the National Student Clearinghouse. As a result, participating institutions have seen an estimated $26.9 million in recovered and retained tuition revenue.

The multi-year coaching initiative focused much of its outreach on students who are too often overlooked by traditional retention efforts, including adult learners, who made up nearly 40% of the coached population, and Black male students, who made up about a third. Among a group of 13 public HBCUs, Black male students who met with a coach re-enrolled at a rate of 15.1% — 10.8 percentage points higher than their peers who didn't meet with a coach from the same cohort.

The five-year initiative was made possible through a coalition of funders and partners, including Blue Meridian Partners, UNCF's Institute for Capacity Building, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund, and Ed Advancement. The coaching work was led by a dedicated InsideTrack team of seven partnership directors and 28 trained success coaches, nearly all of whom were HBCU alumni.

"HBCUs are powerful engines for social mobility. By supporting institutions with tools like reenrollment coaching from InsideTrack, we've helped more students enroll, persist, and graduate," said Jim Runcie, co-founder and CEO, Ed Advancement. "As a result, more students are on a path to economic opportunity, and more institutions have built internal capacity to support re-enrollment"

InsideTrack is now working to make this coaching support last well beyond the five-year initiative. Through a companion Coaching Development and Training program, 233 staff members and leaders across 21 HBCUs are building coaching capacity of their own, with training set to wrap up in late 2026.

"The national conversation around HBCUs has rightly shifted toward recognizing their outsized contribution to student success and economic mobility," said Julian Thompson, senior director of UNCF's Institute for Capacity Building. "The next step is ensuring these institutions have the enduring capacity to meet the changing needs of students while remaining true to the mission that has defined them for generations. The outcomes in this report demonstrate the impact that's possible when HBCUs are empowered to build on those strengths."

Read the full report, "Empowering Student Momentum at HBCUs," here.

About InsideTrack: InsideTrack is a mission-driven nonprofit that leverages the transformative power of coaching to advance learners along their educational and career pathways. Our expert coaches leverage our evidence-based methodology to build personalized relationships with learners — helping them develop the knowledge, skills and beliefs they need to complete their credentials and obtain quality jobs. We also partner with institutions to train and upskill their leaders and staff to utilize the transformative power of coaching, creating a ripple effect that impacts even more learners. Since 2001, we've served more than 3.6 million students across 425 institutions. We believe everyone should have access to quality coaching as a catalyst to fuel equitable social mobility. InsideTrack is a division of Lemnis, a public charity dedicated to expanding learning for all. To learn more, visit www.insidetrack.org and follow us on LinkedIn @InsideTrack.

SOURCE InsideTrack