Students in class work at a table; one looks at the camera and smiles.

Advising Principles

These eight advising principles (summarized below with full download available at the end) were developed through a collaborative effort, including input from primary-role and faculty advisors, advising administrators, and senior administrators from multiple two- and four-year settings in an effort to be comprehensive and inclusive.

The eight Advising Principles offer a starting place for institutional leadership, practitioners, and students to structure strong advising environments to propel student success.

Advising Principles

1: Advising is essential; position and resource it accordingly. Mask Created with Sketch. Mask Created with Sketch.

Advising is more than transactional; it incorporates teaching and learning, retention/persistence, and student development.

Holistic advising is student-centric, learning focused, consistently improved through scholarship and research, enhanced with technology, efficiently organized, and fosters collaboration and communication.

2: Employ equity-minded practices in policies and practices. Mask Created with Sketch. Mask Created with Sketch.

Understanding the lived experiences of Black, Latinx/a/o, Indigenous, Asian, and Pacific Islander students and poverty-affected students; incorporating that experience into advising systems and practices; providing them with tools and resources to be successful.

Equitable advising practices must be systemic and inclusive and be guided by institutional and program mission statements that directly support students who need assistance beyond traditional advising services.

3: Advisors must be change agents working to minimize institutional barriers. Mask Created with Sketch. Mask Created with Sketch.

Primary-role and faculty advisors must have regular, intentional connections with students to understand the narratives of minoritized students and shed light on existing barriers and inequities.

Administrators identify and implement strategies promoting cross-functional collaboration as the norm.

4: Resource advisors’ ongoing training and professional development, centering racial and economic equity. Mask Created with Sketch. Mask Created with Sketch.

Advisors must have broad knowledge of options available to students, and deep knowledge of curriculum, intersecting student identities, and institutional context.

Ongoing professional development that encourages inquiry and self-reflection is required for continual examination of how racialized student outcomes are interpreted and how they might be undone.

5: Ensure cabinet-level leadership to represent institution-wide advising mission; center advising in the student experience. Mask Created with Sketch. Mask Created with Sketch.

The function of academic advising must be well-defined, represented by an accountable cabinet-level position, and understood as central to the student experience.

Advisors must assist students with academic, nonacademic, and life challenges, and connection with financial literacy, career exploration, academic support, mental health, and other resources.

6: Learning outcomes position advisors as teachers and learners as decision makers. Mask Created with Sketch. Mask Created with Sketch.

Each institution must develop student learning outcomes and the methods to assess them. Holistic advisors then work to ensure that these learning outcomes are achieved.

Assessment of advising is a measure of what students learn, what they experience, and how they are changed. Emphasizing equity allows advising programs to measure effectiveness in implementing equitable strategies for students.

7: Design advising programs utilizing models and structures best suited to the students served. Mask Created with Sketch. Mask Created with Sketch.

Institutional leaders should create systems that cultivate meaningful connections between students and advisors throughout the student experience.

Institutional and system leadership must ensure that holistic advising is an institutional priority, and foster regular collaboration with key partners across the institution in a student-centered approach for social and academic support.

8: Advising is a profession, practiced by both faculty and primary-role academic advisors. Mask Created with Sketch. Mask Created with Sketch.

Holistic advising programs must fit the institution’s culture to inform learning and the achievement of learning outcomes. Administrators have the opportunity to identify and eliminate barriers and inequities for students, improving systems for equitable and inclusive delivery of services. Intentional design of these advising structures must align with the institutional mission while keeping student success and equity central.

Front cover of the Advising Principles document, showing a professor and students engaged in a class discussion
Advising Principles Report