At Boundless Learning, learner success is at the heart of everything we do. Our student success teams empathetically guide learners from their first class to graduation, offering the support and strategies needed to achieve all their goals.

Megan Prince, Director of Student Success, is a passionate leader in this field. We spoke with Megan about her career journey, her approach to empowering learners, and the strategies she uses to remove barriers to education. Her insights highlight the impact of care, collaboration, and data-driven solutions on educational experiences.

Twenty-one years ago, I applied for a role as an academic advisor. When asked why I was interested, I reflected on my own college experience. I only met with my advisor when I initiated the meeting to get my schedule approved, and even then, I was once misadvised, which caused me to retake a course. That experience sparked a passion for helping students succeed in their degree programs, and it was enough to land me the job.

What I didn’t expect was how much I would love it. I enjoyed conversations with students about their goals and the steps to achieve them. My favorite part was helping them create plans when things didn’t go as expected. Moving into management allowed me to influence even more student journeys. My new passion became removing barriers for my team and for our students.

Student success looks different for every individual. It starts with understanding each student’s goals and ensuring they know we are backing them. Our role is to provide support and remove barriers so they can not only persist through their degree, but use it as a ladder to reach their aspirations.

To measure success, we look at retention rates by term, course, and program. We pair this quantitative data with qualitative feedback from students to identify opportunities for improvement and make recommendations to our partner institutions.

Retention is a partnership between Boundless Learning, our students, and our partner schools. Our teams excel at being trusted advisors, uncovering the root causes of challenges, and collaborating with students to create individualized plans. From these conversations and the metrics we track, we can make recommendations to universities about processes that may hinder success. Earning a degree should be rigorous, but our job is to ensure that external factors don’t add unnecessary difficulty.

We started by analyzing the data to identify where students were getting stuck, then dug in to why. This involved outreach and feedback from student success coaches and collaboration with instructors. Once we pinpointed the issue, we set clear expectations with students, helped them prepare for challenging points in the program, and worked with instructors to communicate best practices. We monitored results and closed the loop with all stakeholders.

A student’s success is often a matter of preparation. Sometimes they don’t know what to expect, and sometimes they can’t anticipate what’s coming. Either way, we’re here to help them see that short-term challenges shouldn’t derail long-term goals.

In truth, all students are at risk, especially online learners who juggle jobs, family, and a rigorous program. That’s why proactive communication and relationship-building are critical. Think about a time when everything fell apart. Who was the first person you called? We want to be that person. Maybe not before a family member or best friend, but right after.

To earn that trust, we can’t just be the person who helps with scheduling. We need to listen without judgment and help create a plan that works for the individual.

We say all the time that when students hit a challenge, they don’t know they have options outside of withdrawing from their program. Our key purpose is to ensure students have all of the information they need to make the decision that is right for them. We provide options, connect them with university departments, and help create a plan for success.

I love using data to uncover what needs deeper investigation. We track data points across the entire student journey and have years of historical trends to compare programs within a degree vertical or across time. This wealth of information, combined with our team’s experience, allows us to quickly identify trends, propose root causes, and develop solutions

I start by listening and understanding. I can’t support my team effectively without knowing their day-to-day realities, their successes, and their challenges. My role is to remove obstacles so they can do their jobs well.

We also prioritize continuous learning through skill enhancement and sharing best practices. Student success isn’t one-size-fits-all; it’s individualized for each student and coach. Our training reflects that. We have a talented, tenured team, and their collaboration in training and teaching is key to elevating our work.

Finally, we make it fun. Inspiration comes from loving what we do and seeing the impact. Highlighting success stories helps the team see their influence and fuels their desire to help students succeed.

About Megan Prince: Megan is an experienced, innovative leader with more than two decades of experience in higher education. Prior to Boundless Learning, Megan held leadership positions at Pearson and the University of Phoenix. Megan holds a bachelor's degree from Arizona State University and an MBA from the University of Phoenix.