New Case Study: Penn State World Campus Coaching Helped Online Learners Achieve Up to 11x Higher Admission Rates

New case study examines how a 16-year partnership with InsideTrack has supported more than 600,000 prospective online students while removing barriers and strengthening student support

PORTLAND, ORE. (October 6, 2026)  — InsideTrack, the national student success nonprofit with 25 years of experience helping colleges improve enrollment, retention and completion through personalized coaching, today released a new case study showing how its partnership with Penn State World Campus has helped streamline enrollment for prospective students, most of whom are working adults, parents and military-connected learners with an average age of 29. Prospective students who connected with an InsideTrack coach were 11 times more likely to be admitted and 10 times more likely to enroll than those who did not. 

"Behind every online application is a person trying to create new possibilities—often studying after work, after putting children to bed or while serving in the military," said Ruth Bauer, president of InsideTrack. "These learners already possess the drive, resilience and experience to succeed. Penn State World Campus has spent more than 25 years turning what it hears from learners into meaningful change, creating a path to college that is clearer, more personal and more responsive to the lives students actually lead."

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, nearly 10.8 million college students took at least one distance education course in fall 2024. More than 5.2 million studied exclusively online, up more than 50% from 3.4 million before the pandemic. Meanwhile, an estimated 43.1 million Americans have attended college without earning a credential, including 37.6 million working-age adults. Since 2010, Penn State World Campus has partnered with InsideTrack to provide personalized enrollment coaching to prospective students. 

For prospective students, getting to college can mean navigating complex requirements, uncertainty about costs and credits, and the challenge of fitting education around other responsibilities. InsideTrack coaches act as an extension of the admissions team, helping prospective students clarify their goals, identify obstacles and connect with the information and resources they need — support that is particularly relevant at Penn State World Campus, where 55% of students attend part time, 35% are first-generation college students and 33% are student-parents.

The new case study, "Scaling Enrollment Coaching to Recruit Future Graduates at Penn State World Campus," focuses on results from 2021 through 2026. During that period, coaches reached out to 195,770 prospective learners, connected with 70,126, and conducted 20,144 coaching meetings. As a result, prospective students who connected with an InsideTrack coach were 7 times more likely to apply, 11 times more likely to be admitted, and 10 times more likely to be accepted than learners who did not receive coaching. 61.6% of admitted students who received coaching ultimately enrolled.

Since the inception of the partnership, InsideTrack has supported more than 600,000 prospective Penn State World Campus students, with more than 41,000 engaging directly with a coach. The collaboration has also enabled the university to respond to every prospective student inquiry in a timely manner, while maintaining a personal, high-touch experience.

The partnership includes a dedicated military enrollment coach. From 2021 through 2026, InsideTrack supported nearly 36,000 prospective military undergraduates, helping Penn State World Campus maintain contact rates above 50% among this population since 2024. 

Coaching has also provided valuable insights that have helped streamline processes and improve the student experience. Teams across enrollment, admissions and student support use insights from coaching conversations to identify obstacles and make the path to a degree easier to navigate for students. That feedback has helped shape an application fee waiver, a streamlined credit-transfer process and clearer information about degree affordability.

Penn State World Campus is building onto the partnership through a campus-wide Coaching Development and Training program for student-facing professionals. The coaching program has expanded to serve online MBA applicants, campus transfer students and prospective students who begin an application without first requesting information.

Read the full case study, "Scaling Enrollment Coaching to Recruit Future Graduates at Penn State World Campus," here.

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About InsideTrack: InsideTrack delivers the enrollment, retention, completion and career-readiness outcomes that help higher education institutions — and the students they serve — truly thrive. We partner with colleges and universities to bring evidence-based student success coaching to their learners, helping students develop the self-efficacy, motivation, belonging, and resilience to finish their credentials, prepare for meaningful careers, and secure quality jobs. As a mission-driven nonprofit organization, we deploy both direct coaching programs and institutional staff training to create scalable, long-term impact. Since 2001, we have supported more than 3.6 million learners across 425+ institutions. InsideTrack is a division of Lemnis, a public charity dedicated to expanding learning for all. Learn more at insidetrack.org

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