On campuses across the country, data collection has intensified significantly as institutions face rising expectations for accountability, realtime service, and demonstrable impact. 

The Spring 2026 issue of NASPA’s Leadership Exchange features an article by Liaison Senior Associate Vice President for Enrollment Management Solutions Art Munin, Ph.D., exploring how AI tools are now leveraging that data to drive meaning the success of institutions and students alike.

Student Success in Practice

The article, The Missing Link: AI Provides Data to Support Student Success, draws on the insights of student success leaders from Xavier University, Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and Northern Illinois University to support the following observations:

  • AI now plays a growing role in efforts to gather, integrate, and share data about students. AI-enabled tools streamline data integration, improve consistency, and reduce the manual, fragmented work that has historically limited the usefulness of student affairs data. AI can help synthesize information across platforms, accelerate insight generation, summarize complex guidance, and identify emerging patterns. 
  • To transform data into comprehensive student intelligence, institutions are beginning to rely on dashboards, cross-divisional review structures, and consistent rhythms of examining key indicators. These practices enable earlier intervention, clearer coordination, and more actionable insights across campus. 
  • The most valuable intelligence includes early risk indicators, engagement and belonging signals, friction points affecting momentum, and timing-based predictors of student struggle. These insights help institutions focus campus resources where they can have the greatest impact. 

Institutions applying these approaches are already seeing measurable improvements. For example, Xavier University recorded a nearly 10-point increase in retention following data governance and AI-driven strategy enhancements, while Indiana University of Pennsylvania has achieved record-breaking retention and persistence gains through AI-informed predictive analytics.

To learn more, read The Missing Link: AI Provides Data to Support Student Success.