Advisors can find and filter students based on retention indicators, majors, GPA and more than 100 other fields.

On the Student profile screen advisors can see the student's photo, courses, previous advising history, and more.

Course history is available as part of the student profile. Data can be imported from legacy student databases.

The advisor can create, save, print and email the student's course plan interactively. The advisor can be notified when the student doesn't take a required course.

Universities and colleges across the nation are concerned with increasing the percentage of students who graduate in four to six years. In addition to the financial impacts from lost students, retention rates are tied to state funding and are an important factor in determining rankings of universities and colleges in annual publications.

The University of Southern California and Urban Insight devoted 18 months to determining how advisors and administrators can best use software to help increase student retention.

The result is UAdvise -- a software system that enables advisors to use a combination of 20 indicators to identify students at risk. Advisors use a set of online advising tools, such as electronic degree planning worksheets and course plans, and maintain an advisement history that follows students across multiple majors and academic units.

UAdvise is now also available to other universities and colleges that seek to improve retention. For more information, visit the UAdvise website.