Academic Coaching for College Students

Academic coaching for college students is one-on-one help with managing a college workload: planning each week, keeping up with readings and deadlines, preparing for exams and using campus resources before problems grow. Blackburn pairs each student with one dedicated mentor who meets by video wherever they attend school, or in person in Los Angeles, and checks in between sessions so the plan holds up during the busy weeks.

Who academic coaching is for

Families and students usually reach out at one of these moments:

• A rough first semester and a GPA that came as a surprise; see after a bad first semester.
• A student who is failing or close to failing a class; see college student failing classes.
• Academic probation, or a warning letter from the school; see mentoring for students on academic probation.
• A bright student who did fine in high school with little effort and now has no system.
• A student with ADHD or a learning difference who lost the structure they had at home.
• A return to school after a leave, a transfer or time away.

Academic coaching is not tutoring in a specific subject and not a replacement for the school’s own services. A mentor will often help a student use those services, such as office hours, the tutoring center or disability services. If anxiety, depression or substance use is behind the slide, a licensed professional should come first, and coaching can run alongside that care. In a crisis, call or text 988.

What coaching looks like week to week

1. One dedicated mentor. The student works with the same person each week, matched to their personality, major and situation.
2. A weekly plan built from the syllabus. Every reading, problem set, paper and exam goes on one calendar, so nothing arrives as a surprise.
3. Study methods that fit college. Spacing out review, practice testing and planning papers in stages. See study habits that work in college.
4. Help using the campus. Practicing what to say in office hours, emailing a professor about a missed deadline and knowing when to drop a class.
5. Check-ins between sessions. Short texts or calls on the days that usually slip, such as the night before a deadline.
6. Sessions that fit. Sessions are usually 60 minutes, weekly or several times a week. Cost is reviewed on the free intro call.

Coaching also covers the parts of college life that drive grades: sleep, a steady routine, time management, and balancing a job or a sport with classes. New to the idea? Start with what coaching is and how it works.

How it differs from campus advising and tutoring

• Academic advisor: helps choose classes and plan the degree, often in a few meetings per term. A mentor meets every week and works on follow-through. See academic advisor vs mentor.
• Campus tutoring: teaches course content. Coaching makes sure the student actually goes, and plans the week around it.
• Campus success coaches: helpful when available, but often shared across many students. A Blackburn mentor stays with one student across semesters, summers and transfers.

How parents are involved

College students are adults, and coaching works best when the student owns it. Parents often pay and can share their concerns on the intro call. With the student’s permission, parents receive regular progress updates on attendance and progress toward the agreed goals. Under federal privacy law, colleges usually cannot share grades with parents without the student’s consent; our FERPA guide for parents explains how that works.

If the student already works with a therapist or doctor, the mentor can coordinate with them, with permission, so the weekly plan supports that care and never replaces it.

What progress usually looks like

Early wins are concrete: every class on one calendar, a first visit to office hours, an exam the student prepared for over several days. Over a semester the aim is a student who plans their own week and asks for help early. We review progress together, and we will tell you plainly if something else would serve the student better.

A sample week with a mentor

Every student is different, but a typical week might look like this. On Sunday evening, the student and mentor meet for an hour by video. They open the course pages together, add every due date to one calendar and pick study blocks for the week. On Tuesday, the mentor texts to ask whether the student made it to the review session. On Thursday, before a paper is due, they have a short call to check that the outline is done. The next Sunday they start by looking at what worked, what slipped and why.

Nothing about this is complicated. What makes the difference is that it happens every week, with the same person, through midterms and finals, when it is easiest to let things go.

What happens after you reach out

1. A short assessment. The assessment takes about five minutes. It tells us about the student, the main goals and what the weekly schedule looks like.
2. A free 20-minute intro call. A member of our team hosts the call by video in your browser, weekdays 9 to 5 Pacific. You can also book it directly on the intro call page. We talk through fit, scheduling and cost; we do not publish prices, so cost is reviewed on this call.
3. A mentor match within 2 business days. After the call, we match the student with one dedicated mentor and set the first session. Mentors offer early morning, evening and weekend times.

College students in Los Angeles County can also read about college student mentoring in Los Angeles, in person in LA or by video.

Related

• Online mentoring for college students
• How to help a struggling college student
• College with ADHD: a week by week system
• Executive function coaching for teens and college students

Common questions

Can my child work with a coach while away at college?

Yes. Sessions are by video anywhere in the United States, scheduled in the student’s local time zone, with text and phone check-ins between sessions.

Is academic coaching only for students who are failing?

No. Many students start after one hard semester or before a heavy one. Starting early is usually easier than recovering from probation.

Will I see my child’s grades?

Only with your child’s permission. What is shared, and how often, is agreed with the student at the start.

Does the coach help with specific subjects?

Not as a tutor. The mentor helps the student plan, study and use campus tutoring and office hours for subject help.

Can coaching continue over the summer?

Yes. Many students keep meeting over the summer to plan classes, work or an internship and to start the next term with a system in place.

Get started

Want to talk through whether academic coaching fits your college student? Call (888) 305 5422, email contact@blackburnmentoring.com or start with a short assessment. A member of our team reviews every assessment personally and sets up a free intro call.