From Guidance to Outcomes: Why High-Quality Advising Matters for Texas Students

Think back to high school. How often did someone sit down with you and ask not simply where you wanted to go to college, but what kind of life you wanted to build?

Did someone help you understand the careers available to you? The education or training required to reach them? The financial aid forms, deadlines, applications, credentials, internships, and decisions you would have to navigate along the way? And when something didn't go according to plan, was someone still there to help?

Those questions opened the Commit Partnership's final conversation at the 2026 Texas Tribune Festival: “From Guidance to Outcomes: Scaling Effective Advising for Postsecondary Success.”

Commit Chief State Impact Officer Bridget Worley moderated the conversation with Susanna Russell, president and CEO of Education is Freedom; Jarrad Toussant, senior vice president of education and workforce at the Dallas Regional Chamber; and Helen Nguyen, a recent first-generation college graduate and Breakthrough Central Texas alumna.

Together, they explored a challenge with significant implications for students and the Texas economy: How do we move from simply giving students information about what comes after high school to providing the sustained, personalized guidance they need to successfully navigate the journey?

The path after high school isn't simple

By 2030, more than 62% of Texas jobs are expected to require education or training beyond high school.

But students are lost at nearly every transition along the way.

Following a cohort of Texas students beginning in eighth grade, Bridget noted that 18% will not graduate from high school, 45% will not enroll in postsecondary education, and 72% will not ultimately earn a postsecondary credential.

Those drop-off points have consequences for individual students trying to build economically secure lives and for Texas employers trying to find skilled workers.

One way to close those gaps is deceptively simple: Make sure students don't have to navigate them alone.

Information isn't the same as advising

Helen Nguyen knows the difference.

A first-generation college student raised in a single-parent immigrant household, Helen joined Breakthrough Central Texas in sixth grade and remained connected to the organization through college.

Her mother's advice about college was straightforward: get good grades, and somehow, eventually, a scholarship would follow.

But getting from good grades to a college degree required navigating far more than that. Helen's advisors helped her research colleges, understand deadlines, submit test scores, complete financial aid forms, write essays, and make decisions about where she would be most likely to succeed.

“There are so many different steps to the college application process that it can be overwhelming to even know where to start,” Helen said.

Her advisors didn't simply tell her what needed to be done. They helped her do it.

“Having that information is very different from having someone that is there beside you and there to walk you through every step of the way,” Helen said.

That relationship became especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Helen's mother had to close her business.

Helen began working more than 40 hours a week while still attending high school. Her grades and attendance suffered, and after years of preparing for college, she began wondering whether all that work had been for nothing.

She considered giving up on a scholarship interview because she assumed she would be rejected.

Her advisors, Thomas and Tiffany, encouraged her to keep going, reminding her that one difficult period did not define her ability or everything she had already accomplished.

Helen ultimately completed the interview, received a full scholarship, attended The University of Texas at Austin, and graduated debt-free.

That story illustrated what the panelists meant by high-quality advising.

It isn't a checklist. It is a relationship.

So, what makes advising “high quality”?

For Susanna Russell, Helen's experience provided the answer.

“What she just described,” Susanna said. “That is high-quality advising.”

Susanna leads Education is Freedom, which places near-peer advisors directly inside Dallas County high schools. She was also quick to distinguish those advisors from school counselors, who carry large caseloads while managing graduation plans, academics, mental health needs, credit tracking, and more.

Dedicated advisors can complement that work by focusing intensely on what comes after high school.

That means helping students complete financial aid and college applications, but it goes much further.

It begins with questions like: What are you good at? What do you want your life to look like? What kind of career interests you? What will it take to get there?

Then an advisor helps connect those answers to an actual pathway.

For one student, that could mean a four-year university. For another, community college. For another, an industry credential, military service, an apprenticeship, or moving directly into the workforce.

The destination isn't a measure of quality. Having an intentional path toward a meaningful career is.

Every student is a career student

Bridget put the idea plainly: “Every student is a career student.”

Ultimately, every student is trying to build a career. Some will need a bachelor's degree. Others may need an associate degree, industry credential, apprenticeship, technical training, or another form of postsecondary education.

That means advising shouldn't begin with only one question: Where do you want to go to college?

Students also need opportunities to understand careers before investing years and significant money pursuing them.

As Jarrad explained, sometimes learning what you don't want to do is just as valuable.

Advising is also a workforce strategy

For Jarrad Toussant, the advising gap extends directly into the Texas workforce.

North Texas has experienced enormous job growth, with employers seeking workers across biotechnology, semiconductor manufacturing, health care, advanced manufacturing, skilled trades, and other sectors.

Many of those jobs don't require a four-year degree, and many lead to living-wage careers.

The problem is often not that programs don't exist.

“We've got the programs. We've got the internships. We've got the apprenticeships. We've got the work-based learning models,” Jarrad said.

The disconnect is between those opportunities and the young people who could fill them.

Students may never have encountered fields like industrial maintenance, mechatronics, HVAC, or other high-demand occupations. Advising can help students understand those careers and connect them with experiences that allow them to explore their options before choosing a pathway.

Employers also have a role to play.

Jarrad used a football analogy fitting for a Saturday afternoon during TribFest: Texas needs more handoffs and fewer passes between education and industry.

Employers can help students understand careers, offer internships and apprenticeships, provide mentors, communicate workforce needs, and ultimately hire students who successfully complete pathways.

The difference is significant when a student doesn't just hear that a career might exist someday. 

They can see the path from classroom to credential to employer.

High-quality advising requires an ecosystem

If there was one point of universal agreement onstage, it was that no organization can do this alone.

School districts, counselors, dedicated advisors, families, colleges, community organizations, employers, and policymakers all have a role.

Susanna described high-quality advising as a comprehensive system grounded in relationships. Principals have to make time for advisors to work with students. Organizations need useful data. Employers need to open their doors. Families need help understanding pathways and financial decisions.

And someone needs to remain responsible for helping each student connect those pieces.

“It takes an ecosystem,” Susanna said.

The biggest gap: access

Near the end of the conversation, Bridget asked each panelist to identify the biggest gap in Texas' current advising system.

Helen returned to the relationship. If Texas closed the gap, she said, every student would have a trusted, trained adult in their corner, particularly first-generation students navigating unfamiliar systems.

Jarrad pointed to advising ratios and stronger employer participation.

Susanna went directly to funding.

School districts operate under significant financial constraints, and supports such as counseling and advising can become vulnerable when budgets tighten.

But Susanna challenged the idea that those services are “extras.”

If Texas expects students to successfully navigate increasingly complicated education and workforce pathways, she argued, high-quality advising should be treated as an investment in the state's future.

That question also surfaced during the audience Q&A. Organizations such as Education is Freedom and Breakthrough Central Texas demonstrate what sustained advising can accomplish, but their work depends significantly on philanthropy.

Communities without the same philanthropic resources still have students who deserve high-quality advising.

For Commit, that raises an important question: How can proven approaches reach more students across Texas?

The relationship shouldn't end at high school graduation

The audience also pushed the panel to consider another transition point: what happens after a student successfully enrolls in college?

Getting into college isn't the same as completing it.

Students still encounter academic challenges, financial pressures, housing issues, unfamiliar institutional systems, and moments when life disrupts even the best plan.

Helen's experience with Breakthrough showed what continuity can look like. Her support didn't end when she received an acceptance letter. Breakthrough remained part of her journey through college.

Susanna said Education is Freedom is similarly exploring ways for advisors who support students through high school to continue that relationship as students transition into postsecondary education.

The idea is straightforward: The path to a credential crosses institutional boundaries. A student's support shouldn't necessarily disappear simply because they crossed one.

From guidance to outcomes

At the beginning of the conversation, Bridget asked the audience to indicate where their own advising experiences fell on a spectrum—from high-quality guidance to virtually no meaningful support at all.

Hands went everywhere. 

That inconsistency is precisely the challenge.

Texas has students with extraordinary talent and ambition. It has colleges, universities, credentials, apprenticeships, training programs, and employers looking for workers.

What is too often missing is the connective tissue between them.

High-quality advising can help provide it.

Not through a single meeting. Not through a checklist. And not through simply telling students to go to college.

It requires an intentional system and a trained adult who understands the student, understands the opportunities ahead of them, and stays with them as they navigate the journey.

As Bridget summarized at the end of the conversation: “Hope is not a strategy.”

If Texas wants more students to successfully connect education to a credential, a career, and ultimately economic mobility, those connections have to be built intentionally.

And more students need someone helping them find the way.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is high-quality postsecondary advising?

High-quality advising is sustained, personalized support that helps students understand their interests and aspirations, explore education and career pathways, complete necessary steps such as applications and financial aid, and navigate transitions into postsecondary education, training, and careers. The panel emphasized that strong advising is relational rather than simply informational.

Is postsecondary advising only about college?

No. One of the central ideas discussed during the panel was that “every student is a career student.” Depending on a student's goals, the right pathway could include a four-year university, community college, an industry credential, apprenticeship, technical training, military service, or direct entry into the workforce.

How is an advisor different from a school counselor?

School counselors have broad responsibilities that can include academic planning, graduation requirements, mental health support, course scheduling, and other student needs. Dedicated postsecondary advisors can complement counselors by focusing specifically on helping students navigate education, training, financial aid, and career pathways after high school.

Why does advising matter to employers?

Employers need skilled workers, but students may not know which occupations are growing, what credentials those careers require, or how to access available training. Advising can connect students with career exploration, work-based learning, education and training programs, and ultimately employers seeking talent.

Should advising continue after high school?

The panel discussed the value of advising that continues across transitions. Students can encounter new academic, financial, housing, and personal challenges after enrolling in college or training. Sustained advising can help students navigate those challenges and remain on a path toward completing a credential.

What role can employers play in high-quality advising?

Employers can expose students to careers earlier, provide internships and apprenticeships, offer mentors, partner with schools and colleges, communicate workforce needs, and make commitments to hire students who successfully complete pathways.

Why is funding important to expanding high-quality advising?

Dedicated advising requires trained people with manageable caseloads and enough time to develop relationships with students. The panel discussed how many effective advising programs currently depend on philanthropy, creating challenges in communities without the same philanthropic resources. Expanding access raises a larger question about how Texas invests in advising at scale.

What did the TribFest panel identify as the most important ingredient in high-quality advising?

While panelists identified several needs — including better advisor-to-student ratios, employer participation, funding, data, and stronger partnerships — the conversation repeatedly returned to relationships. Students benefit from having a trusted, trained adult who understands their circumstances, helps them navigate decisions, and remains connected when challenges arise.