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Storytelling in Higher Education: How Student Stories Create Connection and Impact

Storytelling in higher education helps institutions communicate more than enrollment numbers, graduation rates, or program details. Student stories make challenges, experiences, and outcomes easier to understand. In this episode of What’s Your Story, Sally Williamson speaks with Pete Wheelan about how InsideTrack uses storytelling, coaching, and clear communication to support students, engage institutional partners, and bring its mission to life.

Storytelling in Higher Education: Why Storytelling Matters in Higher Education

We know storytelling’s place in the business world, but have you considered the role it plays in academic institutions across the nation? In our first episode of What’s Your Story?, Season 2, Sally speaks with Pete Wheelan of InsideTrack about how he uses storytelling alongside professional coaching, technology, and data analytics to increase the enrollment, completion, and career readiness of students.

More About Pete Wheelan

Pete Wheelan is dedicated to leading mission-driven, high-growth companies unlocking human potential and currently serves as CEO of InsideTrack, the nation’s leading student success coaching organization.

Under Pete’s leadership, InsideTrack has now served 2 million + students and 4000+ academic programs for clients including Harvard, the Cal State System and Ivy Tech. He led the purchase of InsideTrack by Strada Education Network, a $1.4 billion public charity focused on improving high education outcomes, and InsideTrack’s acquisition of Logrado, the foundation for InsideTrack’s uCoach technology and analytics platform. Pete also serves as Executive Chairman at Roadtrip Nation, a fellow Strada Education Network affiliate.

Before InsideTrack, Pete served as COO/CRO of Blurb, a leader in self-published books, and as SVP of strategic marketing and business development for Lonely Planet. He also founded online portal Adventureseek and was a strategy consultant with BCG.

Pete received a B.A. from Dartmouth College and an M.B.A. and J.D. from Northwestern University.

Show Highlights

What is the power of stories in academic settings?
Inside Track is a company that started in 2001 that was trying to solve the issue that college is hard and most institutions don’t provide support that is not academic or financial aid related
What are the big issues that stop students from completing their academic programs?
For communication, the best way is to meet students where they are, utilizing email and texting and not just a phone call.
What are students seeking with InsideTrack\’s service?
Most higher education institutes have gone from a growth mindset to a fixed mindset
Why is the sense of belonging a big struggle for new students?
What are the causes of a student actually dropping out?
How do you approach universities to integrate this program?
How does the storyline with the school take shape?
Inside Track coached 300-400,000 students in 2019
- Inside Track has access to student satisfaction and work to help remove obstacles and challenges for students
- Student success has become increasingly important in the institution
What are some things InsideTrack provides for students?
With students, InsideTrack provides reputation and relationships that develop over time – it’s not a one and done.
How do you keep the human at the core of your program but use technology to enable them?
To sell this program the best case is having partners and clients tell their story via a case study,
- Teaching sales to lead with stories in their conversations
- Bring coaches and coach managers into early conversations with potential partners
- Use first generation students as coaches to represent and share their story- makes it real and relatable
- Stories that are repeated by other institutions using their stories and coming back as a referral
InsideTrack is a predominantly virtual workforce.
Advice on inspiring employees?
- Communication
- Authenticity
- Repetition
- Clarity and consistency
When you are approachable it provides credibility for the other communications to an employee.

Why Student Stories Matter

Higher education depends on data.

Institutions measure enrollment, persistence, completion, career readiness and numerous other indicators of student success. Those measures help leaders understand patterns, evaluate programs and make decisions.

But data cannot always explain what the experience felt like.

A retention number may show that a group of students left before completing a program. A student story can reveal the transportation problem, work schedule, family responsibility or sense of isolation behind the decision.

Both forms of information matter.

Data establishes scale. Stories create understanding.

Student stories can help audiences see:

Why a student chose the institution
What made the transition difficult
Which support changed the outcome
How belonging influenced persistence
What the student learned
How education affected a family or community
Where an institutional process created an unnecessary obstacle
What success means from the student’s perspective

A well-selected story does not replace institutional evidence. It helps people understand why the evidence deserves attention.

Data tells an institution what is happening. Student stories help leaders understand how it is experienced.

What Makes a Student Story Effective?

A strong student story is not simply dramatic or emotional.

It has a clear connection to the message the institution needs to communicate.

Effective student stories are:

Specific

Details make an experience understandable. “College was challenging” is broad. A story about balancing a night shift with an early class gives the audience something concrete.

Focused

One story should not be expected to explain every part of the student experience. Select the moment, obstacle or insight that supports the central point.

Authentic

The language should sound like the student. Excessive editing can turn an honest experience into institutional copy.

Relevant

The audience should understand why this story matters to the larger issue, such as persistence, advising, belonging or career readiness.

Respectful

The student should retain dignity and appropriate control over how personal information is shared.

Connected to an Outcome

A good story helps the audience understand what changed, what was learned or what should happen next.

Six Ways Institutions Can Use Student Stories

1. Communicate the Student Experience

Institutional leaders may rely on surveys, reports and dashboards to understand students. Stories add context those tools cannot always provide.

A student may describe how several individually reasonable processes became overwhelming when experienced together. Another may explain why a small interaction with an advisor created enough confidence to continue.

These stories can help leaders see the institution through the student’s perspective.

They are especially useful when examining:

Orientation
Advising
Financial-aid processes
Transfer experiences
Online learning
Career services
First-generation student support
Re-enrollment
Adult learner needs
Student belonging

The story should be considered alongside broader evidence. One person’s experience can identify an issue worth investigating, but should not automatically be treated as representative of every student.

2. Make Outcomes More Meaningful

An institution may report that a program improved persistence or helped students complete a credential.

A story can show what that outcome made possible.

Perhaps the student was able to remain enrolled while caring for a family member. Perhaps coaching helped the person develop a plan after an unexpected financial problem. Perhaps a clearer career path gave the student a reason to continue.

The story turns an institutional result into a human outcome.

This can make communication more relevant to:

Governing boards
Faculty
Staff
Funders
Community partners
Prospective students
Alumni
Policymakers

The result remains important. The story helps the audience understand its significance.

3. Help Leaders Understand Barriers

Students do not always leave because they lack academic ability or motivation.

They may encounter barriers involving work, transportation, finances, family responsibilities, technology, health, administrative processes or a lack of belonging.

Stories help leaders see how these factors interact.

For example, a student’s missed appointment may initially appear to be a time-management problem. A conversation may reveal that the student shares transportation, works an unpredictable schedule and did not know a virtual option was available.

The story changes the question from “Why did the student fail to attend?” to “What would make this support easier to access?”

That shift can lead to better institutional decisions.

4. Strengthen Enrollment Communication

Prospective students want more than descriptions of programs and facilities. They want to imagine themselves within the experience.

Student stories can help them understand:

What the transition is like
How the institution supports different learners
What challenges may arise
What opportunities are available
What students wish they had known
How academic programs connect to careers
What belonging looks like in practice

Enrollment stories should reflect a range of experiences rather than presenting one student as representative of an entire population.

Institutions should also resist the temptation to create a flawless success narrative. Stories become more credible when they acknowledge difficulty without exploiting it.

5. Support Fundraising and Partnerships

Funders and partners want evidence that an institution or program creates value.

Student stories can demonstrate how resources affected a real person, but the story must do more than create sympathy. It should clarify the connection between support and outcome.

A useful structure includes:

The student’s goal
The barrier encountered
The support provided
The student’s role in moving forward
The resulting outcome
The broader lesson

This structure avoids portraying the student as a passive recipient. It recognizes agency while showing how institutional support contributed.

6. Connect Employees to the Mission

Employees may understand the organization’s mission intellectually while feeling removed from its impact.

Student stories can remind faculty and staff why everyday work matters.

A clear process, timely response or thoughtful conversation may feel small to the employee responsible for it. To a student navigating a difficult moment, it may be the reason the person continues.

Leaders can use stories to:

Recognize effective work
Demonstrate institutional values
Explain a strategic priority
Show why a process needs to change
Reinforce the importance of student-centered communication
Connect different functions to a shared purpose

The story should support a clear leadership message. Otherwise, it may create emotion without direction.

How to Tell Student Stories Ethically

Student storytelling requires more than a signed release form.

The student should understand how the story will be used, where it may appear and who may encounter it. Consent should be informed, specific and freely given.

Ask Before Developing the Story

Do not create a finished narrative and then ask the student to approve it. Involve the student before the process begins.

Explain:

The purpose of the story
The intended audience
The formats in which it may appear
Whether the story will be edited
Whether photographs or video will be used
How long the institution expects to use it
Whether the student may review the final version
Whom to contact with concerns

Avoid Implied Pressure

Students may feel obligated to agree when the request comes from an instructor, coach, advisor or institution that provides financial or academic support.

Make it clear that participation is optional and declining will not affect the student’s standing or access to services.

Use Trauma-Informed Judgment

A student may be willing to share a difficult experience without fully anticipating the consequences of public disclosure.

Consider whether the story includes:

Mental or physical health information
Abuse or trauma
Immigration status
Family conflict
Financial hardship
Housing instability
Legal involvement
Disability information
Information about another identifiable person

Ask whether every detail is necessary. The most personal version of a story is not automatically the most effective.

Preserve the Student’s Voice

Editing may improve clarity, but the institution should not change the meaning or make the student sound like a marketing department.

Whenever possible, let the student review quotations and final context.

Discuss Ongoing Use

A student’s circumstances and comfort level may change.

Institutions should establish a process for handling a request to stop using a story, especially when the content involves sensitive personal information. A practical policy should address what can be removed from current digital materials and what may remain in already distributed or archived content.

Consent is not a formality. It is part of the relationship between the institution and the student.

Turn Individual Stories Into Institutional Insight

InsideTrack’s work illustrates an important distinction: a student story can support communication, but it can also reveal information that improves the institution.

When coaches hear similar experiences repeatedly, those experiences may indicate a broader pattern.

A useful process is:

Gather student experiences consistently.
Identify themes across conversations.
Compare those themes with institutional data.
Determine which barriers are within the institution’s control.
Translate findings into recommendations.
Communicate what the institution will do.
Evaluate whether the change improves the experience.

This approach prevents stories from being used only as testimonials.

The institution listens not simply to promote the student’s success, but to learn from it.

One Story Is a Signal, Not a Sample

An individual story can reveal a problem or possibility. It cannot establish how common that experience is.

Avoid claims such as “students feel” or “first-generation students need” based on one person’s experience.

Instead, say:

“This student’s experience illustrates…”
“Several coaching conversations revealed…”
“Institutional data showed a pattern, and this story helps explain it…”
“This example raised a question the institution then investigated…”

That language protects accuracy without diminishing the story’s value.

Technology Should Support the Human Story

Technology helps institutions communicate with students, organize information and identify patterns.

It should not remove the human element that makes support effective.

Students may prefer different channels depending on the situation. A brief text may be appropriate for a reminder. A sensitive conversation may require a phone call or meeting. An online portal may provide information, but a coach or advisor may be needed to help the student apply it.

Meeting students where they are requires more than using the newest platform. It requires understanding:

Which channel the student can access
How urgent the message is
How sensitive the information may be
Whether the student needs to respond
How much explanation the situation requires
Whether a real conversation would be more useful

Technology should make human support easier to reach, not harder to find.

Storytelling Inside the Institution

Storytelling is also a leadership communication tool.

A university leader may use a student story to explain why a strategic priority matters. A student-success leader may use one to demonstrate the importance of consistent coaching. An enrollment leader may use a story to show where prospective students experience confusion.

The story needs a clear storyline:

What is the central point?
Which student experience illustrates it?
What should the audience understand?
What should the institution do differently?
How does the story connect to the mission?

Without that structure, storytelling may be moving but difficult to repeat or act upon.

SW&A’s approach to storytelling focuses on what audiences remember and repeat. In higher education, that means shaping stories that are both human and useful.

Content, Style and Situation

Effective higher-education storytelling brings together Content, Style and Situation.

Content includes the central message, student experience, supporting evidence and desired action.

Style includes the way the story is told. Tone, language, pacing and respect affect how audiences experience both the storyteller and the institution.

Situation includes the audience, communication channel, purpose and sensitivity of the information.

A story shared with a board may need to connect an individual experience to an institutional decision. A story for prospective students may need to emphasize relatability and available support. A story used in employee communication may need to demonstrate why a behavior or process matters.

The storytelling should be adapted without changing its truth.