UT System Partners with MyEdu to Boost Student Success

Oct. 2011: The University of Texas System today announced a partnership with MyEdu to help students across UT System institutions raise graduation rates and support career readiness goals. | Download

Contact: Anthony P. de Bruyn, UT System, (512) 499-4363, or Emily Peck, Kwittken & Company
(646) 747-7149
Date: October 13, 2011

AUSTIN – The University of Texas System today announced a partnership with MyEdu, the nation’s leading student academic platform for completing college, to help students across UT System institutions raise graduation rates and support career readiness goals.

The partnership is the latest effort to support a framework action plan announced in August by Chancellor Francisco G. Cigarroa, M.D., to bolster excellence across UT System institutions. The nine-point plan includes, among other things, a focus on undergraduate student success and outcomes.

"Each student that is part of the UT system has a unique circumstance and individual hurdles to meet his or her specific academic goals. With millions of choices across degree programs and class schedules at each institution, college planning can be very complex," Cigarroa said. "Our investment in MyEdu’s academic platform will augment the efforts of our talented academic advisers and faculty, who work diligently with students and families to map out a successful path to graduation. MyEdu will help our students graduate in less time and significantly reduce their overall cost of education. The UT System is pleased to partner with MyEdu in this important endeavor as we strive to continually improve and better serve our students and their families."

With free easy-to-use degree planning, credit management, workload tracking and social applications specifically designed around students’ needs, MyEdu brings together students, parents, advisers and faculty to help students manage their academic career. Additionally, MyEdu enables students to significantly lower their education costs by avoiding additional semesters and reducing textbook purchases and living expenses. By shortening the time to graduation, MyEdu tools will increase students’ earning potential by allowing them to enter the workforce sooner.

"The current graduation rates in our country must be improved for what is a significant investment for students, their families and our nation," said Michael Crosno, founder, CEO and Chairman of MyEdu. "Our mission is to improve graduation rates, and our collaboration with UT – one of the nation’s largest and most-respected systems – will allow us to provide its more than 200,000 students the technological tools to help them get a college degree in less time and embark on a successful career. The UT System should be applauded for its commitment and innovative approach to tackling some of the most important obstacles facing students."

More than 80 percent of students at UT Austin alone currently use MyEdu. Under the partnership, the platform will be customized for use across all UT System institutions in 2012. The initial rollout of the enhanced MyEdu platform is under way and will be made available first to students at UT Austin, UT Arlington and UT Permian Basin.

The MyEdu platform is a student-focused, consumer application used on hundreds of campuses across the country. With the support of the UT System and its leadership in representing the needs of UT students, faculty and advisers, MyEdu will be able to extend its platform with enhanced functionality, including:

• Degree Planner and Adviser to help students confidently evaluate and plan their degrees with their families and advisers using official campus information. High school students also may compare degree plans between universities to determine which institution best suits their needs


• Graduation Roadmap enabling students to visualize their timeline to graduation, minimizing planning mistakes that leave students extending time in college to complete required courses


• Schedule Planner integrating MyEdu’s tools with official campus systems to help students with class evaluation and selection based on their preferences, schedules and class availability


• Credit Management System to see the impact of AP and other pre-existing credits and options for achieving transferable credits from other campuses, community colleges, or online classes


• Student-Faculty Workspace to provide a social, highly interactive workspace to increase student-to-student and student-to-faculty collaboration


• College Financial Planner to calculate the financial impact of academic decisions such as choosing schools, selecting and changing majors, and using existing credits, all of which can be explored while the student is still in high school

The UT System is the first system in the country to partner with MyEdu to provide higher education services to both students and university administrators. For more information, please visit www.MyEdu.com.

About The University of Texas System
The University of Texas System is one of the nation's largest higher education systems, with nine academic campuses and six health institutions. The UT System has an annual operating budget of $13.1 billion (FY 2012) including $2.3 billion in sponsored programs funded by federal, state, local and private sources. Preliminary student enrollment exceeded 215,000 in the 2011 academic year. The UT System confers more than one-third of the state's undergraduate degrees and educates nearly three-fourths of the state's health care professionals annually. With roughly 87,000 employees, the UT System is one of the largest employers in the state. For more information, visit www.utsystem.edu.

About MyEdu
Founded in 2008, MyEdu is the nation’s leading student academic platform for completing college. MyEdu’s degree planning, credit management, workload tracking and social applications bring together students, parents, advisers and faculty to reduce the amount of time it takes to earn a degree. Providing millions of students across the country with the tools and confidence to graduate in less time and compete for careers in the global economy, MyEdu allows students to significantly increase their return on education by reducing all of their associated costs. To date, MyEdu has helped more than three million students succeed in college. Its investors include Bain Capital Ventures and the University of Texas System. To learn more, please visit www.myedu.com.