As schools and colleges shift to remote learning in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, academic advising faces a similar transition. An abundance of evidence suggests that in-person advising can have positive impacts on students’ college persistence and success (Barr and Castleman, 2017), but advisors may find it challenging to translate in-person advising practices to the remote context.

To support advisors as they navigate the COVID-19 crisis, the Nudge⁴ Solutions Lab at the University of Virginia has developed a guide compiling remote advising best practices and resources developed across several projects. The content is informed by the lab’s ongoing Nudges to the Finish Line project with the College Completion Network on the impact of text message nudges on college persistence and graduation. The guide includes immediate outcomes from the project—including student response rates to text messages, feedback from partnering institutions on best practices for advisors, and qualitative feedback from advisors on trends in student responses—and will incorporate future findings. In addition, the guide includes behavioral science best practices from industry experts at ideas42, a behavioral science design and consulting firm.