June, 2010

The Chronicle of Higher Education: 'Student Services, in Outside Hands'.
By Sara Lipka

High-profile companies in this education space such as InsideTrack, ReadyMinds, and Education Dynamics are referenced throughout in this third-party vendor article.
Serving students is big business. Third-party vendors sell orientation sessions, curricula for first-year-experience courses, training and support for RA's, drug- and violence-prevention programs, financial and spiritual advising. They offer software to manage housing assignments, student-conduct cases, retention programs, campus groups. That is to say, almost the full range of what student-affairs officers do.
Enhance your offerings, the marketing pitches go. Save time and money.
ReadyMinds and partner Mount St. Mary's referenced under: Not Just Handoffs
At Mount St. Mary's University, in Maryland, outsourcing one component of career services did seem sensible, if not ideal. Two counselors there serve 1,500 students, and when the economic downturn brought alumni looking for help in finding jobs, the small career center was overwhelmed, says Sabira Vohra, its director. Unable to hire another counselor, she initially felt hesitant to seek outside help. But she asked colleagues at the University of Richmond and Western International University about ReadyMinds, a company that offers career counseling by e-mail and phone.
Reports were good, and starting last academic year Ms. Vohra combined her own office's funds with some from alumni services and other divisions to hire ReadyMinds. She declines to specify the amount of the contract, because she negotiated for a lower price, given Mount St. Mary's small size. The career center directs alumni and continuing-studies students to the service, and surveys show that they are satisfied. "This is the thing we need at this point," Ms. Vohra says.
To view the entire article, please click here: http://chronicle.com/article/Student-Services-in-Outside/65908

About The Chronicle of Higher Education

The Chronicle of Higher Education is the No. 1 source of news, information, and jobs for college and university faculty members and administrators. Based in Washington, D.C., The Chronicle has more than 70 full-time writers and editors, as well as 17 foreign correspondents around the world.
Online, The Chronicle is published every weekday and is the top destination for news, advice, and jobs for people in academe. The Chronicle's Web site features the complete contents of the latest issue; daily news and advice columns; thousands of current job listings; an archive of previously published content; vibrant discussion forums; and career-building tools such as online CV management, salary databases, and more.
The Chronicle's audited Web-site traffic is routinely more than 12 million pages a month, seen by more than one million unique visitors.
In print, The Chronicle is published in two sections: Section A, which contains news and jobs, and The Chronicle Review, a magazine of arts and ideas. Subscribers also receive a special Almanac of Higher Education once a year, two supplements on forthcoming events in academe, and other special reports. The print version is also available as a digital edition.
The newspaper is subscribed to by more than 70,000 academics and has a total readership of 350,000.

About ReadyMinds

Founded in 1997, ReadyMinds owns and operates readyminds.com and is a privately held company that has emerged as the leading global provider of distance career counseling and training services. The ReadyMinds' distance career counseling process was initially designed with the assistance of business leaders and career-counseling experts to help individuals focus on their career planning and develop action plans to achieve their immediate career goals. In addition to the counseling of individuals, the ReadyMinds Training Division provides global training opportunities for counselors seeking to further enhance their professional development in the area of distance counseling. ReadyMinds abides by the guidelines set forth by the National Board of Certified Counselors (NBCC); the NBCC Code of Ethics and the Standards for the Ethical Practice of Web Counseling. For more information on the company, please visit http://www.readyminds.com.