Building an exceptional student experience—with help from an academic support package

A K-State student meets with her academic advisor, a key player in students' academic support package.

There’s a reason K-State is the #1 ranked college in Kansas and the #1 college with the best faculty in Kansas, according to Niche 2026. Students come to K-State for the world-class programs. To make their career dreams a reality. To study one of the university’s more than 250 majors and programs.

As the leading next-generation land-grant university in the nation, K-State goes above and beyond in its academics.

But students don’t succeed all on their own.

Every student at K-State has their own academic support package—spearheaded by Academic and Career Engagement—that helps them reach their goals, prepare for graduation, and enter their career with confidence.

Support from day one

897 first-year students served
36 first-year seminars
35 CAT Communities

From the moment students step foot on campus, campus staff foster an exceptional first-year experience.

In Fall 2025, K-State First served 897 students through 36 First-Year Seminars and 35 CAT Communities. These intentionally designed academic experiences connect students to faculty, peers, and campus resources from their first semester, building a strong foundation for academic success and belonging.

Supporting first-generation student success through structured early experiences
First-generation students in the Fall 2024 cohort who participated in a First-Year Seminar or CAT Community were retained at a rate of 79%, compared to 76.2% university-wide. These gains underscore the importance of early, intentional academic and social integration in supporting student populations that may have less prior exposure to college navigation and expectations.

Innovation in action

Support goes beyond first-year seminars. The 2025-2026 academic year also featured these inspiring new initiatives to foster first-year success.

Better Together Initiative

The Better Together Initiative, led by K-State First, centered on the 2025 common read, Together by U.S. Surgeon General Vivek Murthy. Addressing the national challenge of student loneliness, this initiative created a shared experience focused on connection, belonging, and community well-being. Participants walked away with actionable strategies for building community.

  • 1200+ student participants
  • 115 trained facilitators
  • 30+ faculty and staff volunteers

24/7 Support

The need for support doesn't end after regular business hours. That's why first-year students also receive 24/7 support through the Willie text bot, a powerful technology that couples AI with real-life campus staff.

When students have questions they just can't find the answer to, Willie points them in the right direction. And when students get flagged as needing extra support, campus staff are alerted so they can follow up with the right resources, when it matter.

  • 1,490 notes in Navigate
  • 200+ successful follow-ups

Improving retention and persistence

3,835 tutoring sessions
17 Refuel and Refocus sessions

As students move through their academic journey, their needs for support continue with them. The Academic Achievement Center’s multitude of services are open to all students, ensuring that academic goals are in reach, no matter where a student is in their K-State career.

Last academic year, Tutoring Services hosted a total of 3,835 sessions. Of that, chemistry courses made up a total of 48% of drop-in sessions and 45% of scheduled appointments. Remarkably, 41% of students enrolled in CHM-230 attended tutoring!

The AAC continues to find new and unique ways to reach students. In AY25-26, the center partnered with First Lady Sally Linton to launch Refuel and Refocus Hours. These drop-in events provided motivation and snacks—all students had to do was show up with a task they’d been putting off. A total of 89 unique student visitors made up 152 visits across the 17 sessions.

More 25-26 Successes
  • 1,291 unique students visited the AAC this year (tutoring and coaching combined).
  • 70% of students interacted with AAC more than once
  • 935 total coaching sessions. Students who attended 3 or 4 coaching sessions in the spring semester saw, on average, a 0.4-0.5 cumulative GPA increase

Building career readiness

The Career Center has long been a resource for students as they search for jobs and internships, prep for interviews, and make plans for life after graduation. Those successes continued last year: more than 12,000 students activated Handshake and more than 5,000 students attended workshops.

6,400 students attended Career Fairs
1,300+ scheduled appointments
45,000+ applications submitted in Handshake

There are two key milestones and achievements that deserve a special callout. First, the Career Closet expanded access to professional clothing, so that any Wildcat could show up to interviews, internships or career fairs looking their best. The Closet supported almost 1,600 visits, distributing over 2,600 items of professional clothing.

AY25-26 was also the pilot year of a new Career Milestones Framework. This model aligns student learning outcomes and career readiness across the student lifecycle. It’s centered on four key stages: explore, develop, connect, and experience. As the work continues into the 26-27 academic year, we expect the model to continue to set ‘Cats up for increased career preparedness.