AUSTIN, TX and CHICO, CA--(Marketwired - Jan 20, 2016) - Civitas Learning® today announced the company has acquired College Scheduler, the market leader in schedule planning solutions for higher education. College Scheduler dramatically improves a student's experience and opportunity for success by bringing student-centric design and a cloud-based platform to the scheduling and registration process, simplifying one of the most critical points on the journey toward degree completion.
Class scheduling is a crucial step of degree planning and advising, yet many institutions still rely on pen-and-paper processes or outdated technology that doesn't meet the needs of today's students. The integration of the schedule planning solution into Civitas Learning's Student Insights Platform™ extends the company's current planning and advising abilities to include class scheduling and registration.
Research shows that the absence of an effective class schedule is a significant barrier to achieving a postsecondary credential. According to data from the National Center for Education Statistics, as many as three-quarters of undergraduates have at least one post-traditional characteristic, such as being a single caregiver or working part-time. For these students, as well as traditional full-time learners, scheduling and time management are often a major barrier to retention and graduation.
"We know that successfully completing college has multi-generational benefits for students and society, but far too many learners face bureaucratic and logistical barriers -- especially nontraditional students. Streamlining class scheduling can help level the playing field for all students, enabling them to focus first on learning and achieving their goals, not making their class schedule work," said Charles Thornburgh, CEO and Founder of Civitas Learning.
"From day one, our mission has been to provide students with a streamlined planning and registration experience that increases student success," said Robert Strazzarino, CEO of College Scheduler, who founded the company while still enrolled as a student at California State University-Chico. "With Civitas Learning, we have found a true partner in our vision of helping more students graduate worldwide. Our entire team is excited for the journey ahead and we are happy to be part of the Civitas Learning family."
College Scheduler is a resource for students to plan coursework alongside their busy lives, and can help them accelerate their time to completion. The platform optimizes class selection and aligns scheduling options with a student's outside time commitments, including employment, extracurricular activities, or recurring appointments. College Scheduler automates the traditional pen-and-paper class scheduling process and presents the student with all available schedule options, increasing enrollment credit hours, speeding the time to graduation, and saving precious time for academic advisors and registrars.
Civitas Learning is bringing on the entire College Scheduler team, and all current partners will continue to receive the same level of service and support, company leaders said. Founder Robert Strazzarino will assume a senior leadership role within Civitas Learning, overseeing the product strategy, development, and delivery of College Scheduler's solutions. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
"We are thrilled to welcome College Scheduler to the team," said Dr. Mark Milliron, Chief Learning Officer and Co-Founder of Civitas Learning. "This provides another avenue to help every student who is willing to do the work find their way to successful college completion."
This is Civitas Learning's first acquisition following a growth investment of up to $60 million in September 2015, led by the global private equity firm Warburg Pincus.
About College Scheduler: College Scheduler is the leader in schedule planning solutions for students and institutional stakeholders. Its cloud-based platform creates a simplified scheduling and registration process for students, with real-time decision support and streamlined integration with campus systems. By empowering students to find the perfect schedule, institutional staff can dedicate more time to coaching throughout the student lifecycle, while using insights from the platform to more effectively plan course offerings in future terms. College Scheduler currently works with 173 institutions.
About Civitas Learning®: A partnership with Civitas Learning gives higher education leaders the strategic, scalable analytics infrastructure they need to turn their growing, diverse and disconnected data into actionable insights to help every student succeed. Civitas Learning's Student Insights Platform™ and its integrated front-line action applications provide administrators, faculty and advisors with a 360-degree view of student behavior and engagement, and the ability to get the right intervention or inspiration to each student at the right time. Student-level data and predictions allow for accurate measurement of initiatives and innovations. The Student Insights Platform's sophisticated data science can power third-party applications, including Civitas Learning's intuitive apps, which moves institutions from insight to action to learning quickly and effectively, helping more students learn well and finish strong. The reach of Civitas Learning's partners includes more than 884 campuses reaching more than 3.19 million students. Civitas Learning is based in Austin, Texas. For more information, visit: www.civitaslearning.com.
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Ted Eismeier