The Hidden Crisis on Campus Isn’t Grades: It’s Executive Functioning
Executive functioning plays a major role in college success because students must independently manage their time, assignments, deadlines, priorities, and daily responsibilities. Even academically strong students can struggle when the external structure they relied on in high school disappears. Strengthening executive function skills can help students become more organized, adaptable, and independent in college.
American colleges spend significant resources on student support services, yet academic outcomes remain unchanged. Data shows only 60% of undergraduates complete their degrees within six years, with notable gaps across racial, socioeconomic, and first-generation status (National Center for Education Statistics, 2024). Traditional strategies such as tutoring, advising, and information systems have fallen short.
Why Do College Students Struggle With Executive Functioning?
Institutions need to recognize a key oversight: success depends not only on academic content but also on underlying cognitive skills. Executive function – including working memory, cognitive flexibility, and inhibitory control – is key for learning and goal achievement (Diamond, 2013). Developing these skills must be central in student support programs.
Research from Bain & Company found that high-performing institutions succeed through coordinated support systems, real-time data, and accountability (Bain & Company, 2023). However, when students do not possess strong executive function skills, these systems are less effective. Students must recognize their needs, seek help, and apply strategies.
The Overlooked Skill Gap
At Novella Prep, we observe that academic failures often stem from deficits in executive function. Students struggle with time management, information retention, and adaptability. These challenges affect students across achievement levels, even those with strong GPAs and test scores.
Pilot programs at public universities show that targeted executive function coaching boosts retention by 12%, at lower costs than traditional tutoring. These results underscore that supporting cognitive skills is an essential investment.
What Executive Function Skills Do College Students Need?
- Time management
- Planning
- Organization
- Task initiation
- Working memory
- Prioritization
- Cognitive flexibility
- Self-monitoring
- Emotional regulation
- Self-advocacy
What Executive Function Challenges Look Like in College
- Missing assignments despite understanding the material
- Underestimating how long coursework will take
- Waiting until deadlines are urgent to begin
- Struggling to balance several classes at once
- Forgetting appointments or commitments
- Difficulty adjusting plans when something changes
- Becoming overwhelmed by large, multi-step assignments
- Having difficulty using unstructured time productively
Bridging the Executive Function Deficit
While neuroscience confirms executive function can be measured and improved, higher education has been slow to adopt these practices. A misconception exists that college students arrive with fully developed self-regulation, despite evidence that these skills mature into the early thirties (Arain et al., 2013). Improving executive function enhances students’ ability to learn, adapt, and succeed in a changing workforce.
Helping students perform begins from within – before investing heavily in academic or test prep.
Prioritizing cognitive development alongside external support is crucial. Institutions must focus on strengthening the internal capabilities that enable students to fully benefit from educational opportunities.
Building Executive Function Before and During College
The transition to college places far more responsibility on students to manage their own time, priorities, deadlines, and daily routines. Skills that may have been supported by parents, teachers, or a structured high school schedule suddenly need to function much more independently.
That is why executive function development should begin before a student arrives on campus. At Novella Prep, we help students build practical systems for planning, organization, task initiation, time management, self-advocacy, and follow-through. The goal is not simply to help students get through the next assignment. It is to help them develop strategies they can continue using when the external structure around them decreases.
For students already in college, executive function coaching can help identify where those systems are breaking down and create more sustainable approaches to managing coursework, competing priorities, and unstructured time.
Academic ability matters, but college success also depends on a student’s ability to independently manage the work that comes with it. Building those skills before and during college can make the transition more manageable and help students become more confident, adaptable, and self-directed.
This is why Novella Prep offers professional executive function coaching for students across Westchester County, Rye, NY, Greenwich, CT, and beyond. Contact us today to learn more.
Originally posted on Dr. Tony Di Giacomo’s LinkedIn page on July 15, 2025.
References
Arain, M., Haque, M., Johal, L., Mathur, P., Nel, W., Rais, A., Sandhu, R., & Sharma, S. (2013). Maturation of the adolescent brain. Neuropsychiatric Disease and Treatment, 9, 449-461.
Bain & Company. (2023). Beating the odds: How institutions improve student outcomes.
Diamond, A. (2013). Executive functions. Annual Review of Psychology, 64, 135-168.
National Center for Education Statistics. (2024). Undergraduate retention and graduation rates. U.S. Department of Education.