Company completes its acquisition of Starfish and announces a new partnership with PowerSchool to be the exclusive provider of Intersect

Washington, DC, March 03, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Education company EAB announced today the completion of its acquisition of Hobsons’ student success platform, Starfish. The addition expands EAB’s postsecondary student success capabilities and expertise, as well as the company’s network of college and university partners.

Today EAB also announced an agreement with PowerSchool that makes EAB the exclusive provider of the Intersect student recruitment platform. The agreement between EAB and PowerSchool enables EAB to sell and support Intersect. This partnership will allow EAB to connect its higher education partners to millions more high school students.

“EAB is committed to supporting students from enrollment to graduation and beyond,” said EAB Chief Executive Officer David Felsenthal. “By adding Starfish to EAB’s suite of technology and services, and becoming the exclusive provider of Intersect, we can accelerate the pace of innovation and further support students at key stages of their educational journeys.”

Help more students find right-fit colleges
Intersect enables colleges and universities to connect with high-intent students who are ready to engage with their institutions. The Intersect platform is integrated into Naviance, a solution that many high school students use to research and explore colleges, often alongside school counselors and parents. Naviance, now a part of PowerSchool, is an integral part of the postsecondary planning process at many K-12 schools. Eighty percent of high school students who connect with a college on Intersect apply to that institution.

“Through YouVisit virtual tours, college research site Cappex, and now Intersect, we offer our partners unparalleled opportunities to engage prospective students—on platforms that facilitate more than 8 million connections each year,” said EAB Enrollment Services President Chris Marett. “EAB’s unrivaled reach, combined with advanced analytics and investments in novel channels, has allowed our partners to grow and diversify their incoming classes despite a historically challenging enrollment environment.”

“We chose to work with both EAB and Intersect because of the opportunities these solutions offered to reach future students and show them how they could thrive at Hofstra,” said Jessica Eads, Vice President for Enrollment Management, Hofstra University. “By more fully integrating EAB services and strategic support with Intersect technology, we can nurture student connections through a variety of channels, use data and analytics to constantly adjust our outreach strategy, and ultimately help prospective students find their best-fit college in an environment of trust where they are comfortable.”

Help more students thrive, persist, and graduate
Together, EAB and Starfish have 25+ years of experience building student success technology. The acquisition complements Starfish’s innovations in early alerts and celebrating students’ success with EAB’s consultative and research-based approach that is proven to help more students persist and graduate. The acquisition will enable EAB to extend new capabilities to EAB partners, such as functionality that allows faculty members to praise students for efforts in class. Schools using the Starfish platform will benefit from EAB’s ongoing investments in technology and research, including a library of more than 300 student success best practices.

With the addition of Starfish, hundreds of community and technical colleges and four-year schools will join EAB’s Student Success Collaborative, a network of institutions working together to improve student experiences and ensure equitable outcomes. “With an expanded Collaborative and the combined experience of two extremely talented teams, we can elevate the way higher education supports all students on their diverse paths to and through college,” said EAB Technology President Scott Schirmeier.

For further information, visit EAB.com/Starfish and EAB.com/Intersect. 

About EAB
At EAB, our mission is to make education smarter and our communities stronger. We harness the collective power of more than 1,900 schools, colleges, and universities to uncover and apply proven practices and transformative insights. We work with each school differently to apply these insights through a customized blend of research, technology, and services. From kindergarten to college and beyond, EAB partners with education leaders, practitioners, and staffs to accelerate progress and drive results across three key areas: enrollment management, student success, and institutional operations and strategy.

About Hobsons
Hobsons helps millions of students identify their strengths, explore careers, create academic plans, match to best-fit educational opportunities, and reach their education and life goals. Through our solutions, we enable thousands of educational institutions to improve college and career planning, admissions and enrollment management, and student success and advising.

John Michaels
EAB
(202) 747-1788
jmichaels@eab.com