Smart Won't Get Them Through.This Will.
Nearly 40% of students who start college never finish. It is almost never the grades. It is what nobody prepared them for: how to handle pressure, communicate under stress, and finish what they started.
National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, Yearly Progress and Completion, December 2025. Six-year completion rate: 61.1%.
Equipped
Faculty Partner
Alpha Academy
Not Coach Talk
The Ceiling You Can See.
The Cause You Can't Name.
Most parents can feel it before the transcript ever shows it. Something is off. The kid you know is somehow not the kid making decisions right now. Here is what is actually going on underneath.
- Grades slipping in one semester with no clear reason
- Withdrawn, quiet, phone-only conversations at home
- Roommate tension, friend group drama, isolation
- Changed major two or three times, still unsure
- Overwhelmed by workload that should be manageable
- Talks about transferring, dropping, taking a semester off
- Emotional intelligence never developed for adult stakes
- No language for how they operate under real pressure
- No framework for hard conversations with peers or professors
- No clarity on their own communication style versus everyone else's
- No adult in their life who has actually mapped this out with them
- No community of peers doing the same inner work
The gap is not intelligence. The gap is emotional intelligence.
It is one of the strongest predictors of whether a student persists to graduation.
This Is Not A Pep Talk.
It Is Clinical Work.
Every tier of the College Persistence Program is built on the same clinical foundation. What changes between tiers is depth, duration, and the amount of one-on-one time with Dr. Thurman.
What Your Student Actually
Walks Away With.
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01A validated map of their emotional strengths and blind spots.Not a personality label. A clinical baseline across fifteen EQ competencies they will carry into every relationship, classroom, and career move for the rest of their life.
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02Language for how they operate under pressure.When the professor is unreasonable, when the roommate is impossible, when the internship is falling apart, they will have words for what is happening inside them and a way to name it.
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03A communication playbook for every room they will walk into.Their DISC-mapped style translated into practical moves. How to talk to authority. How to influence peers. How to disagree without burning bridges. How to be heard without being loud.
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04A concrete persistence action plan.Not vague goals. Specific behaviors, tracked over 12 months, tied to the exact subscales their profile flagged as highest-leverage. Momentum and Persist Advantage tiers only.
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05A cohort of peers doing the same inner work at the same time.Weekly community persistence calls with other students in the College Persistence Program. Isolation is one of the biggest reasons students quit. This solves it structurally.
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06Direct access to Dr. Thurman himself.Not a program coordinator. Not a certified facilitator running Dr. Thurman's curriculum. Dr. Thurman personally delivers the coaching sessions. This is the piece nobody else can offer.
Dr. Thurman is an Occupational Therapy Doctorate clinician, faculty partner at Francis Marion University's OTD program, and the developer of The Persist Method, the EQ-grounded approach behind the College Persistence Program.
He works from validated data, not opinion. Every student receives the same EQ-i 2.0 and DISC assessments used inside hospitals, academic programs, and Fortune-adjacent training environments. Every student also gets one thing you cannot buy anywhere else: the debrief itself, delivered by Dr. Thurman.
I think we all recognize how profoundly these skills influence physician effectiveness, team dynamics, patient engagement, and ultimately quality of care. I would have regretted not connecting you with our leadership after seeing the impact of this work firsthand.
What Educators, Clinicians, and Students
Have Said Out Loud.
The assessment gave our cohort a shared language for how we communicate and collaborate. It changed the way we show up for each other.
Working with Dr. Thurman has been a high-impact investment in both people and process. His emphasis on leadership development, team cohesion, and emotional intelligence creates measurable shifts in how individuals engage, communicate, and perform. The result is not just short-term improvement, but a more resilient, aligned, and self-sustaining team. I would strongly recommend his work to any organization committed to building leadership capacity and achieving meaningful, lasting outcomes.
I just witnessed one of the greatest seminars I have seen in a long time. Now I have a deeper understanding of emotional intelligence and how it changes how I show up.
Not Sure Which Tier?
Answer Two Questions.
We will point you to the right fit based on where your student is and how much support your family needs.
Every tier includes an EQ/EI validated assessment, DISC behavioral profile, one 60-minute 1:1 report debrief, and the weekly community persistence call. Each tier builds on the one before it.
One-time payment. Rolling enrollment.
- EQ/EI Validated Assessment, 15 emotional competencies
- DISC Behavioral Profile
- One 60-minute 1:1 report debrief
- Student profile report with development priorities
- Weekly community persistence call
- (1) Parent debrief session
Best for rising freshmen who want a focused summer to build their EQ baseline before campus arrival.
Start Launch12-month engagement
- Three 30-minute 1:1 coaching sessions with Dr. Thurman
- Communication Mapping debrief, how you show up in every room
- College Edge resource guide and survival toolkit
- Personal persistence action plan
- 30-day follow-up check-in after debrief
- Weekly community persistence call, 12 months
Best for students who need a full year of structured support after orientation through the end of freshman year. Already in college? Start here.
Start Momentum12-month comprehensive engagement
Need a longer plan? 6 payments of $766
- Three additional 1:1 coaching sessions, six total over 12 months
- Summer Bridge Intensive included, no add-on required
- College transition action plan for the first eight weeks
- Post-enrollment fall check-in in October
- Extended parent debrief and partnership session
Best for first-generation families and students entering competitive institutions where the margin for error is thin.
Start Persist AdvantageAlready Enrolled in College?
Students already on campus start with Momentum, the 12-month engagement designed for the persistence work that matters most once classes begin. Same EQ-i 2.0 and DISC foundation, sized for where the student actually is. Skip Launch and start where the work meets you.
Enroll in In-College Momentum $2,497, one-time payment
Six dedicated check-ins over 6 months designed around your student's persistence progress. Each session gives you the strategies, language, and clinical insight you need to be a genuine partner in their success without overstepping. Particularly valuable for first-generation families and for parents of students 18 or older where the student's debrief belongs to them.
At College Edge, every student is treated as the rightful owner of their own emotional intelligence work. For minor students not yet enrolled in college, parents are full partners in the debrief and receive a dedicated Parent Briefing.
For students 18 and older, OR students already enrolled in college, the debrief belongs to the student. Parents may attend only with the student's written consent. This is how serious clinical work treats the person being assessed: with respect, and in compliance with the legal data ownership rules under FERPA.
Parents who want structured involvement have a dedicated path through the Parent Partner Add-On. Full details are in our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service.
Launch is the summer bridge. Momentum and Persist Advantage are 12-month engagements with annual renewal eligibility at 10% off original price.
| Feature | Launch | Momentum | Persist Advantage |
|---|---|---|---|
| EQ-i 2.0 Full Assessment | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| DISC Behavioral Profile | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 1:1 Report Debrief (post-assessment) | 60 min | 60 min | 60 min |
| Student Profile Report | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Weekly Community Persistence Call | Included | 12 months | 12 months |
| Parent Debrief Session | 1 session | 1 session | Extended |
| 1:1 Coaching Sessions (30 min) | None | 3 sessions | 6 sessions |
| Communication Mapping Debrief | No | Yes | Yes |
| College Edge Resource Guide and Toolkit | No | Yes | Yes |
| Personal Persistence Action Plan | No | Yes | Yes |
| 30-Day Follow-Up Check-In | No | Yes | Yes |
| Summer Bridge Intensive | Is the program | No | Included |
| College Transition Action Plan | No | No | 8 weeks |
| October Fall Check-In | No | No | Yes |
| Annual Renewal Eligibility | No | 10% off original | 10% off original |
| Parent Partner Add-On | Add-on $899 | Add-on $899 | Add-on $899 |
| Price | $1,000 or 3x $367 | $2,497 or 3x $915 | $3,997 or 3x $1,465 or 6x $766 |
| Renewal | Not applicable | $2,247/year | $3,597/year |
| Best For | Summer foundation | Full year support / In-college students | First-gen and competitive schools |
Clinical Work.
Real Data. Real Results.
This program is not sold on hype. It is built on validated instruments, the EQ-i 2.0 and DISC, that are used inside doctoral programs, hospitals, and the same organizations Dr. Thurman has trained. Your student's assessment is not a personality quiz. It is real clinical data your family owns for life.
You will know within 60 minutes of the debrief whether this program will move your student. That is the level of confidence we work from, delivered by an OTD clinician, not a coach reading a script.
Enrolling with clarity. Because every enrollment includes immediate access to assessments, coaching scheduling, and digital resources, our refund terms are specific. A full refund is available within 7 days of enrollment, provided no assessment has yet been administered or made available. Full details are in our Terms of Service. Not sure the program fits? Talk to us first, before you enroll.
Answered plainly, in the same voice Dr. Thurman uses in the debrief.
One Method.
A Complete Ecosystem.
The College Persistence Program is the applied version of The Persist Method, the EQ-grounded approach to persistence developed by Dr. Tremayne Thurman, OTD. The book starts the conversation. The workbook builds the practice. The course teaches the foundations. The Lab builds the life skills. The College Edge tiers do the deep work.
Persist: Your Destiny Awaits
The book. Book 01 of 3. A clinical field guide to persistence by Dr. Tremayne Thurman, OTD. Read Chapter 1 free now. Full book launches July 15, 2026.
Get Chapter 1 Free →The Persist Workbook
The companion workbook. Practical exercises and EQ-grounded prompts.
The Persist Method Online
The self-paced course. Twelve modules, video lessons, practice tools.
College-Ready Life Skills Lab
The ten-week curriculum from Chapter 9. Survival skills, not soft skills.
College Edge Launch
The summer bridge. EQ-i 2.0, DISC, sixty-minute debrief.
College Edge Momentum
Twelve-month. Three coaching sessions, Communication Mapping.
College Edge Persist Advantage
The premium twelve-month engagement. Six coaching sessions, everything included.
The Persist Workshop
Institutional engagements for universities, healthcare, K-12.
Certified Facilitator Program
For coaches and educators licensed to deliver The Persist Method.
Was Last Semester.
The second best time is right now. The College Persistence Program is enrolling. Every day your student walks into college without this map is a day the ceiling stays invisible.