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How to Successfully Become a Certified Academic Coach

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Want to become a successful academic coach but stuck on the first step?

You’ve come to the right place.

Today, we’ll go over the top academic coaching certifications. Plus, I’ll show you how to become an academic coach in just five steps.

Ready to learn how to build a freedom business that lets you live a life you love — even with a full-time job?

Let’s dive right in!

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6-Figure Coaching Business so you can achieve more freedom!

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Key takeaways:

  • The best academic coach certification programs come from Coach Training EDU, Penn GSE, and ACA Coach Academies
  • Getting certified is optional; your clients’ success stories are what really matter
  • To maximize your earnings, pick a profitable niche and offer result-focused coaching packages

What is an academic coach?

Academic stress is one of the biggest stress factors affecting college students. As an academic coach, you step in as a lifeline, offering support where it’s needed most.

Take Sophie Pomme, for example. She’s built a thriving coaching business helping others achieve their academic dreams.

Sophie Pomme’s Academic Coaching website

Or how about my own client Mara Freilich? She’s a law school admissions consultant who helps people get into their dream universities.

TopLawSchoolConsulting website screenshot

I’ll explain how to find your own niche in a bit. But first, let’s take a look at the day-to-day responsibilities of an academic coach.

What does an academic coach do?

Want to know what you’ll be doing as an academic coach?

Here’s a breakdown of your responsibilities:

  • Set goals: You work with students to set clear, achievable goals. For example, you might help an older student maintain a 3.5 GPA while balancing a part-time job. Together, you’d schedule their weekly study hours and pick manageable work shifts.
  • Offer motivation and accountability: Once you’ve outlined clear goals, you help students stay on track. You keep them accountable and motivated by reminding them of their big goal.
  • Manage stress: Academic life can be overwhelming. With your help, students can learn to handle that pressure. You’ll teach strategies to reduce anxiety, such as stress management skills and relaxation techniques.
  • Provide personalized guidance: Choosing the right niche helps you attract your ideal clients. But even then, every student of yours will be different. So, make sure to adapt to meet their specific needs. 
  • Develop skills: Beyond academics, you help students develop essential life skills. For example, you might teach a procrastinating student how to prioritize tasks. Or, if someone is shy in group projects, you could help them practice clear communication.

In short:

You do much more than boost grades — you improve students’ lives, preparing them for future challenges and opportunities.

Sound like something you’d be good at?

Then let’s delve into how to become an academic coach.

How do you become a successful academic coach?

You can break down becoming a successful academic coach into five main steps.

Let’s go over each one together.

The Five Steps to Become an Academic Coach

1. Find a niche

Picking a niche helps you deliver faster and better results for a specific group of students. And guess what? Because you’re offering such a targeted solution, you can charge more too.

I say…

👋 High five to that 👋

In my own business, I leverage my experience of going from employee to entrepreneur. Put simply, I help busy entrepreneurs do what I’ve done:

Create a thriving freedom business to leave their 9-5 for good.

Need more help with finding your niche? Then this video is for you:

Next up: Deciding if you want to get certified.

2. Get certified

Many new coaches think they need a certification to start coaching.

But here’s the thing:

So many of my clients run thriving six-figure businesses without a coaching certification.

How do they do that?

By delivering amazing results.

And THAT’s what your dream clients really care about.

Quote by Luisa Zhou

That said, if you’re a new coach, a certification can:

  • Boost your credibility
  • Increase your self-confidence

Just make sure to get certified by an accredited organization.

I’ll go over the top options in a bit. But first, let’s set up your academic coaching packages to deliver great results.

3. Create and price a coaching package

One of the biggest mistakes new coaches make?

They charge by the hour.

Instead, I recommend you work with coaching packages.

More specifically, start with a three-month program priced at $1,500.

I explain why this format works so well in this video:

But in short, I learned from experience…

While I managed to sell my very first coaching package for $5,000, I also received many rejections.

Rejection email (old)

The thing to remember here is that you can always change the price of your coaching package.

That’s what I did. I knew I had to lower my rates — at least for a little while.

And as soon as I gathered more experience and testimonials, I raised my prices back up to $5,000 and beyond.

By then, I had already built a glowing reputation. And I also noticed another change:

My new clients started coming to me instead of the other way around…

Get the Ultimate Guide

for building a
6-Figure Coaching Business so you can achieve more freedom!

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4. Get your first clients

Before new clients start coming to you, you’ll first need to go out and find some yourself.

The good news:

It isn’t as complicated as it sounds.

In fact, with the right strategy, it can be pretty straightforward.

Here are three great methods to find your first coaching clients:

  • Your network: Start by asking around. Maybe someone you know could use academic coaching — or they might refer you to someone else.
  • Social media: Figure out where your target audience hangs out and join them there.
  • Podcasts: Joining academic podcasts is perfect for increasing your visibility and credibility.

In this video, I share how to land your first clients within the next five days:

Found your first client? Then it’s time to offer them a transformative experience.

5. Work with your clients

The core of your coaching should focus on getting results.

So, set an overall goal with each client and break it down into achievable milestones.

Then, break those milestones down even further into relevant subgoals.

These subgoals will guide your one-on-one coaching sessions.

 Detailed structure of a coaching call

Now you’ve got a better idea of how to become an academic coach, let’s go over the top academic coaching certifications.

What are the best academic coaching certification programs?

You don’t need an academic coaching certification to start coaching, but it can be beneficial.

The thing is, with so many certification programs available, it’s often hard to choose…

So, I’ve gathered the top four options to make your choice easier.

Academic Coach Certification and Training Program

Coach Training Edu’s academic coach certification program

Coach Training EDU teaches you how to inspire students and improve their learning experience.

The program consists of three courses:

  • 1.0 Foundational Academic Life Coaching Training
  • Mentor coaching and business building
  • 2.0 Advanced Coach Training

You can combine the courses or take them on their own. Plus, you can add specialties in wellness and executive coaching.

Program details:

  • Duration: 12 months (for the complete program)
  • Cost: $7,497
  • Mode of delivery: Online
  • Accreditation: ICF
  • Requirements: None to apply

Instructional Coaching Penn GSE Certificate

Penn GSE’s academic coach certification program

Penn GSE’s program is perfect if you want to coach teachers rather than students.

This niche is known as instructional coaching.

With this program, you’ll learn the necessary skills to improve teaching performance. Plus, you’ll get to practice essential coaching skills with an expert.

Program details:

  • Duration: Eight months
  • Cost: $3,950
  • Mode of delivery: Online
  • Accreditation: MSCHE
  • Requirements: None to apply

Academic Life Coaching Program

Academic Life Coaching’s academic coach certification program

Academic Life Coaching is part of Coach Training EDU.

Their Transformation Package includes the 1.0 Academic Life Coach Training Course and mentor coaching.

The goal is to help you launch your own coaching practice within six months.

Program details:

  • Duration: Six months
  • Cost: $5,228
  • Mode of delivery: Online
  • Accreditation: ICF
  • Requirements: None to apply

ACA Coach Training Program

ACA Coach Academies’ academic coach certification program

ACA Coach Academies offers a comprehensive Academic Coach Training program.

It covers the essentials of coaching and ethics. Plus, you’ll learn advanced skills like effective listening and questioning.

Program details:

  • Duration: Five months
  • Cost: $7,995 (or $5,995 if paid in full)
  • Mode of delivery: Online
  • Accreditation: ICF
  • Requirements: None to apply

So, those are the top academic coaching certifications. But how can you pick the right one for you?

Let’s tackle that next.

How do you choose the right academic coach certification program?

When picking an academic coaching certification, I recommend focusing on these six factors:

  • Accreditation
  • Reputation
  • Cost
  • Length
  • Curriculum
  • Flexibility
What to look out for when choosing an academic coaching certification program

Ideally, you want to choose a reputable organization with accredited certifications.

For instance, the International Coaching Federation (ICF) is widely respected in the coaching field.

So, programs accredited by them usually have a higher standard of training.

The ICF works with three credential levels:

  • Associate Certified Coach (ACC): 100 coaching hours with 8+ clients and 60 training hours
  • Professional Certified Coach (PCC): 500 coaching hours with 25+ clients and 125 training hours
  • Master Certified Coach (MCC): 2,500 coaching hours with 35+ clients and 200 training hours

Each level also requires you to complete mentor coaching, a performance evaluation, and a written examination.

📘 I dive deeper into picking the right certification in this guide.

Just keep in mind that getting certified can increase your earnings, but it’s NOT a guarantee.

Let me explain…

How much does an academic coach make?

How much you’ll earn as an academic coach depends on several factors:

  • Experience
  • Niche
  • Location
  • Certification

According to Salary.com, US academic coaches earn $54,783 on average.

Is it possible to earn more than that? Yes, that’s just an average academic coach salary. When you’re self-employed, you set your own rates. Ultimately, clients pay for the results you help them get. 

Get the Ultimate Guide

for building a
6-Figure Coaching Business so you can achieve more freedom!

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Next steps

Awesome! You now know how to become an academic coach and build a successful coaching career.

Having an academic coaching certification can add to your credibility.

But your dream clients care much more about the results you help them achieve.

Want to know how you can help them get these results?

Then check out my free blueprint for building a six-figure coaching business

It’s helped thousands of my students become successful coaches and can help you do the same!

Read more:

How to Start an Online Coaching Business

The Best Business Courses for Coaches

How to Plan a Highly Effective Coaching Session

What is Your Coaching Philosophy?

About Luisa Zhou

Luisa Zhou has helped thousands of students build and scale their own profitable online Freedom Business. Fun Fact: She used to work as an engineer for the Space Station and holds a B.S.E. from Princeton. Click here to learn more about Luisa.

Hope you enjoy this blog post.

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