Lamar University’s Student Teaching and Retention Services department is hiring academic coaches for spring 2026 semester and will accept applications until the end of fall.
STARS offers services to help students with learning, including academic coaching and tutoring.
“The coaches are just here to help,” Sophia Ramirez, STARS student support specialist in academic coaching, said. “I really make sure that the coaches plan their sessions out so that it’s the best possible solution for the student that came to seek for help.”
Ramirez is responsible for hiring STARS academic coaches for spring 2026. Students can make between $12 and $15 an hour.
“We do pay our academic coaches — it’s the highest-paying job on campus,” Ramirez said.
Kennedy Bennett, Beaumont senior, has been a STARS academic coach for about eight months.
“What we do is help students with their time management, recalling stuff for tests, implementing test strategies,” Bennett said. “It’s not just for people that are on probation, and that’s the one thing I always want to tell people.”
According to the student’s needs, they may be guided to academic tutors which are located in 140 Galloway Business Building, Bennett said.
Bennett, who is a psychology major with a pre-med concentration, said coaching has given her valuable experience that will help her in the future.
“I already learned a lot about different study strategies, and I felt like I could actually help students with that,” she said. “I’m trying to apply to medical school and being a peer educator is a big art of the application and academic coaching is one of the ways to help me achieve that path. I’ve never been a peer educator before, and I wanted to challenge myself.”
Ramirez said she hopes students will take advantage of STARS free services.
“We’re just really trying to get all of the resources to be known throughout the student body, because a lot of them don’t know that this is here for them,” she said. “And if they do, they think that they have to pay for it, (but) it is already included in your tuition.”
To apply to be an academic coach or to seek academic help, visit 109 Communication Building, or email starstutoring@lamar.edu.