It is well known that retention of every student is simply not possible. As academic advisors we understand that, for some students, transferring or stopping-out is a legitimate strategy for attaining long term personal or professional success. Yet, on many campuses, talk of retention focuses on retaining “all” students. As a result, some colleges have developed overly-broad retention strategies that disjoint campus units and ignore the role of identity in the retention of at-risk ethnic and cultural minorities. A more effective alternative is the development of a focused retention framework that utilizes assessment to identify those most at risk for early institutional departure and then seeks to develop culturally relevant programmatic interventions for their success.
[Read the rest of this article...]
As more and more Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, and Marines return home from war, there is a greater need than ever for educational institutions to provide these students with resources and support. Academic advisors are in an ideal position to both advocate for this student group and to provide the support services these students need to transition to academia, persist through their programs, and reach their graduation goals.
Achieving in college is the proverbial mountain that so many students face. For some students, specifically those coming from disadvantaged backgrounds, the mountain presents a daunting task and they are unsure about whether they have the tools or ability to reach the top. These students can be called our “at risk” students or students who are on the edge of academic failure. As a new advisor in the College of Education, I was responsible for creating a success plan that would address the needs of students having academic difficulty. So here I was, standing at the top of the mountain and attempting to map out a plan that would support the students in their climb to success.
Nurtured Advising can benefit students at many colleges and universities, but it is essential at HBCUs. Although originally established to educate descendants of African slaves, historically black institutions have become a gateway of opportunity for black students to compete in today’s society. When the relationship between the student and the advisor is such that the student knows that the advisor cares for him as an individual, the student feels he has support.
Student success and educational effectiveness are top priorities, especially if we expect to see successful student transitions on today’s campuses. Academic advisors who help students integrate life management skills and find solid support networks will assist these students in creating a foundation for coping with collegiate level academic stress. Advisors who are aware of the needs of first year students can make the difference as students learn to navigate the halls of academia.
A good advisor is essential when “real life” gets in the way. In graduate school, it is very possible for students to fall through the cracks....Graduate school can be tough. The biggest challenge is finishing.... Discipline and working with others can help graduate students see the light at the end of the tunnel. It can be done. Parents, professors, and society encourage education, yet at the highest echelons of education, some students may find that there is not enough support. Advisors can help students strategize and find the inner strength and the discipline needed to complete what they began.
However, based on my research, I would add a supplemental advising approach that incorporates aspects of Bandura’s (1989) four sources of self-efficacy.
Native Americans have attended college in the United States since colonial times. Unfortunately, the experience of most Native students at predominantly White institutions has not been entirely positive...Two major barriers still remain for Native Americans: the struggle to get into college and, if admitted, the struggle to successfully complete a degree. The desire to remove these barriers was behind the start of the Tribal College movement.
As members of the NACADA Board of Directors, the AAT Editorial Board, and the Executive Office staff have talked with our membership around the globe, it has become clear that we share a common concern about the pressures that we all face in the current economic climate. We open this edition with the positive, constructive measures that have been taken at Georgia Perimeter College to ensure the success of the academic advising program at that institution.
As our collegiate communities contemplate revenue shortfalls and endowment shrinkages, many of our students are facing financial concerns. Regardless of external situations, it is incumbent that PDR advisors remember that the student is the heart of the educational enterprise.
The number of students with documented disabilities - physical, cognitive, psychiatric or medical - has been steadily increasing on campuses across the country...Advisors are uniquely positioned to support students with disabilities and awareness of changes in the law, such as with the ADA Amendment Act, are important.
Advisors on campuses across the U.S. have noted increased numbers of military students enrolled at their institutions...higher education must respond to the needs of these students with programs that aid smooth transitions if these students' collegiate experiences are to be meaningful.
An increasing number of veterans are attending college campuses...It is important that academic advisors and counselors have an understanding of PTSD and the military culture in order to better serve these proud service members.
Many experts see a nationwide decline in math-preparedness. The NACADA Two-Year College Commission suggests that advisors discuss a series of questions in regard to working with students underprepared in mathematics.
Foster Care Alumni are an often overlooked student subgroup within the First Generation student population.
Advisors play such an essential role in a college student’s experience. We are a teacher, a guide, a coach, a case manager, and an attorney all rolled up into one. We are presented with cases, complaints, and offenses all the time. However, before we make our closing arguments, before we are ready to rule, I believe that we should first take the time to dig.
If the cure for apathy has anything to do with its antonym, then the best way we can overcome this epidemic is to increase our activism, vigor, and purpose. It is a daunting task, but as professional and faculty advisors, we can reverse the effects of apathy in order to strengthen our institutions and promote student retention and success.
As veterans transition from a military to collegiate setting, both veterans and the campus communities must adjust to the change and the differing value systems held within the military and academic communities.
Advisors play an important role in the success of non-traditional students. It is critical that we reflect upon our advisor preparation and expectations if we are to help them succeed.
When academic advisors create partnerships with secondary school stakeholders, the results are far-reaching...
Successful college matriculation demands not only the rhetorical commitment to higher education but to a life structured to an acceptance that graduation from college is possible...The role of the advisor is to assist the student in making reasoned choices, acquiring needed skills, and serving as the “reality check” that will make college possible.
Three primary lessons have been learned in the years since Louisiana State University Eunice’s Pathways to Success program began: (1) students follow directions if they know what to do, (2) the program is labor intensive, and (3) communication, cooperation, and consensus-building are crucial.
Students with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) are arriving on college campuses in greater numbers. While the reason for this increase can be debated, the need to develop skills to work with these students cannot be. Advisors – whether professional or faculty – can play a significant role in helping these students realize success both inside and outside the classroom.
Ellyn Schwartzbauer was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome (AS) in 8th grade. This article is based upon a paper written by Ellyn as part of a Developmental Psychology course requirement at the College of St. Benedict in St. Joseph, MN. As a successful college student with AS, she wishes to promote awareness of AS to college academic advisors.
While developing the blog, we kept in mind two main goals: create original and relevant content, and provide a welcoming and empowering virtual space to help students academically succeed..
Advisors have an opportunity to dramatically increase pregnant and parenting students’ chances of academic success, retention, and persistence. Preparation for advising a pregnant or parenting student will help advisors respond supportively and provide needed tools to help parenting students successfully navigate the dual roles of being a student and parent.
As I learned more about Proactive Advising, I found that I could apply it in all areas of advising: retention, at risk student advising, critical outreach points, and student communication and difficult situations.
While investigating the underachievement of underserved Students of Color (SOCs) is imperative, examining those who succeed is also important so we can learn how to help more SOCs be high-achieving. This study aims to create knowledge regarding what advisors can do to positively affect the motivation of SOCs by using the Culturally Engaging Campus Environments (CECE) Model of Success (Museus, 2014b) as a framework that explains the impact of campus environments, acknowledges the role of motivation and success, addresses the limitations of traditional perspectives, and focuses specifically on SOCs.
Most researchers now agree that perfectionism is multifaceted, encompassing a wide range of behaviors and attitudes. In order to support student success, academic advisors should recognize the signs of both adaptive and maladaptive perfectionism in students and learn ways to encourage healthy, adaptive perfectionism while helping students with a maladaptive perfectionistic mindset to cope more constructively with challenges.
With increasing numbers of student veterans entering the nation’s colleges and universities, it is critical that professionals in higher education understand the unique perspectives and experiences they bring to the campus and that appropriate models to support their academic success are developed.
Much like letting young adults spread their wings, an advisor needs to be alert, offering assistance when necessary, but knowing when to let the student “learn the ropes” of academic life to ensure they become strong, independent learners.
First generation college students face a variety of social and conceptual barriers. The author contends that, in attempting to gain a greater profundity of understanding regarding the experiences of FGCS, it may be helpful to examine the experiences of other student groups who may, to an extent, have overlapping or similar experiences.
Students who do not meet minimum grade point average (GPA) requirements are generally placed on an academic warning or probationary status that is often universally applied to all students and administrated by faculty or advisors. However, each students’ reasons for missing this academic mark are unique. Regular connection with an advisor can be very impactful and meaningful to students because they are able to articulate their obstacles to someone in an open dialogue.
Currently trending at many institutions, early-alert programs have become institutional priorities to improve student retention. It is imperative to note that regardless of the technological platform used to drive these retention initiatives, there is a human factor that proves vital in this process.
The author has found that the “teach-a-man-to-fish” philosophy supports the notion of challenging our limitations; asking unprompted, imperfect questions; and relentlessly seeking answers to simple as well as complex questions.
To be an expert on the culture of all students that advisors advise and teach is unrealistic. However, getting to know each student in terms of their personal stories and backgrounds is doable. This is particularly important as the student population in higher education continues to diversify.
Just as we expect our students to fulfill the promise they made to the institution by working hard toward graduation, we as an institution must strive to fulfill the promise we make to every student that, regardless of the difficulties they face academically or personally, we will help them reach graduation and develop into mature, intellectually curious and capable adults.
Occasionally, students enter their advising session with personal baggage to share with their advisor that detours the conversation away from the normal advising issues. Knowledge of psychological first aid (PFA) give advisors tools to support students who are striving to overcome a traumatically challenging situation before making a referral to another support resource on or off campus.
The high-involvement intervention model encourages developmental advising by providing students with an opportunity to gain knowledge and maintain ownership of their decisions and experiences, while at the same time allowing advisors to become an integral part of student success and development.
Establishing a Director of Student Academic Success position provided an opportunity to rethink outreach at the author’s institution. The goal was to remove as many barriers as possible, which resulted in distinct changes.
By accessing available student data store in institution’s enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, the athletics department at Nicholls State University was able to share with the coaching staff important and time sensitive information at critical and relevant points in the semester. In an effort to replicate the athletics department success, an initiative began to implement this strategy within an academic college, where data points were accessed and then reported to department chairs and faculty advisors to provide relevant data for a more intrusive advising approach with students who appear on these lists.
When academic advisors collaborate with institutional research professionals on their campuses for such an endeavor, it is important to move beyond the data which is readily available to institutional researchers to find sufficient data points for academic advisors to determine where to focus their student mentoring efforts.
With the student at the center of The University of Texas at Tyler’s efforts, Persistence and Retention Teams have been implemented to streamline employee communication to diminish the silo effect and find resolutions to student issues as efficiently as possible.
For decades, higher ed institutions have been pondering how to improve retention and degree completion rates. And yet, in spite of all kinds of programs and centers and initiatives, few have really moved the needle much in the right direction. In the search for the easy answer to a complex question: How can we help our students persist?, institutions have overlooked the fact that we have been asking the wrong question all along. The revision should read: How can we help our student persist? And we need to ask it thousands of times.
Two of the greatest barriers to implementing high-quality early intervention programs are the challenges of generating faculty buy-in and determining a reliable set of predictors. Advisors may be uniquely qualified to serve as intervention agents due to the relationships they form with students, often beginning at orientation.
This article will help academic advisors understand what ADHD is, how it impacts today’s college students, and what they can do to help those students.
It is common for undergraduate students to encounter barriers to timely graduation, and some of these barriers are inadvertently placed before students by institutional or administrative structures, routines, practices, and procedures. An office like the University of Texas at Arlington Graduation Help Desk, with the help of the advising community, can make an impact.
The ability to be academically successful and persist in a college setting is multifaceted, and students are frequently subjected to multiple risk factors. In recent years, learning analytics and early alert platforms have become more prevalent, thus enabling campuses to proactively and intrusively offer support to students who are indicated by data as being at-risk of failing or dropping out. By considering these themes, advisors can begin to gain a better understanding of the challenges At-Risk First Year Students may encounter.
