Obtaining an appointment at the Counseling Center can seem both endless and exhausting.
After the Roundup conducted a random poll of 150 students on the Mall last week, 56 students said the Counseling Center did little to nothing to help, whereas the remaining 94 thought that it was pointless to even go.
The third option in the poll asked students if they had ever gone to the center. The answer? Zero.
For both full-time and part-time students looking to transfer to a four-year university or earn their AA degree at Pierce College, academic advisement should be mandatory.
This is an opportunity for students to meet with their academic advisor and review courses that have been taken in order to better assess which classes should be taken next term.
The Counseling Center on campus can create a new system that creates ease and flexibility for both advisers and students.
CSUN seems to make their student advisement procedure to work.
Each department at CSUN has an office with student files that include up-to-date transcripts. Students are to pick up their file prior to attending their advisor’s office hours.
Next, the student reports to their advisor and is given suggestions on what step needs to be taken next. This is a requirement before the students are allowed to register.
The outcome of making advisement mandatory is to assist students in fulfilling and achieving their academic and professional goals and to help facilitate a timely graduation date.
A pitfall at Pierce is the lack of bodies able to make time to see the numerous students in a timely manner.
According to the Los Angeles Community College District, there are 22,139 students at Pierce. Of those, approximately 6,000 students are full-time, more than 8,000 are aiming to transfer, almost 4,000 students want to earn their AA degree and roughly 3,500 students are undecided.
Pierce has 10 full-time counselors available to students needing academic counseling, and 4 part-time counselors. That would mean each counselor would need to see 1,000 students prior to the registration dates.
If that deems to be too difficult, then here’s an idea.
Instead of limiting advisement to the campus counselors, advisors can include the faculty and staff. Department chairs and both full-time and part-time professors can become advisors based on their area of expertise.
The process can now be easy and time efficient. With the faculty and staff taking on the roll of advisor, more time is created for students to fulfill on this requirement.
No additional time needs to be put in by faculty. Since each professor must offer office hours, those times can be used for both students who need help in class and who need to schedule their advisement.
