A Human Capital Approach to Academic Advising
Human capital, defined as any characteristic of a worker that contributes to that worker's productivity, is presented in this article as a unifying theme for academic advising in higher education. Five categories of human capital–formal education, adult education, on-the-job-training, health, and geographic mobility–and academic advising issues related to developing students' human capital in each category are presented. Students' vocational interests are identified with developing their human capital, and the principle of maximizing human capital is introduced as a basis for students' choices of academic curricula and particular courses and programs.
Contributor Notes
Leigh Shaffer received his Ph.D. in social psychology at The Pennsylvania State University and is Professor of Sociology and Interim Coordinator of Institutional Research at West Chester University. His research interests include the impact of technology on society. This article is a revision of a paper by the same title which was presented at the National Student Success Conference in Wichita, Kansas, March, 1997. Correspondence concerning this article may be addressed to Leigh S. Shaffer, Office of Research and Planning, 809 Roslyn, West Chester University, West Chester, PA 19335. Electronic mail may be sent via the Internet to lshaffer@wcupa.edu.
