Insider Information: Advisors' Perspectives on the Effectiveness of Enhanced Advising Programs for Community College Students

Intensive developmental advising.

An established advising approach closely aligned to EAPs is intensive developmental advising. Through this approach, the advisor seeks to establish shared responsibility in the overall development of the student toward educational, personal and career goals (Crookston, 1994; Grites, 2013; Winston et al., 1984). Developmental advising is a holistic approach for facilitating student growth which relies on a strong advisor-student relationship (Winston et al., 1984). A key underpinning to this approach is the developmental advising process as a learning opportunity for both the student and the advisor, as well as a teaching opportunity for the advisor (Grites, 2013).

Assigned advisors.

The assignment of a single advisor to a student is far from atypical in advising programs; however, the single advisor structure is less frequently utilized at the community college. In a survey, NACADA (2011b) found that 31.8% of two-year college respondents reported assigning academic advisors, compared to 56.0% of public baccalaureate institution respondents. A study by Donaldson et al. (2016) reported that students attributed rapport with an advisor to the assignment of and multiple meetings with a single advisor.

Mandatory student participation.

Advising may be delivered to students as an optional resource, or participation in advising may be considered mandatory by the institution. Glennan and Baxley (1985) established the need for mandatory advising based on the principle that advisors should not assume that students know when or how to seek advising support, nor should they assume students are aware of all pertinent questions to ask advisors. First-generation students entering a community college may not self-identify issues or seek assistance on their own (Upcraft & Kramer, 1995). The intrusive and proactive approaches to advising are closely related to the concept of mandatory advising. Earl (1988) established that interventions can be deployed to teach new students how to overcome the challenges of orientating to the college environment and that such interventions should not rely on student motivation but should be intrusively provided based on student need. Varney (2013) defined proactive advising as a strategic intervention designed to promote student motivation, establish student-advisor engagement, support student success, inform students of available options, and address issues before they exacerbate. Mandatory advising is less common at community colleges than at public universities. According to a 2011 survey, only 20.5% of two-year institution respondents indicated that advising was mandatory, compared to 56% at public baccalaureate institutions (NACADA, 2011a).

Strategic recommendations for EAPs.

As aforementioned, this study considers the recommendations made by the CCRC (2013a) for strategic advising to strengthen EAPs at community colleges. The CCRC recommends utilization of the SSIP (sustained, strategic, intrusive and integrated, and personalized) approach for identifying activities to strengthen EAPs. Within the SSIP framework, the CCRC promotes the use and long-term sustainment of strategic advising support based on student need.

The CCRC also encourages community colleges to integrate career advising into academic advising (2013a). This recommendation is echoed in step two of O'Banion's (2012) advising model, in which advisors support students with the exploration of vocational goals as they relate to program and course selection. Gordon (2006) described the integration of career and academic advising as a process that “helps students understand how their personal interests, abilities, and values might predict success in the academic and career fields they are considering and how to form their academic and career goals accordingly” (p. 12). This directly connects to Super's (1976) developmental self-concept theory that places emphasis on stages of life and career development.

Another recommendation for enhanced advising programs is the integration of e-advising to support in-person advising (CCRC, 2013a). The CCRC specifically frames e-advising systems as access to “online advising resources” that supplement face-to-face advising. Margolin et al. (2013) found that community college websites serve as a potential source of advising information for students but that institutions typically struggle to provide useful information in a user-friendly manner. In addition to enhancing the information available to students on the college website, Jaggars and Karp (2016) recommended leveraging more e-advising systems to track students and identify those at risk. There are various risks and benefits associated with e-advising. To ensure e-advising is successful, for example, students must be taught how to self-advise (Jaggars & Karp, 2016). On the other hand, although face-to-face advising cannot be replaced by e-advising, the high cost of increasing human capital to provide intensive advising to each student creates the need for less expensive pathways to deliver key information that supplements face-to-face advising (CCRC, 2013a).

Advisors and faculty members are also encouraged to collaborate to establish common learning goals related to metacognitive skill-building programs both inside and outside the classroom. One such method for doing so is the utilization of student success courses (CCRC, 2013c). Student success courses address metacognitive skills such as time management and learning strategies while serving as an opportunity for faculty members to integrate student services functions like academic planning into the curriculum (CCRC 2013c). This recommendation underscores advising's foundation as a teaching role in which the advisor seeks to facilitate student learning (Drake, 2013). The advisor is tasked with teaching students to successfully navigate the college experience in both academic and cocurricular aspects (Drake, 2013).

Requiring student participation.

Advisors reported that an EAP would not be effective without requiring student participation. Advisors also noted that mandatory advising is a key component to student follow-through with advising activities and scheduled appointments. Brianna described the importance of required advising for community college students:

At first, I didn't like the mandatory [participation] because at the end of the day we're all dealing with young adults and they do have a right to make a decision, but as you're working with some students at the community college, you notice that they need that extra push.

Employing mandatory advising removes the reliance on student self-motivation to seek help and changes advising resources from an optional benefit to something required of students to progress toward their educational goals.

Supporting and reinforcing participation.

Advisors discussed the importance of support and reinforcement for students who may not follow through on required advising activities. Multiple advisors commented that, in past semesters, the EAP lacked clear consequences for non-participation other than the missed opportunity for developing a comprehensive pathway. Describing the need for student record holds, Karen stated, “As long as the holds are not on there, they go and come and blow you off and say, hey, this is not important.” Advisors noted the added extrinsic motivation these holds delivered, as students who were previously unreachable began contacting their advisor once the hold was put in place.

Employing group advising sessions.

In addition to individual sessions, TSCC also employs group advising sessions that take place in the student success course classroom. Daniel observed that “a lot of students respond better when they are in a group of people rather than by themselves.” In terms of engagement, some advisors believed that a student may be better served and more likely to engage in a group session rather than an individual session. While some students may thrive and open up in an individualized setting, others may benefit from the learning environment of a group session through peer collaboration and by hearing answers to questions posed by other students that the student may not have asked in an individual session. Advisors believed that taking advising to the classroom and, therefore, where the student is, should be incorporated into EAPs to complement one-on-one sessions and reach students who may not have otherwise participated in EAP activities.

Effective electronic resources.

Advisors discussed the importance of accessible and effective advising-related information on the college website. A combination of student-based technology deficiencies and institution-based technology inefficiencies were perceived as a barrier to successful participation in advising within the EAP. Multiple advisors mentioned that the TSCC website was cluttered and difficult to navigate. Others noted that the Interactive Academic Advisement Report (iAAR) that displays a student's degree plan and tracks progress is not user-friendly and may be inaccurate. Advisors observed that TSCC had recently committed to upgrading the student website experience and creating a single student-specific portal that connects resources and platforms. Ava reported that she was “so glad that [TSCC] is revamping the website because it is much easier to find information on the [TSCC] website right now. So that's extremely important.”

To summarize, a key beneficial characteristic of EAPs identified by advisors in this study is the potential to improve student participation in advising activities. Improving student participation depends upon several components of EAPs, including requiring student participation, offering support and reinforcement for participation, employing group advising sessions, and providing effective electronic resources. The next theme examines how EAPs facilitate stronger student engagement with academic advising.

Assigned advisors.

Advisors suggested that the assignment of a specific advisor to each student creates an opportunity to build a relationship that allows for a more individualized and valuable advising experience. Advisors highlighted the importance of a student meeting with someone who already knows them and their academic goals so that the student does not have to repeat their background and needs to a new advisor at each meeting point. Students are afforded an opportunity to establish a trusted “go-to” person whenever support is needed. Luis provided an example of the potential impact individualized support can have:

You know, I never know the end result of what we do, but I do feel that it impacts the students' lives, whether a lot or a little, I don't know. I was very touched by a lady… I was in a hurry to leave one night […] and I hear this little lady say, “Mr. [advisor's name], Mr. [advisor's name],” and I started walking backwards because I wanted to go. “Hey, wait, wait, I just want to say, thank you.” She said, “I don't know if you remember me, but two years ago or three years ago, I was about to quit and I came and saw you because we have to sign for the drops and I wanted to drop all my courses because things were bad that semester and you said ‘try and salvage the semester because after this one you only have one semester. Four courses and you're finished.' Well I stayed, I passed it and I passed the next one and I got my Associate of Arts. I wasn't sure I wanted to go to the university, but I did, and I got my bachelor's degree. And tonight, I come here asking for another transcript because I'm going to graduate school.”

These services and support structures can sometimes seem insignificant, even to the advisors who provide them, though it is clear that the benefits of individualized support can be far-reaching.

Establishing rapport.

Rapport was defined through interviews with advisors as the development of a relationship in which the advisor and advisee learn more about each other, fostering trust and a feeling of openness with one another. As Jessie described it:

You build a better relationship and they feel more comfortable with telling you things that they normally would not tell you. It opens them up to share more about what's going on because it's not just the academics, it's everything that's going on in their lives.

Advisors suggested that as rapport is developed, there emerges a beneficial opportunity for students to receive individualized support addressing a myriad of different issues specific to their needs.

Individualized support.

Developing a relationship and rapport through the EAP allowed advisors to individualize support by asking questions related to student-specific topics and receiving honest feedback from the student. This extends advising beyond degree planning activities such as major selection and course scheduling. Individualized support fosters an opportunity to answer questions related to the student's acclimation to the college experience, manage student enrollment concerns, and connect students to available resources on campus based on need. Daniel discussed his goal for students to see him as a resource and advocate:

You build a better relationship [in which] they have an advocate for them, first and foremost. My priority is for them to know they have someone they can talk to and they can get help from. You have those students who are confident and they know what they are going to do and they just need us to kind of check-in, but there are other students who need us to […] guide them through the whole process. I hope that students get that they have someone that's in their corner.

Advisors reported examples such as the opportunity to refer a struggling math student to tutoring services or a student coping with the loss of a loved one to the counseling department.

Stronger engagement with advising is a key characteristic of EAPs as identified by advisors in this study. This engagement is possible through the components of EAPs that include assigned advisors, advisor efforts to establish rapport, and individualized support in advising sessions. The next theme to be discussed is how EAPs foster the proactive construction of an educational plan.

Degree and course mapping.

In relation to degree planning, students are able to access a list of required courses for a specific program from the college website or through the electronic advisement report. However, advisors noted that these lists often contain multiple course options that satisfy a degree requirement, as well as courses that should be completed in a particular order, resulting in confusion and/or poor planning if selected without support. Nearly all the advisors interviewed felt strongly that students who comprehensively plan out courses as part of the EAP have a clear plan outlined toward goal completion and a better understanding of time to degree. Daniel explained that he “found that […] those students who are actually spending that time, putting that time into the planner, they have a definitive plan they can go to and they don't have to come to me as much.” This can be especially informative to students on a part-time enrollment track who may not understand that a two- or four-year degree is typically achieved by completing approximately fifteen credit hours per fall and spring semester. Completing an individual plan with an advisor allows a student to see their pathway laid out by semester, which can provide the student with critical information on appropriate course load and adjustment of priorities.

Transfer planning.

Several advisors noted the importance of quality transfer advising. Academic advisors discussed guiding EAP students on program and course options best suited to not only satisfy TSCC's associate degree plan but also cover degree requirements at their university of choice. Advisors reported working with students to compare course options to help them maximize course selection efficiency. Jada provided a summary of what her transfer advising process looks like:

I print out the transfer guide to the school they're looking at, or schools if it's more than one. In the case of the student that I met with yesterday, there are two transfer plans, the B.A. and the B.S., and he ended up choosing the B.A. So, I try to cover all of that and I make the student aware of what classes are not covered in the Academic Planner so that they are aware that those are things that they still need to factor in. And then for the electives, I let them know to do that at the end, as well as the math and science. In the student case that I had yesterday, he was already taking Math for Liberal Arts, so I let him know that one of the math classes [was] going to have to count as an elective.

Advisors noted that students find the process of concurrent degree planning to fulfill community college requirements as well as transfer to a university to be confusing, so the opportunity to review transfer planning decisions with an advisor is particularly beneficial and avoids potential errors.

Advising beyond degree planning.

Advisors stressed that comprehensive educational planning extends beyond mapping out courses and meeting institutional degree requirements; it also includes addressing and planning for student-specific issues such as work and family obligations or referrals to on-campus/community resources specific to student needs. Luis said he hopes that after students participate in the EAP, “they are more familiar with the resources that are available to them, like the library, career services, also how to find information.” Daniel reported making it a goal to discuss “any of the barriers [students] feel they have” and to “go into discussions about barriers: financial aid, or if you're having problems with an instructor that has an accent.”

Facilitating plan adjustments.

Several advisors noted that even students who appear well prepared and enter college with a clear pathway may benefit from academic planning within the EAP. Some students think they are on the right track but “don't know that they're lost,” according to Diego. Daniel explained this succinctly by noting:

I think they have an idea, but so many of our students come in and they say they printed something online and this is what [they] want to do and a lot of times that stuff is not updated so they think they are knowledgeable but they need to be corrected… They don't really have the knowledge that they need about their degree plan.

With so many options available to students, from academic to technical programs of varying lengths and content, the EAP offers advisors the opportunity to reduce confusion and lay out a clear path for students to accomplish their goals.

Advisors reported that the proactive construction of an educational plan is a beneficial characteristic of EAPs. This characteristic is supported by the components of EAPs that include degree and course mapping, transfer planning, advising beyond degree planning, and facilitating plan adjustments. In the following section, the results of this study will be further discussed and placed in context with the established literature.