Roles and Responsibilities of Academic Advisors
Academic advising is a cooperative effort between the advisor, other program and related faculty, and the Student Support Services counselor. Designed to assist the college’s students in succeeding academically, academic advising recognizes the importance of student decision making and sees others as support for the students’ personal goals and responsibilities.
Retention and support of students are critical during the first semester of students’ enrollment at the institution and need to be continued throughout students’ educational programs. Students’ instructors and advisors have specific responsibilities for the provision of the services related to counseling and advising.
The advisor’s role in the student-centered advisement model at the college is to work cooperatively with the Student Support Services counselor to provide ongoing assistance to students. The advisor receives appropriate training in the college delivery model to be able to facilitate students in their progress toward reaching their educational goals.
The advisor has responsibilities in three major areas: registration, academic support, and graduation.
Registration
Advisors perform the following functions:
- Help students clarify their program choices and provide information to students.
- May provide personal contact that includes the advisor name and role. This contact may be made by letter, note, phone call, or email to students after an application has been received. Additional mid-term contact regarding course registration/scheduling is expected.
- Are accessible.
- Meet with students twice the first semester (once within the first three weeks and again prior to registration) and at least once each semester thereafter.
- Assist new students in registration and coordinate the registration of continuing students.
- Work collaboratively with Developmental Studies advisors to ensure that students are placed into appropriate developmental courses.
Early and Final Registration
Once students have been admitted and have received their placement test scores, they are assigned advisors based on their selected field of study or developmental needs. Students requiring developmental coursework are advised by developmental advisors until they are ready to begin college-level work.
Students should be encouraged to plan in advance for the registration process. Advisors are readily available to enroll students during the advertised weeks of early registration or during the final registration period. However, students may be advised by appointment only at other times.
Students should be strongly encouraged to register during early registration for two reasons. First, if there is a high demand for a particular class, it is much easier to open a second section during early registration than during late registration. Second, classes are much less likely to be full, so the chances that students will get exactly the schedule they want are greatly improved. Students who register early have until the end of the current semester to pay their fees. If they do not pay by the end of the semester, they are deregistered and have to begin the process again during final registration.
If students are on financial aid, their records in Colleague should indicate the award. If the award is not found in the records and students claim to be receiving aid, they need to return to the Financial Aid Office in order to get the award posted before they are allowed to register.
Deregistration
Once students register with advisors, their spot is held until they pay their fees or until the next “deregistration” occurs. Deregistration is a process performed by the Registrar that removes from courses all registered students who have not paid their tuition and fees. This removal occurs three times: at the end of the current semester in which they registered, at the end of final registration (the day before the semester begins), and at the 10 percent point of the semester. Students must pay their fees before the next deregistration is scheduled, or they have to start the registration process over again and may not get the courses they had originally signed up for. Failure to pay is not a problem for students on financial aid since their tuition and fees are automatically deducted from their award.
Academic Support
Advisors perform the following functions:
- Provide adequate time with all students to determine issues and resolve them.
- Refer students to a Student Support Services counselor when it is appropriate (academic and personal problems, crisis situations, instructor/student issues).
- Refer students to other student support services within the college when appropriate (Career Counseling, Job Placement, Tutoring, Special Needs).
- Are the first stop for students needing help outside the classroom.
- Provide information about the college policies and procedures in the Student Handbook and College Catalog while stressing the responsibilities of students.
- Follow up on assigned advisees identified through the Academic Support System.
- Ensure that students who do not show up for class or who have poor class attendance are referred to the Student Services counselor.
- Monitor progress of advisees who are on probation/suspension due to the college policy.
- Provide a system, in cooperation with Student Services, to have contact with students who withdraw from their program.
Graduation
Advisors perform the following functions:
- Assist students in reviewing their records of credits completed toward their certificate, diploma, or degree, and graduation. Provide students with student employment services information at that time.
- Work with Student Services to have a system of providing an exit interview for all students near program completion to discuss jobs/career choices, goals, or additional training as desired.
- Direct students to schedule the Career Readiness Certification exam (CRC).
|
