MetLife Phase 2:

Counselor Community of Practice

Virtual Session

April 26, 2012

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Today’s Emphasis

Introductions (10 min)

Education Expressway (50 min)

What support services are available for

mature students?

How do they know about them?

Persistence Parkway (15 min)

Do your policies support students’ efforts?

Your Best Ideas from Today (10 min)

Confirm next COP topics (5 min)

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Agenda – Virtual Session #2

Services for Mature Students

How are their needs different? Sandwich generation

Disability issues

Health insurance

Veterans affairs

PLA

Remedial courses

Study skills

Technology assistance

Financial Aid

Innovation in Student Services

Financial aid specifically for mature students

Match students with others who can help

Child care/elder care assistance for students

and staff

Transportation solutions Public transportation pass

Parking/Escort to car

Safety workshops

Inter-campus shuttle

Mature Student Officer

Social Networking Sites

Orientation

Emails

Faculty and Staff

Messages through online courseware

Bulletin boards- Actual and electronic

Texting

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Getting the Word Out

Planning process tailored to

students’ needs

Self- Motivation

Knowledge of available resources

Supportive network

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Keys to Persistence

Major life transitions

Multi-faceted educational goals

Awareness of personal assets

Relationships with professors

Peer relationships

Life-role conflicts

Supportive institutional infrastructure

Experiential learning opportunities

Source: Mature Students in the Persistence Puzzle, Canadian Council on Learning, 20088

One Study- Eight Themes

• Low rates of student persistence in

community colleges

• Community college responses to

persistence frameworks, such as

implementing student support

services, have had minimal impact

in increasing retention and

persistence.

Source: Institutional Policies and Student Use of Support Services: Beware Unintended

Consequences, Community College Research Center, Teachers College/Columbia University

Council for Opportunity in Education’s 27th Annual Conference, September 18, 20089

The Problem

• Participating in support services was

related to progress toward a degree

– Of students using two or more

services, 80% made progress toward

a degree

– Of students using fewer than two

services, 60% made progress

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Influence of Support Services

• Support services were generally open

to everyone but not all students

accessed them equally

• This inequality was institutionally structured: Policies and practices actually discouraged student use of

services

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Differential Access to Services

• Northern Community College only required full-time

students to take Student Success

– “I asked if I had to take this class, the Forum,

and they said no I don’t have to because I’m

a part-time student. I say what if I go back

and be a full time. [They said] you’re not

now, so you don’t have to.”

– “Sometimes they have like tutors in the

building, peers. But I’ve never been to one

myself personally because usually they

charge.”

• Part-time students are more likely to need the information provided in these classes

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Example: Student Success Courses

• College counselors

– Available to everyone during mass registration.

Information provided ranged from adequate to

incorrect. Using them is like “throwing darts at a

board.”

• Program counselors or faculty advisors

– Available to those who have declared a major or

completed a certain number of credits. Information

provided was useful but eligibility was confusing.

• “Casual counselors”

– Available to those who take the initiative. Information

provided was most helpful but available to the

fewest students13

Program Advising

College policies addressing student support

services inadvertently leave out some students.

Access easiest for those with the most pre-existing

capital

Students entering college with the greatest level of

family resource used more services (2.25 v. 2.0)

Need networks to access services

Part-time, older, low-income students less likely

to create networks or have a chance to

participate

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Unintended Consequences

“Open access” doesn’t mean all will participate

General advising is less effective than

personalized advising

Savvy students find their own information; the

students who need the information don’t have

the savvy to get it

Word-of-mouth doesn’t reach all students

Students who are part of a network get the best

information; but students who need the

information aren’t part of networks

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Study Conclusions

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Job Seeker Junction

What’s new in job search coaching?

How much counseling is reasonable?

Social networking, e-folios, video

interviews

LinkedIn – “CAEL Career Pathways

and Counselor Initiative”

Post and check

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Next Session