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Youth Empowerment Center News

By Eleanor Yang
UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

January 4, 2005 - The phone rings incessantly, but Bonnie Peters is too busy to answer. On a recent morning, she is the only academic counselor working at City College, and there's a long line of students waiting to see her.

One after another, students approach her. Some need advice on what classes to enroll in for spring. Some have been on academic probation and need help getting back on track. A few struggle to ask their questions in English.

In an hour's time, Peters helps 14 students, spending as little as two minutes with some and upward of five minutes with others.

On other campuses, including Miramar College, counselors strive to spend 15 to 20 minutes with students who walk in without appointments. Compared with them, Peters is performing counseling triage.

Academic counselors serve a major role on community college campuses. Studies show that students who receive counseling earn better grades and stay in school longer.

But many counselors, such as Peters, face student-to-counselor ratios of 2,000-to-1. In the limited time they have, counselors strive to help students decide whether to pursue a technical career or bachelor's degree and how to navigate the frequently changing requirements for transferring to four-year universities.

But in the past few years, money for counseling has dipped while student enrollment has grown.

Matriculation services, which include admissions and other student services, were cut 30 percent in the 2002-03 academic year, and the money has not been restored. This year, community colleges are seeking more funding, but considering the state's continued budget woes, it will be difficult.

"We're at a low point," said Kate Clark, an Irvine Valley College professor and president of the Academic Senate for the California Community Colleges. "People understand academic counseling is needed for student success, but nobody's funding it."

Lack of funding for academic counseling is an age-old subject and one that draws many reactions.

Academic counseling services are among the most highly sought-after on campus and the least satisfactory, according to a nationwide survey of students conducted by Noel-Levitz, a consulting organization.

The survey, conducted from 1995 to 2002, found that students listed academic counseling and campus security as two services of high importance but rated both as unsatisfactory.

Students long have complained about lengthy waits to see counselors.

More often than not, the counselor shortage means students are asked to come back later for appointments to set up education plans mapping out their goals. For many of the students arriving with young children in tow, or from a rare break from work, it is disappointing when they are unable to wrap up their questions quickly.

Joseph Patrick, one of the dozens of City College students who visited Peters recently, said he has gotten used to the long waits and requests for multiple visits.

"I've waited up to two hours before," Patrick said. "The first time I went through, I'd hoped to get things done in one day. Now I've come to expect having to come back."

Low priority
Historically, counseling has been low on the priority list. A bright spot came when legislators voted to reform and better fund academic counseling services with the Matriculation Act of 1986.
Now, more than 15 years after the legislation, there are complaints that counseling, admissions and other student services are as underfunded as ever.

A 2003 report compiled by a task force of the Academic Senate of the California Community Colleges found that the student-to-counselor ratio in the state averages 1,918-to-1.

Recent funding cuts have prompted hiring freezes and layoffs of counseling faculty, creating a more acute problem, according to the report.

"Access to counseling in our community colleges is inadequate by every measure," the report said. "To enroll students and then deny them essential means of success is a waste of resources."

There are several challenges that districts face when trying to shift money into counseling. Many colleges are dealing with sizable waiting lists for classes, and it is a difficult political decision to hire counselors instead of classroom teachers.

Districts also have a hard time quantifying counselors' effectiveness. Many rely on student surveys, which only collect data from those who visit with counselors.

A few districts around the state have attempted to measure the effect counseling and other matriculation services provide for their students.

A recent study at the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District found that first-time students who had attended orientation and been advised by academic counselors attained higher grades and continued with their studies longer.

About 60 percent of students receiving counseling earned A, B or C grades, compared with 44 percent of those forgoing counseling services.

The gap was even wider among students who returned to class the following semester: 74 percent of those receiving counseling returned, versus 42 percent of those who didn't get counseling.

Around the state
Similar results have been found throughout the state, at Palomar College, Santa Ana College in Orange County and Chabot College in Hayward.
"It's a huge difference," said Brad Phillips, a researcher who helped compile the report at the Grossmont-Cuyamaca district.

Some colleges have made small changes to improve services.

At Miramar College, counselors have made an effort to increase time spent with students and provide incentive for the students to return for regular visits.

Just days before Christmas, a crew of counselors worked overtime to serve students. Each student who arrived was instantly shuttled into a counselor's office. Some didn't get the answers that they had hoped for but considered the information useful.

Christy M. Williams stopped by to make sure she was on track to transfer to San Diego State University next year. Williams, who said she visits the office once a semester, was informed that she still needs at least three classes and had just missed the transfer application deadline.

Williams, 32, has been attending Miramar part time for five years while working full time as a school bus driver.

"This is horrible," Williams said.

"I feel for you," counselor Wendy Cruzado said, smiling sympathetically. Then Cruzado laid out options for Williams.

For several minutes, they batted around alternatives, exploring whether Williams had the classes needed to transfer to Cal State San Marcos or other four-year universities. Cruzado suggested that Williams use the campus tutorial center for help in a math class she struggled with.

In the end, Williams decided she would continue to study at Miramar and hopefully transfer to SDSU in 2006.

"Hang in there," Cruzado said.

"I will," Williams said as she walked out.

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Youth Empowerment
Lorraine Bowman, President
4249 Manzanita Drive
San Diego, California 92105
info@empowering-youth.org