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Editorial: UT’s problems with academic advising

Editorial Board

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Academic advising is an important tool that successful colleges use to build strong relationships with their students and their future alumni whose contributions can be vital to the alma mater’s problems. By effectively aligning the academic and career interests of students, advisers become one of the most important people that students will encounter in their academic careers. However, many students are not aware that they have an adviser at all, so they seek out information from their peers and success coaches, who aren’t trained properly.

Sadly, the University of Toledo is not where it needs to be when it comes to academic advising. They are understaffed, disorganized, and ill-prepared — in addition to other problems.

In the larger departments on campus, department-specific advisers have been hired to counsel students. Ideally, this should work, but with enormous programs like nursing and pre-professional medicine, students are expected to schedule an appointment weeks ahead of time if they want to discuss classes before registration opens or speak to an adviser at all during peak times of the year. For students who cannot wait that long or just do not have time to stand in line, the most viable option is to self-advise or to seek advice from invalidated sources.

For students in departments without specific advisers, faculty members are supposed to counsel students on their courses. However, these faculty members are often over-extended, leading to less than stellar assistance on their part through missed emails and tiny windows of availability. They also could have a vested interest in students taking specific classes, rather than what is necessary for a student to make progress on their degree. In some cases, these faculty advisers are actually unable to properly advise students due to lack of training in reading an audit or knowing the ins and outs of degree programs.

Even including all types, with over 20,000 students enrolled, there aren’t nearly enough advisors to counsel them all. This causes packed schedules for advisors, long lines for students on walk-in advising days and ultimately frustration for both students and staff.

Another issue that can derail student success in the advising department is when they are bounced from office to office, searching for answers. There are several different offices titled “Student Services” which offer different types of help, but only for certain academic populations. Then, there are success coaches who you should touch base with in cases of issues with studying, career selection questions, and other similar questions. Finally, there’s Rocket Solutions Central — a place which students often try to avoid due to long lines and rampant misinformation, but inevitably end up.

On the heels of these challenges we make the following suggestions:

From the start, students should be told who their adviser is going to be. Rather than having students call random offices to get such information, there should be a system in place to tell them who they have in their corner. For example, the website could be updated to include who advises each academic population.

We also suggest that the University should train their faculty advisors in a way that will promote legendary customer service. Mechanisms should also be in place to ensure that these faculty members are not ignoring their advisees. While we understand that many faculty members are over-extended, students should not have to pay the price of this with postponed graduation due to lack of advising.

Importantly, however, it also comes down to the student. We continue to hope that these problems will improve but also encourage students to be patient with their advisers and not give up on advising altogether.

Find out who your adviser is. Learn to read your degree audit. Get a plan of study and make sure to update it annually. Don’t wait until the day you’re supposed to register to look at classes. If you have questions, ask. But whatever happens remember that — for the most part — you are on your own. Keep looking out for yourself.

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1 Comment

  • Deborah Sobczak

    As an academic advisor in the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, I strive to provide great service to our student population. Starting with Rocket Launch, our students are given a handout containing their advisors’ names, contact info, and types of advising (e.g. individual appointments, walk-in, Skype, email, etc.).

    In fact, under their Pharmacy tab in the Portal is the link: “Advising Information (Who is my advisor and how do I contact them?)”
    We even have an online Appointment Scheduling software that our students can use 24/7 to make appointments.
    I agree with your editorial that advising is an integral part of a successful academic career and also wish there were more professional advisors on campus.
    Students who are unsure of their advisor’s name should start by clicking on the “Student Services in Your College” link under their Student Resources tab in the portal.

    [Reply]

Serving the University of Toledo community since 1919.
Editorial: UT’s problems with academic advising