Not enough advisers for students

With the University of Cincinnati expecting record enrollment numbers for the upcoming school year, there is a concern in the McMicken College of Arts and Sciences that there are not enough advisers to meet the needs of the students.

“There is a concern typically because our advisers in Arts and Sciences, their caseloads are much higher than the national averages,” said Billie Burton, assistant dean in the College of Arts and Sciences.

UC participates in the National Survey of Student Engagement and the Student Satisfaction Inventory and Director of Student Affairs Mitch Livingston said, “When you ask the question, ‘Where are the areas where you have your greatest concern?’ Academic advising is invariably among the top areas of concerns that students express.”

For Olivia Davis, a fourth-year international affairs student, the problem is clear.

“Too many students for too few advisers,” Davis said.

Currently in McMicken, the ratio of students to advisers is 900 to one.

“I feel that we do a good job with handling the students now, but I definitely think there is a need for more [advisers],” said Yolanda Cooper, assistant director of academic advising in the Center for Exploratory Studies.

The length of time it takes for a student to make an appointment with an adviser is a problem for many students.

“I see them as hard to get a hold of in a timely manner,” said Anthony Orozco, a second-year journalism student.

Burton acknowledges that the ratio of students to advisers can cause long waiting periods for students trying to make an appointment.

“The biggest problem I see is the length of time in certain times of the year that it takes students to get in to see their adviser,” Burton said. “Because they have so many students on their caseload sometimes students have to wait two weeks or more to get in and see an adviser; their schedules are that packed.”

Daniel Wilson, a third-year finance student, said he has experienced the same problem scheduling appointments with advisers in the College of Business.

“In CoB, it’s horrible. It [takes] up to three weeks sometimes [to get an appointment],” Wilson said. “They definitely have too many students to handle and they know it.“

Although students have plenty of time to request an appointment in advance for scheduling purposes, sometimes questions arise during the quarter that need to be addressed by a certain deadline; students may have to wait until after that deadline to meet with an adviser.

“We do have walk-in advising periods where students can just come in on a walk-in basis and get quick questions answered as well, so maybe students are not as aware of that as they need to be,” Burton said.

McMicken has walk-in advising periods four days a week, and students can also e-mail advisers with quick questions that may arise throughout the quarter.

Another problem Cooper said she sees with not having enough advisers is the time allotted for each appointment.

“Our philosophy is we believe the students come first and I believe if we have more [advisers] we can give the student more time,” Cooper said. “Right now our average time is a half an hour with a student, which, a majority of the time is not enough. I definitely feel that if we had more [advisers], more one-on-one time with the student would be able to happen.”

Since McMicken is the largest college on campus and has the most majors available for students, hiring more advisers won’t lower the ratio of students to advisers to that of a college like Design, Architecture, Art and Planning. But Cooper said she thought it could give advisers more time with fewer students so they can gain a greater understanding of each student’s circumstances.

“I’m sure it’s an attainable goal,” Cooper said. “I think that it can happen.”