Advising Report Fall 2008

Contact with Advisors 80% had faculty advisors 9% advised through the college advisement center 3% had a peer counselor or staff advisor 7 % had no advisor

Contact with Advisors 21 % had the same advisor over two years 30% changed advisors once 13% changed advisors more than once

Contact with Advisors Last Year 18% did not meet their advisor 32% met only once with their advisor 27% met twice with an advisor 23% met more than twice

Does current advisement meet student needs? 10% said it did so exceptionally well 19% said it was more than adequate 44% thought it was adequate 28% found it very poor or less than adequate

Academic Programs 46 participated in survey Average was 3.04 Varied from 2.20 to 4.20 Top programs: Theater (4.20), Geography/Planning (4.00) and Music (3.75)

Does current advisement meet students’ needs? Topics discussed that are significant in determining if a student is more likely to think that advisement meets his/her needs are: ◦ Scheduling/registration procedures ◦ Meeting requirements for graduation ◦ Student teaching, etc ◦ Clarifying life/career goals ◦ Coping with academic difficulties

What is Discussed with Advisor? Topics discussed most often with advisors are ◦ Scheduling/registration procedures – 55% ◦ Academic progress – 50.2% ◦ Meeting requirements for graduation, student teaching, certification, etc. – 46.8%

What is Discussed with Advisor? Topics rarely discussed with advisors: ◦ Withdrawing/transferring from Buffalo State – 6.8% ◦ Obtaining employment on campus – 10.4% ◦ Dealing with personal problems – 11.1%

Satisfaction with Advisor’s Assistance Highest: ◦ Matching learning style of particular courses, course sections, or instructors – 4.19 ◦ Dealing with personal problems – 4.17 ◦ Continuing education after graduation – 4.09 ◦ Identifying career areas which fit current skills, abilities and interests – 4.07 ◦ Improving student skills and habits – 4.05 ◦ Dropping and adding courses – = Very Satisfied, 4 = Satisfied, 3 = Neutral, 2 = Dissatisfied, 1 = Very Dissatisfied

Satisfaction with Advisor’s Assistance Lowest: ◦ Withdrawing/transferring from Buffalo State – 3.82 ◦ Obtaining course credit through nontraditional means – 3.87 ◦ Obtaining employment on campus – 3.87

What Should be discussed with Advisor? Topics that students report not discussing with their advisors that they should have: ◦ Finding a job after college/job placement - 41% ◦ Continuing education after graduation - 34% ◦ Identifying career areas which fit my skills, abilities and interests - 31% ◦ Obtaining course credit through non-traditional means - 30% ◦ Matching my learning style to particular courses, sections, instructors - 28% ◦ Meeting requirements for graduation, certification, etc - 26% ◦ Clarifying my life/career goals - 26% ◦ Coping with academic difficulties - 23% ◦ Improving my study skills and habits - 23% ◦ My academic progress - 20%

What are Student Impressions of Their Advisor? The top 5 qualities of advisors are: ◦ Keeps personal information confidential ◦ Respects my right to make my own decisions ◦ Is a good listener ◦ Is approachable and easy to talk to ◦ Is on time for appointments with me = Strongly Agree, 4 = Agree, 3 = Neutral, 2 = Disagree, 1 = Strongly Disagree

What are Student Impressions of Their Advisor? The bottom 5 qualities of advisors are: ◦ Encourages me to talk about myself and my college experiences ◦ Helps me explore careers in my field of interest ◦ Anticipates my needs ◦ Keeps me up to date on changes in academic requirements ◦ Is willing to discuss personal problems

Benchmark: Academic Advising System Meeting Student Needs Buffalo StateNational Norms (Adequacy Scale: 5 = exceptionally well, 4 = more than adequately, 3 = adequately, 2 = less than adequately, 1 = very poorly)

Benchmark: Frequency of Meetings with Advisor Item Buffalo State % National Norms % A. Never B. Once C. Twice D. Three Times E. Four or Five Times F. More Than 5 Times

NSSE 2008 Overall, how would you evaluate the quality of academic advising you have received at Buffalo State? Buffalo State SUNY CollegesPeers Mean Significance Level Effect Size Mean Significance Level Effect Size FY *** ***-.22 SR *** ** = Excellent, 1 = Poor

Student Comments – NSSE 2008 “Academic advisors need to be more helpful with helping the student choose classes.” “I love most of the advisement on campus. I have had a few bizarre encounters with advisors that gave very appalling advise (drop out of school) and some professors that could use a little humility. Overall, the staff is very helpful and give prompt responses.” “The advicement is horrible, I don’t even know who my advisor is.” “…Secondly, I am three credits short of graduating because my so called advisors don’t know what the hell they are doing. I found myself getting sent back and forth every term to different departments trying to figure out my classes”

Student Comments – NSSE 2008 “Advisement-I’m a transfer student and a lot of my courses got transferred over to Buff State. Being a student I don’t know much and I just went by what they gave me. I realized I was taking a class that I had already taken and I talked to my advisor about it and I just got the run around from there. I had to talk to 10 different faculty members to get this straigtened out because faculty members kept pointing me in the wrong direction. From my advisor to the professor I was taking the class from to the registrars office to the academic appeals office to the department of my major. It’s funny that the secretary of the department of my major was the only one with the answers. She told me that the courses get audited not by the department of your major but by some other committee and I had to make it my job to audit my courses myself with the help of my advisor. Eventually the course got petitioned and it counted as a transfer credit. I could have been taking another class but I wasted my time taking a class I had already taken.”

Student Comments – NSSE 2008 “The advisors are not helpful whatsoever. I was informed by my advisor that I was all set to graduate, and then met with the department chair and was told I will have to add another class this semester and take another class in the summer to graduate. If I was told this last semester when I met with my advisor I could of taken the classes over winter break or more this semester. The advisement students receive is very poor and should be taken into consideration. Unless you check yourself on what you need to take in order to graduate, the advisors are pretty much useless.”

Student Comments – NSSE 2008 “1. I have been back and forth for almost a year trying to get my adviser to communicate with me about my graduation requirements. I suggest that advisers do thorough research on the student and help them with graduation requirements starting from freshmen year.” “The advisement was absolutely terrible. I did not feel like my advisor cared about me or my success. This was most noticeable when my advisor claimed she wasn’t my advisor when I met with her for the third time. My advisor then change without me knowing after 3 years.” “I would not recommend Buffalo State College to anyone interested in furthering their education. I was due to the staff at this school that I have been two years behind in graduating. I was mis-advised and ignored.”

Student Comments – NSSE 2008 “Buffalo State has a lot of work to do in regards to advisement and placing people for their student teaching experience. If I had to do it all over again, I would never have attended Buff State and will continue to tell people not to go there. It was the worst experience I have ever had and the way things are run is totally backwards. Need to work on advisement so people aren’t stuck there for 5 years or more and need to work on professionalism of the staff as a whole.”

Student Comments – NSSE 2008 “…However, the administration at this school that I have had to work with is the least helpful group of people I have ever encountered. While I did encounter a few helpful staff members, for the most part I only dealt with staff who made me feel as if I was an annoyance to them, while in reality, I was only asking that they do their JOB. It was made very clear to me that my best interest was not in mind and that student success was not a high priority. It is unfortunate that an institution whose main goal should be to educate, seems to care more about holding students back and squeezing out as much money from them as possible. When I have a problem pertaining to school or credits that I have earned, I expect that the people employed by the school should be willing to give me some guidance. This was not the case here. I have discussed this matter with other students and have found that many feel the same way. I think that some people working at Buffalo State should be reminded that if it weren’t for students like us, their jobs would not exist.”

Student Comments – NSSE 2008 And then…. ”I have thoroughly enjoyed my time at Buffalo State College. The professors are not only sensitive and caring, but I have found them to be extremely intelligent and knowledgeable in their field of expertise. I hope to pursue my master’s Degree here.”