Why Bother
with
Academic Advising?
Dr. Wes Habley
Graduation Rates Conference
University of Texas System
September 30, 2005
Academic Advising...
…has a powerful influence
on student success
…is critical to institutional
effectiveness and student
persistence
TOPICS




Scope of the problem
What Works in Student
Retention?
Why is there a link between
advising and persistence?
Conditions necessary for
advising to have an impact
TOPICS




Scope of the problem
What Works in Student
Retention?
Why is there a link between
advising and persistence?
Conditions necessary for
advising to have an impact
Types of Attrition

Expected and Justified
realized
a goal other than a
degree/certificate

Stopping Out
not

on our timeframe
Unnecessary and subject to
institutional intervention
Advising and Persistence



RETENTION: the process of holding or
keeping in one’s possession
ATTRITION: the process or state of being
gradually warn down
PERSISTENCE: to continue to exist or
prevail
Retention Trends
Freshman-Sophomore
Lowest
%
Two-year public 51.3 (’04)
Highest
%
Current
%
.
53.1 ('83) 51.6
BA/BS public
66.4 (‘05)
70.0 (‘04) 66.4
MA public
68.1 ('89)
70.1 (‘05) 70.1
Ph.D. public
73.3 (‘86)
78.1 ('04) 77.5
Completion Rates*
Four-year Public Colleges
Highest
%
Lowest
%
Current
%
.
BA/BS public
52.8 (’86) 39.5 (’05)
39.5
MA/MS public
46.7 (’86) 37.0 (’00)
38.0
Ph.D. public
50.5 (’90) 45.0 (’01)
46.8
*completion of bachelor’s degree in five years or less
Degree Attainment and persistence
(after 6 years)
Descriptive Summary of 1995-96 Beginning Postsecondary Students:Six Years Later
National Center for Educational Statistics, December, 2002
Degree attainment and persistence
(after 6 years)
Descriptive Summary of 1995-96 Beginning Postsecondary Students:Six Years Later
National Center for Educational Statistics, December, 2002
TOPICS




Scope of the problem
What Works in
Student Retention?
Why is there a link between
advising and persistence?
Conditions necessary for
advising to have an impact
What Works in Student Retention
(WWISR)



Survey sent to 2,995 colleges
Survey Sections
Institutional Characteristics (24 items)
Student Characteristics (20 items)
Campus Practices (84 items)
Returned by 1,061 colleges (35.4%)
228 (42.5%%) four-year public colleges
http://www.act.org/path/policy/reports/retain.html
Retention/Degree Completion
Goals
59.6% have established a
goal for improved first to
second year retention
45.6% have established a
goal for improved
degree completion
Coordination of Retention Programs
48.7% have designated a person
to coordinate retention
activities
18.9% of those designated to
coordinate are dean-level
or higher
8.1% include retention
in the coordinator’s title
Student Characteristics
Of 20 Student Characteristics
16
Cited as making a moderate
or higher contribution to
attrition
Student Characteristics
Greatest contribution to attrition
 Inadequate
financial resources
 Lack of motivation to succeed
 Inadequate preparation for college level
work
 Poor study skills
 Too many job demands
 Lack of educational aspirations and
goals
 Poor academic integration
Institutional Characteristics
Of 24 institutional characteristics

Only 5 are cited as making a
moderate contribution or higher to
student attrition
 amount
of financial aid available
 academic advising
 student-institution fit
 student involvement in campus life
 social environment
John Gardner comments….
It is disturbing to note that in spite of
all we know about student retention
that institutions are still inclined to
hold students responsible for their
retention/attrition while dramatically
minimizing the institutional role in
student retention.
Greatest Contribution to Retention
Clusters of Programs/Services
making the greatest contribution
to retention fall into 3 categories
Academic Advising
First Year Transition
Learning Support
Greatest Contribution to Retention








Advising interventions with selected student
populations (4.0)
Increased advising staff (4.0)
Academic advising center (3.9)
Supplemental instruction (3.9)
Comprehensive learning assistance
center/lab (3.9)
Reading center/lab (3.9)
Honors student program (3.9)
Eight interventions tied at 3.8 including


Integration of Advising with First-Year Transition Programs
Centers that combine academic advising with career/life planning
High Impact Programs/Services

Identify the three programs on your
campus that you believe have the highest
impact on student retention.
 Freshman
Seminar/University 101 for credit
(20.2%)
 Learning Communities (18.4%)
 Advising Interventions for selected student
populations (12.3%)
 All remaining practices cited at fewer than 10% of
the colleges (61 practices not cited by any
respondents)
Institutional Data Questionnaire
(IDQ)
 ACT’s
Annual collection of data from all
two-year and four-year degree-granting
institutions
 Includes information about admissions,
academic programs, co-curricular activities,
and other campus characteristics
 Includes first-second year dropout and
degree completion rates
 Data
set includes 2,523 colleges (2003)
Degree Completion
Retention
Top
25%
Top
25%
Middle
50%
Bottom
25%
Middle
50%
Bottom
25%
HIGH
Performing
Moderate
Performing
LOW
Performing
Four-year Public Colleges
Of the 228 four-year public colleges that
returned the retention survey
34 were High Performers:

Top 25% in both retention and
degree completion
26 were Low Performers:

Bottom 25% in both retention and
degree completion
High performing four-year public
colleges were more likely to implement
Advising
Interventions with Selected
Student Populations
Increased Advising Staff
Academic Advising Center
Supplemental Instruction
Comprehensive Learning Assistance
Center
Summer Bridge Program
Freshman Seminar
WWISR Conclusion
Institutions that are most
successful in retaining their
students make significant use
of advising interventions to
enhance retention and degree
completion.
TOPICS




Scope of the problem
What Works in Student
Retention?
Why is there a link
between advising and
persistence?
Conditions necessary for
advising to have an impact
Themes of Attrition
Academic Boredom
Academic Underpreparedness
Lack of Certainty in
major/career choice
Transition/adjustment
Difficulty
Dissonance/Incompatibility
Irrelevancy
Advising: Retention Definition
“Providing assistance in the
mediation of dissonance
between student expectations
and the actualities of the
educational experience.”
Habley, 1983
Students Who Expect & Experience
Specific Outcomes in College
To:
Expect
Be undecided
Change majors
Fail a course
Take extra time to complete a degree
Drop out
Transfer colleges
Work in college
Seek personal counseling
Need tutoring
Seek career guidance
7%
12
1
8
1
12
36
6
15
5
Experience
20 %
65-85
16
60
40
28
60
27
20
25
TOPICS




Scope of the problem
What Works in Student
Retention?
Why is there a link between
advising and persistence?
Conditions necessary
for advising to have
an impact
The conditions...
ACADEMIC ADVISING

must be broadly defined
1960’s Definition of Advising
The task of advising is concentrated
in the opening days of registration
and enrollment and consists of
aiding students in the selection of
courses.
Handbook of College and University Administration
Asa Knowles, Editor
Advising Defined . . .
Academic advising assists students
to realize the maximum
educational benefits available to
them by helping them to better
understand themselves and to
learn to use the resources of the
institutions to meet their special
educational needs.
David Crockett
Advising Defined . . .
Academic advising is a decisionmaking process during which
students reach their maximum
educational potential through
communication and information
exchange with an academic advisor.
Thomas J. Grites
Advising Defined . . .
Advising is concerned not only with
a specific personal or vocational
decision, but also with facilitating
the student’s rational processes,
environmental and interpersonal
interactions, behavioral awareness
and problem-solving, decisionmaking and evaluation skills.
Burns Crookston
The conditions...
ACADEMIC ADVISING

must be broadly defined

is a form of teaching
Advising: a form of teaching
Teaching is an instinctual art, mindful of
potential, craving of realizations, a pausing,
seamless process, where one rehearses
constantly while acting, sits as a spectator
at a play one directs, engages every part in
order to keep the choices open and the
shape alive for the student, so that the
student may enter in, and begin to do what
the teacher has done --- make choices.
A. Bartlett Giamatti, A free and ordered space: the real world of the university
Advisors teach students
to
value the learning process
to apply decision-making strategies
to put the college experience into
perspective
to set priorities and evaluate events
to develop thinking and learning
skills
to
make choices
Core Values, NACADA
The role of advising…
Advising, rather than an
extension of the educator’s role
is integral to it. It is teaching
which stretches beyond
instruction.
Robert Berdahl
(past President, University of Texas
Chancellor Emeritus, UC-Berkeley)
New Directions for Teaching and Learning
The conditions...
ACADEMIC ADVISING



must be broadly defined
is a form of teaching
is closely related to
career/life planning
Underlying assumption...
Traditional advising for course
sequencing and selection is
based on the assumption that a
student has made a reasoned
decision and is committed to a
specific academic program.
Underlying assumption...
The role of the advisor is to ensure
that a student
...efficiently processes through
...a predetermined sequence of
courses
...to earn a particular academic
credential
...in a specified period of time.
Underlying assumption...
IS FALSE!



students who are willing to admit they
are undecided
students who change their minds from
application to orientation
students who will change their minds
(maybe more than once)
O’Banion paradigm
1. Exploration of Life Goals
2. Exploration of Career/Educational Goals
3. Selection of an Educational Combination
4. Selection of Classes
5. Scheduling of Classes
The conditions...
ACADEMIC ADVISING




must be broadly defined
is a form of teaching
is closely related to career/life
planning
is the hub of services for
students
Etc., etc., etc.
Admissions
Advising
Health
Student
Support
Services
Counseling
Registration
Orientation
Financial
Aid
Housing
Academic
Advising
The role of advising…
Advising should be at the core of the
institution’s educational mission
rather than layered on as a service.
Robert Berdahl
New Directions for Teaching and Learning
Coordinated
Processes
Testing
Registration
Records
Special
Populations
Academic
Departments
Admissions
Undergrad.
Colleges
Academic
Advising
Orientation
Career/Life
Planning
Coordinated
Delivery
Collaborative
Efforts
Learning
Communities
Learning
Assistance
First Year
Seminar
Supplemental
Instruction
Academic advising...
CANNOT BE DONE IN ISOLATION
Advising requires coordination and
collaboration among units across the
campus that provide and/or support
advising services
The conditions...
ACADEMIC ADVISING






must be broadly defined
is a form of teaching
is closely related to career/life
planning
is the hub of services for students
is a collaborative, coordinated
process.
requires active outreach to
students
Active outreach to students
Advisors should be available
at times when,
and in places where,
students make
educational decisions
Why reach out?


An academic advisor is unlike any
role model the new student has
encountered
Students receive advice from all
sorts of people and much of that
advice is inaccurate, incomplete, or
inappropriately value laden
Why reach out?



The use of technology may supplant
rather than support the advising
process
The first six weeks of transition are
critical to the institution’s retention
efforts
It is easier to anticipate a problem
than it is to solve one
The conditions...
ACADEMIC ADVISING






must be broadly defined
is a form of teaching
is closely related to career/life
planning
is the hub of services for students
is a collaborative, coordinated
process.
requires active outreach to students
Why bother with academic advising?
Academic advising is the only
structured activity on the
campus in which all students
have the opportunity for ongoing, one-to-one interaction
with a concerned representative
of the institution.