Adviser to student ratio among median for institutions near CMU's size
Academic advisers strained to help students during busiest part of semester
Ryan Phillips, an academic advisor in the College of Science and Technology, works with a student to help him decide which engineering major to choose on Nov. 24, 2015 in the Engineering and Technology Building.
Students are not the only ones taking a hard look at their schedules before the spring semester.
Academic advisers have been in their busy season for the last few weeks, trying to accommodate for last-minute course schedulers.
There are 30 academic advisers, one for every 650 on-campus students. The Academic Advising and Assistance Office Executive Director Michelle Howard said this is their the busiest time of year.
"There are times when it seems like everyone on campus has sought advising, like right now," Howard said.
To schedule an audit, call (989) 774-3504 or visit Warriner Hall 123 to make an appointment.
Appointments for academic advising can be made by calling (989) 774-7506 to determine which adviser is suitable for your degree. This information can also be found by visiting the Academic Advising and Assistance page.
The imbalance of students-to-advisers is not uncommon for large universities.
A 2015 survey conducted by the National Academic Advising Association said a ratio of around 600 students per adviser is the median load for institutions similar to CMU's size.
This fact was criticized by students and an editorial published by Central Michigan Life in spring of 2015. The editorial said Academic Advising on campus needs extra hands to help students graduate on time.
Howard has a different view.
She said CMU's ratio of 650 students to every one adviser does not include faculty advising. Professors take on the role of adviser, helping students sign their majors and course registration because of their familiarity with the students and course content.
"(To get an) estimate of our advising ratio, I remove pending graduates from total undergraduate enrollment. Pending graduates will have received final graduation audits, have completed registration and typically do not have high advising needs," Howard said. "The pending graduate total between August, December and May graduation is estimated at 3,500 each year which brings us closer to the 1 to 500 number."
The survey also does not have a recommended number for institutions.
Howard said the university has resources like major nights and the Advising Workbench. Both are used to aid students in having access to information so they can strive to graduate on time.
There are plans for additional improvements to be made to Advising Workbench.
Howard said academic advisers want to be able to have students compare courses they have already taken to different majors and degree programs.
"It would automate that process that we can certainly do manually," Howard said. "We would like to give students the opportunity to compare majors, the length of time to graduation, map out what a different degree choice would look like."
The office is also in the process of hiring another adviser, whose position is filled by a temporary faculty member. Five more academic advisers were added to the staff in 2013.
"Since 2013, we have been able to place at least one professional academic adviser in each of the academic colleges," Howard said. "Prior to that we only had two college-based programs, one in the college of business and one in the college of education."
Kaylie Johnson, a senior from Grand Rapids, said she was satisfied with academic advising when she took advantage of the pre-graduation audit service. This service makes sure students have fulfilled all of their degree and university requirements before graduation.
"It went well, they are super fast," Johnson said. "I didn't have any trouble. Everything was really easy for them to do because I have most everything done, I just wanted to verify it all."
Pre-graduation audits are not required, but are considered helpful so students can make sure they are not missing credits or requirements for graduation.
Johnson advises that when someone goes to see an adviser, they do a little planning beforehand.
"I always find doing some of the work ahead of time makes things go easier, it's faster," Johnson said. "Write down your questions."
