Every college or university offers a wide variety of services for students. And a significant number of people who work in higher education are there for a single purpose: to help your student succeed. Yet too often, those people are in their offices ready to assist students with no one waiting to see them.
This is not always the case, of course. College counseling offices find themselves overburdened during midterm and final exam periods with students having difficulties with anxiety. The same may apply to health center staff who report increases in colds, flu and other minor illnesses at peak times of the year. But for many offices, the reality is the opposite: we find it difficult to get students to come see us. Career center people moan about students who show up in April of their senior seeking jobs, yet they’ve done nothing to prepare for them. Tutoring center staff see students who show up right before their exams, yet they’ve been floundering all semester. And academic advisors tell story after story about students who have been unfocused on choosing a major, yet resist getting help in selecting one.
This is a common dilemma in colleges and it all comes to this: students have this wacky notion that only “those students” get help while in college. “Those students” are the ones who are “messed up, “ or really aren’t college material, or aren’t self-reliant enough. The other red flag comment I hear from students who are drowning in low grades and despair is when they tell me: “I wanted to do it on my own.” And sometimes it’s hard to resist the temptation to ask, “And how did that work for ‘ya?”
I’d never say that of course: none of us would. Yet we are often frustrated facing these students knowing they ignored all of the services that are offered (usually) free of charge until it’s too late to recover. So here are some thoughts you can share with your student that may help.
Our college has a writing and speaking center on campus to help students with our very high expectations regarding writing across the curriculum. The center has reported to me that the majority of students they see are good students who want to improve their writing. The students they aren’t seeing and the ones who are woefully poor in their writing and desperately need the center. We believe that many students are embarrassed about using the center’s services, but embarrassed or not, the center is there and they don’t use it.
The same could be said of tutoring: many of the students who use tutoring services early in the semester are the good students who know they need a little boost or extra suggestions to succeed in the class. And unfortunately, too many students who really need additional academic support don’t show up at the door.
Obviously, the time to seek help is in week three of a fifteen week semester, rather than in week thirteen. As you hear your student speaking about difficulty in a course, that’s the time to suggest seeing the instructor, or perhaps visiting the tutoring center. Remind them that the pace of college is so fast, that it’s better to check in with a professor or tutor now rather than waiting. Then the next time you speak with them, ask how that meeting went and what they discussed. Don’t nag them about it, but casually raise it simply as a follow up to your earlier conversation. And this applies whether it’s something like academic difficulty, a nagging cold, or having trouble getting enough sleep—time is always of the essence.
Need I say more? People who provide these campus services to students often tell about their own college experiences, and how getting tutoring or counseling helped them succeed. Students are often floored when they hear this, because they believe anyone who works in a college must have been a 4.0 student.
As you speak with your student about using campus services, perhaps you can share when you needed assistance, be it for a financial concern, personal issue, or maybe for a new software system installed at your job. Anything that lets students know that seeking and accepting help is a measure of strength, not weakness will help them make better decisions.
The CollegeBoard has information on services available on many campuses and what they do. Take a look and see if you can remember hearing about these services at your student’s college. If you can’t, take a look at the college website to see if that service is available to your student, then recommend that they visit that office by name and location if you think your student needs it.
A few of the services or people available to help students include:
Wellness and counseling
Tutoring
Physical health
Career Center
Academic Advising
Coaches
Club advisors
Faculty
It’s certainly a shame to let all these great services go to waste. Encourage your student to go there whenever they have even a whiff of need; the best students always do.
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