April Heaney
It took me a long (long!) time to come to terms with the truth that all university teachers share the responsibility to help first-year students integrate to college life, resources, and academic expectations. This mission is not solely the task of Admissions and Orientation staff—or advisors and first-year staff. A number of colleges and universities offer a First-Year Seminar or First-Year Experience course that addresses some of the important student resources and academic integration topics; however, many institutions do not have a single point of reference for students to learn these resources in their first two semesters.
It is unfortunate that college transition is not typically seen as a whole-community responsibility in higher education. Even those classes well-suited to offer help are not usually tasked with this important thread. Many teachers assume students are finding out the information in some alternate path, unaware that summer orientation presentations are sometimes overwhelming and always forgotten; optional skills workshops often attract students who are already well-prepared; and Residence Hall communications are hit-or-miss at their finest.
There is no silver bullet to easing the transition to college and helping students find the resources they need to persist in college. Everyone who works with first-years can be the key to helping the most shaky students—sometimes in profound ways you are never made aware of.
Even if your institution has a First-Year Seminar class, consider weaving information about these resources into your syllabus, a weekly dose at a time.
Advising: First-year students are frequently hesitant to contact ANYONE on campus for help, including their professors, resident assistants, and advisors! It often takes until students’ sophomore year before they realize that their academic advisor is one of the most important people to their college journey. Inviting an advisor to class to talk about all the supports advisors can provide (outside of just registering for classes) can help showcase all of the success coaching, major selection, career preparation, and personality inventory supports advisors provide all year. And, it will help students recognize that advisors are a huge advocate when it comes to unexpected bumps (e.g. course withdrawal, financial obstacles, etc.).
Counseling: Help students connect with free counseling at your institution by inviting a representative in to present on all the issues the Counseling Center is helpful in managing—homesickness, anxiety, depression, stress, and many other serious issues students may deal with in their first year of college.
Student Attorney: It is easy to forget that our first-year students are encountering all kinds of legal questions as they begin life and adulthood without the cocoon of their families’ guidance. I encounter student questions each year related to renters’ rights and contracts, campus and local law enforcement rights and responsibilities, contested traffic and parking citations, and more. Inviting the student attorney on campus, or even reviewing their websites carefully with students, can reduce feelings of helplessness (and increase students likelihood of using self-advocacy when they encounter legal challenges).
Financial Wellness: For many students—but especially those with financial struggles—connecting with the Financial Aid and/or Financial Wellness supports on campus can help demystify successful budgeting in college, and show students how to find funds (including aid and scholarships) during their first year.
Student Organizations/Service Opportunities: First-year students are so overwhelmed with “life in college” that they often miss critical information about how to find student clubs and organizations as well as opportunities to engage in service around the campus and city. These avenues, however, are some of the most important to helping students find their “people” and develop a sense of belonging that they dearly need to navigate through the first year into future years of college.
Study Abroad: I make it a point to introduce students in my first-year classes to all education abroad (and smaller, domestic travel) opportunities available to them as undergraduates. I invite them to start planning now for travel later in their college years—sophomore, junior, or senior year. This effort might not inspire the majority of your students to follow through, but in my experience it will light a spark in a small but critical number. (And, the students who rarely participate in education abroad include men, minorities, first-generation, and low-income students!)
Tutoring and Supplemental Instruction: going to a tutor in middle school or high school for most incoming freshmen was a sign that you were in academic “trouble”—and it was often something to hide at all costs. I try to help my first-year students understand (early!) that tutoring in college is simply part of the routine for students who are acing their classes.
Three Avenues to Fold Resources into a Semester’s Plan
- Plan connections with support centers based on a general timeline of when first-year students typically realize they have need of these resources. Guidebooks such as the University of Wyoming’s Making College Count can help guide this timeline and your in-class discussions about resources and habits.
- Poll students every couple weeks to gauge their questions and challenges—plan connections with resources based on their feedback to these polls. Make it clear to your class that the resource visits are stemming from students’ concerns and comments!
- Create a semester-long assignment in which groups of students explore a campus resource(s) in their group and share back their findings with the class. The activity can be designed so that one or two groups present every month of the semester. These activities can be based on various case-studies of actual students who struggled and needed a particular resource on campus.