Community college academic advisors and the challenge of access in the age of completion

Abstract

Research question 3. To what extent are community college academic advisors comfortable with current graduation rates at their institutions? Do they believe current policies and procedures are designed to ensure student success? Qualitative Research question 4. To what extent do academic advisors support policies or procedures that would limit student access? Research question 5. How do academic advisors perceive the completion movement in terms of the work they do, their role as advisors, and their institutions? Significance of the Study Academic advising is the only structured service on a community college campus in which all students have the chance to have ongoing, one-on-one contact with a concerned representative of the institution (Habley, 1994), and thus academic advising services are often included as a cornerstone for completion and retention planning. Although there is evidence of a link between quality advising and student retention (Forrest, 1982; Kuh, 1997; McGillin, 2000; Tinto, 1987), there is precious little research that looks at the experience of academic advising from the academic advisor's perspective. If it is true that it is "hard to imagine any academic support function that is more important to student success and institutional productivity than advising" (Kuh, 1997, p. 11), then knowing more about the perceptions, concerns, and values of those performing that function is a worthy endeavor. This study also adds to the understanding about the relationship between access and completion. If there is to be a shift from an ethos of access to a commitment to completion, that shift must happen first in the office of the academic advisor. Advisors, who are in charge of so many of the key first interactions that a student has with an institution, are