Meeting Us At Least Halfway

Years ago, I told students that our support services were available to them; they just had to take the first step. I even wrote a column for the campus paper entitled “Pennsylvania 6-5000,” reminiscent of the Glenn Miller song. In essence, I was saying that all we need to do as college staff was to make our services available to students and they had to do the rest. And while I’ve moved from that stance over the years, there is one constant. It is still the student’s ultimate responsibility to follow through on using support services by meeting us at least halfway.

What Services Are Offered

College and universities commonly offer an array of services as noted in this blog and others. They include academic advising, counseling, career planning, disability support services, writing centers, tutoring: the list goes on. But what fascinates faculty and staff in colleges as well as the family members of students is how few of those students take advantage of the services offered until it’s too late. This article from Fastweb highlights how support services are often underutilized. It is a puzzlement.

The Psychology of Traditionally-Aged Students

Many students enter college believing that working hard is the key to success, and they’re right. At the same time, along the way every student can use some support or some additional challenge to reach their full potential. Yet that’s not what the students believe. They believe that asking for help either acknowledges that they aren’t good enough for college, or that they’re giving up too quickly. While these notions are often inaccurate, they are what prevents students from walking in the door to a support service and asking for help or guidance. I met with a student who fit this profile recently. The student was one of the smartest in his class in high school, and was determined not to get help in college because it felt like “cheating.” I told this student over and over during that meeting was that our services are there because most students use them. I noted this in the blog post about Using their Lifelines. And further, that we would do pretty much anything we could for him, so long as he was meeting us at least halfway.

What You Can Do

As your student presents a concern to you, whether it be about their performance on an exam, or how they’re struggling in a course, mention not only the proper support service they can use on campus. (Make sure you read The Smooth Referral blog post). Also remind them how everyone in life gets help now and again. Your efforts to nudge them in this direction, along with our efforts to bring them in might be just what they need to take the first step.