Over the last few years, EvCC administration has been working on a plan to help students get through school more successfully.
Many students start but do not finish, and the state wants to change that. One proposal for change is mandatory advising.

Christina Castorena is leading the mandatory advising proposal; she says that the student advisory is an academic plan to map out your course. EvCC administration had a retention completion committee arranged to find out how to help students finish what they are here for.

The school has been working on a few programs. None have been approved yet, but one that looks like it will make it is mandatory advising for all new students. The committee made some recommendations to try to find out what might work best for our school.

The committee, comprised of advisers and faculty at EvCC, have all experienced similar programs. "Mandatory advising will help students move more quickly towards degree completion and help them complete the specific courses needed for their intended transfer degree, this is especially important in the sciences," committee member Pamela Pape-Lindstrom said.

Pape-Lindstrom also said student advising was mandatory when she was in school.

The proposal for mandatory advising was made last spring. If it is approved, it will only affect the students that enroll after the time of approval.

If implemented, EvCC would start school with a special, mandatory orientation, but students would not be required to see a counselor or adviser until their third quarter. If students did not follow through, they would not be able to sign up for future classes.

There are many other schools that have mandatory advising for first year students, including the University of Washington.

Students who attended EvCC last year may remember College Palooza, a day set aside for meetings with advisers. Students did not have classes, but the advising was optional.
This year it has been replaced with Advising Week, which will run from Nov. 2 through Nov. 6. All teachers and advisers will make time for it, and there will be no class on the Nov. 3.

At EvCC there are two different options for counseling; one option is to meet with an adviser and the other option is to meet with a faculty counselor. An adviser can help you with general advising about which courses to take, while faculty counseling can be more specific.

With faculty counseling, you get a chance to know what you are going to do. That's what Advising Week is, to help students find out what they want to do. The counseling center is located in the Parks Building.