Our View: Short-staffed advising curbs student progress
February 2, 2016
University advisers are meant to help students schedule classes, plan their semesters, graduate on time and look into future job prospects.
Kent State set the ideal student-adviser ratio at 300 students for every one adviser.
However, in several colleges, advisers work with more students than they can handle.
For example, in the College of Arts and Sciences, the ratio is 568 students per one adviser. This academic year, 10 advisers are working with 5,737 students.
It is not possible for one person to work with or form a personal relationship with that many students.
All students are required to meet with their advisers before they can schedule. With so few advisers working with so many students, it is next to impossible to schedule an appointment to schedule their classes.
Students who want to schedule an appointment to discuss other topics, such as post-grad careers or the path to graduation, are mostly out of luck.
The university wants students to graduate in four years, but that can be difficult when students have such a hard time meeting with their advisers.
If Kent State really wants students to be able to do that, it should hire more advisers.