SFSU WASC self-study CH6 Student Support Services

Chapter 6:

Student Support Services

INTRODUCTION

The university strategic plan focused significant attention on the need to provide students with appropriate, high quality, and user-friendly support services to help them prepare for, enter, progress through, and graduate from San Francisco State University. The plan urged that all services be monitored to ensure equal access to them on the part of a highly diverse student body. It called for the provision of alternative developmental opportunities to address the needs of special populations.

Given the above, this chapter will look at the issues of recruitment, admission, retention and progress, and graduation and career planning with regard to fostering access and diversity and assisting students in their learning. It will examine the processes by which many different programs provide campus-wide services to students and strive to improve the quality of those services (1).

(1) A chapter dealing with assessment activities in the student services area will be found in Part Two.

A clear trend at SFSU is that of a closer and more cooperative working relationship among the student affairs, academic affairs, and fiscal affairs areas, with the goal of increasing both enrollment and diversity. New support programs, together with new technology, have made access to the university easier and friendlier. Increased and expansive outreach efforts have been put in place, targeting potential students from diverse communities.

Because the entire California State University system has raised the bar on academic standards for both admission and continuation in college, several new programs have been developed to prepare students for entry into college and to provide them with learning assistance and tutoring during their time at college. In addition, new procedures have been put into place to quickly identify students having academic problems so that they can get the help they need in a timely fashion.

Since 1994, the Undergraduate Admissions Office has been improving its technology, making the admission process more user-friendly and convenient for the student consumer. Using the World Wide Web, interested college applicants can find out, quickly and without much effort, their admission status and helpful guidelines for their next steps. Admission status checks are also available as a result of the new touch tone telephone technology that initially allowed students to register for classes more quickly and easily.

To make access easier to most student support services, the university created "one-stop shopping" in 1998. Several major services that assist students frequently, such as admissions, financial aid, advising, and other support programs, are now all deployed in a single student-convenient place on campus. Additionally, a number of specialized support services are in operation across campus to meet specific student needs. This chapter will highlight a number of these endeavors.

RECRUITMENT

Recruitment has always been a top priority at SFSU. Since Fall 1998 we have been engaging in a number of innovative recruitment efforts designed to ensure that students from diverse backgrounds have access to the educational opportunities offered by this institution and to promote college attendance among middle school, high school, and community college students. These efforts have paid off, as evidenced by the ever-increasing numbers of students who both apply and are admitted to our institution. For example, undergraduate applicants for Fall 1997 were 15,617; and for Fall 2000 they were 20,110. (Please see www.sfsu.edu/prospect/ for the university’s web site attempt to reach out to prospective students.)

Access And Diversity

Recruiting programs aimed at students of color have helped to make the student body more diverse. Among the most notable programs is the Center for Integration and Improvement of Journalism, which provides high school students of color with a two-week summer course to introduce them to college life. Other features of this program, including outreach to community college students and an open house on campus each fall, have brought in numbers of minority students to the Department of Journalism.

The Educational Opportunity Program (EOP) has been involved in recruiting efforts for many years. Targeting economically and educationally disadvantaged students, many of whom are individuals of color, EOP offers a variety of activities that helps to ensure a smooth transition to college. Among these activities is the Summer Bridge Program, an on-campus summer residential program that comprises an intensive calendar of study and success skills development, English and math competency-building, and academic advising. One-to-one interaction, designed to ensure the successful transition from application to SFSU enrollment, is one of the hallmarks of this program.

African American Heritage Day is another activity designed to recruit minority students of color. Sponsored by the College of Ethnic Studies, this event brings underrepresented students to campus for admission application workshops.

A number of other programs are in place to recruit students from diverse backgrounds. Among these are the Rebound Program, which recruits ex-offenders, and the Athletics Program, which assists new and transferring student athletes to transition to college. In addition, the Presidential Scholars Program recruits top high school students and provides them with academic merit awards, financial assistance, and a mentoring community structure with seminars, classes, events, and growth opportunities.

The majority of general recruitment activities for undergraduate students are conducted or coordinated by Student Outreach Services (SOS), a unit of Enrollment Planning and Management. SOS staff conduct and attend college nights, transfer days, and other activities at middle schools, high schools, and community colleges in Northern and Southern California. A major event is a joint San Francisco area college fair with the San Francisco Unified School District. This event draws students from local San Francisco high schools and students throughout the immediate Bay Area to visit with representatives from over 75 colleges throughout the United States. SOS also conducts special on-site admissions events including "Super" weekdays (e.g.,Super Thursday)—daylong events during which high school seniors can apply for admission to SFSU and receive a response within a few hours. Super Saturday, a similar activity, is offered for college transfer applicants. Similar events are also conducted at local high schools and community colleges during the fall application process. [Please see www.sfsu.edu/~admisrec/.]

One of SOS's biggest and most innovative events is Sneak Preview Day. Usually conducted on a Saturday in early spring, Sneak Preview offers applicants and their families a chance to get better acquainted with the campus community. Tours, informational tables, and meetings with advisors are provided in this one-day program that typically attracts several thousand visitors each year.

Cross training and collaboration are the strategies that have been successfully employed by the university’s support services units. These approaches not only improve the level of effectiveness but also provide a good working base from which to develop flexible planning efforts in cooperation with the university’s academic programs, as well as with K-12 schools and community colleges. Some examples of these endeavors include the well-regarded Step to College Program [www.sfsu.edu/~urbins/projects/sc/sc.html] that provides high school seniors with the opportunity to enroll in baccalaureate-credit college courses taught by SFSU instructors and offered at their high school sites at the end of their normal school day. This represents a very effective collaboration between SFSU’s Colleges of Education and Ethnic Studies and Northern California high schools, with the committed support of the Undergraduate Admissions Office. Another joint effort addresses the link between the California Community Colleges Educational Opportunity Program (EOPS) and the CSU, with two-day events at City College of San Francisco. EOPS-enrolled students are provided with two days of academic eligibility advising, procedural support, and instant admissions by SFSU offices. The university’s outreach to international students who are currently enrolled in community colleges is another target population, which is addressed by joint efforts mounted by the academic and student services areas of campus.

High School And Community College Recruitment

Realizing the importance of academic preparation for college, we have developed a variety of programs aimed at providing high school and community college students with the knowledge and skills they need to be admitted to SFSU. One of the most ambitious of these efforts is the Pre-collegiate Academic Development Program (PAD). With coordination through Academic Affairs, PAD works to develop English and math competency skills among students at eight Bay Area high schools and fosters relationships among SFSU and high school faculty, administrators, counselors, and students. [Please see www.sfsu.edu/~ advising/pad.htm].

The SFSU Educational Opportunity Program’s University and College Attendance Network (UCAN) is another effort aimed at improving the academic skills of high school students. Besides study skills training, UCAN [userwww.sfsu.edu/~ucan/] also provides students with assistance in developing math and English competencies and in exploring career options. UCAN gives extensive tutoring in preparation for the ELM and EPT placement tests. UCAN students had a 58% improvement in math and a 42% improvement in English in 1999-2000 pre- and post-assessment.

High school and community college students have also been targeted for recruitment by SFSU's College of Science and Engineering. The college's Alliance for Minority Participation (AMP), for example, is a federally funded program that collaborates with City College of San Francisco to recruit minority students into a summer program that prepares them for college work, particularly in the sciences. AMP also provides academic year workshops covering math, science, and engineering to new and continuing students. [Please see http://math.sfsu.edu/amp/].

Another program that gives minority students access to the sciences is the Mission Science Project. The program is funded through the SFSU Marian Wright Edelman Institute [http://bss.sfsu.edu/edelman/]. The institute began its service activities at SFSU during the Fall 1999 semester. It is intended to serve as a powerful tool of outreach, advocacy, and research, as well as housing an interdisciplinary bachelor’s degree program in child and adolescent development. The Student Outreach Services unit works with the institute to target students for a range of recruitment and tutoring assistance.

Middle School Recruitment

SFSU believes that middle school-aged children are not too young to begin preparing for college. Two programs coordinated by Student Outreach Services target 7th and 8th graders in Bay Area middle schools for skill building and orientation. The first of these middle school programs is GEAR-UP, a federally funded, five-year grant project through the Marian Wright Edelman Institute. The project began operation in Spring 2000. GEAR-UP provides skill building in math and English to four hundred 7th and 8th grade students at Luther Burbank and James Lick Middle Schools. Another program, College Awareness Day (as part of GEAR-UP), brings 7th graders to campus for an orientation to the university experience. It is hoped that by introducing middle school children to college life, more of them will choose to go on for post-secondary education, perhaps at SFSU.

Spanning both middle school and high school is the EOP Pre-Collegiate/Community Outreach Program building new community partnerships and helping 6th–12th grade students meet the standards necessary to be admitted to the CSU EOP. The 1999-2000 year included mentoring, tutoring, test taking preparation, study skill and time management workshops, cultural enrichment activities, and the overall improvement of student skill levels to increase enrollment in college preparatory programs. These special outreach efforts have successfully benefited nearly 1000 Bay Area middle and high schools students who are educationally and/or economically disadvantaged.

RECRUITMENT DATA

On-site Admissions	CY 1998	CY 1999
At high schools	1,272	1,155
At community college sites	356	466
Super Wednesday/Thursday	480	652
Super Saturday	162	125
Sneak Preview	3,376	3,412
Other Statistics
High school visits	460	465
Community college visits	220	230
College fairs staffed	80	90
Incoming calls	3,650	6,168
Walk-ins	3,600	4,230
Campus tour visitors	460	3,495

Problems And Recommendations

Despite intensive recruitment activities, problems persist. To begin, it is difficult to predict our actual enrollments. Unlike the University of California schools, SFSU does not require those students accepted for admission to declare their intent to enroll by May 1. Since we often do not know if admitted students are going to enroll until they have paid their fees just before classes start, we must continue our recruitment efforts for longer periods each semester.

Another problem we face in recruiting students has to do with the lack of housing in the San Francisco area. Students from Southern California and rural areas are particularly concerned about this issue, and many opt for staying home and attending college nearby or going to schools where housing is more available. We hope that some of our housing difficulties will be alleviated by the opening of the new student residence apartments in Centennial Village and by offering a new on-campus living experience for freshmen.

The high cost of living in the San Francisco Bay Area is another deterrent to recruitment. Although fees are not as high here as they are at some other schools, many prospective students feel that they cannot afford housing, food, and transportation in this part of California, even if they work and have financial aid. Although there is not much we can do about this problem in general, we must find ways to increase the availability of on-campus housing and jobs for students.

Budgetary constraints are also impediments to our recruitment efforts. Student Outreach Services was given additional funding to host prospective students who applied to SFSU for Fall 2000. This extra funding enabled visits to the following areas: Berkeley, Concord, Sacramento, Long Beach, Woodland Hills, and San Diego. We provided admission updates to students in these cities, as well as housing and advising information. The purpose of the receptions was to boost enrollments for Fall 2000 and attract applicants who might not be able to visit SFSU for advising prior to the fall semester.

In the future we need to continue to be creative in our recruitment efforts by developing programs that attract prospective students to SFSU. We must also continue to work to prepare middle school, high school, and community college students for university attendance by providing academic training, orientations, and mentoring experiences. Finally, we need to do all we can to provide housing for our students and to ensure that our campus is accessible to everyone.

ADMISSIONS

The 1998 academic year provides a clear vantage point from which to begin the discussion about the principal themes guiding the university’s current efforts to meet student service needs. The Fall 1998 admission cycle signaled the initial stage of full system-wide implementation of the provisions of Executive Order 665 [see www.sfsu.edu/~ppg/csueo665.htm].

E.O. 665 requires that all undergraduate students entering the CSU provide evidence of math and English skills appropriate for entrance to collegiate-level study. Test scores or successfully completed college course work can demonstrate the meeting of the math and English entrance requirements. Students who do not meet this obligation at the time of their admission offer must sit for CSU English and math tests. Students who place into pre-collegiate math and/or English must remediate within one year or be disenrolled. (See Chapter 3 for a more detailed discussion of the university’s remediation efforts.)

Compliance with this directive regarding English and math competencies became a front-door impact issue that determined a student’s eligibility to enroll at the undergraduate level. Its text defined the means by and rate at which remediation activities must be undertaken, monitored, and completed. The immediacy of the issue was underlined by the speed with which the university had to respond. The challenges posed by reconciling system policy compliance with a deep local commitment to access completely re-framed the discussion about the activities surrounding and supporting admission to the campus. Providing immediate curricular response critical to a successful remediation experience places significant pressures on university resources to support its subsequent retention goals. The ramifications of these issues have been felt throughout the institution. They are clearly evident in the range of admission activities that will be discussed in this section.

Admission Streamlining Initiatives

Among the initial effects of the E.O. 665 directive was the reinvigorating of our university’s communication lines with other educational segments within the state. There was agreement on the necessity to shore up the gaps contributing to a student’s lack of skills preparation now so critical for access to the CSU. The challenges of dealing with limited budgetary resources, and the dramatic need for improved access to assessment and skills preparation for California high school and community college students, were candidly evaluated. Some of the programmatic responses to these interactions included the strengthening of such efforts as the university’s Pre-collegiate Academic Development Program and Summer Bridge Program mentioned in the previous section.

The dual themes of "high touch" and "high tech" are appropriate for a description of the university’s admission activities since 1998. The cross training and collaboration that have strengthened the university’s physical presence in the community have also lent themselves effectively to our system's support strategies for improvement of information services. The human interaction provided through a wide range of outreach activities is complemented by an increasingly sophisticated system follow-through monitoring student’s progress through the stages of the admission process.

The university now offers both a web-based application status check [www.sfsu.edu/online/appstat.htm] and one provided by touch tone telephone technology to undergraduate applicants throughout the processing cycle—available twenty-four hours every day. Also available is a wide range of additional services routinely used by students (major program changes, change of address, on-line class schedule verification, etc.).

These new electronic services complement the expanded face-to-face service hours of the university’s "one-stop" effort. This drop-in location permits a student to talk with staff representatives from Student Affairs, Advising, the Graduate Division, the College of Extended Learning, and the Bursar’s Office. Information inquiries and problem resolutions for a number of admission, enrollment, financial aid, and degree progress topics are available for students who may not be able to visit during the traditional office hour day. This operation played a particularly effective role in providing on-the-spot course registration for students who sat for the on-demand Entry Level Math and English Placement Test assessments at the beginning of the Fall 1999, Spring 2000, and Fall 2000 semesters.

This one-stop effort served as one of the implementation stages of the University Remediation Committee’s response effort for front-door student assessment compliance. The university’s hand scoring of these exams permitted an immediate summary of the student’s placement needs regarding remediation. The coordinated follow-through was provided by the staff of the Student Services Center and offered one-on-one interaction with students with in-person registration in the appropriate course level of math.

The activities supporting admission have similarly undergone periodic reviews and measurable streamlining in the past two years. For example, now over 80% of the undergraduates processed are admitted using a series of computer system jobs run each night that utilize academic information provided by students. This method of offering conditional admission allows us to respond to the applicant quickly. This ensures that the admitted student will have the maximum amount of time for advising, academic skills assessment (EPT and ELM), financial aid arrangements, and other personal planning. It also creates a reasonable follow-through period for submission of all substantiating documentation (academic transcripts, etc.).

The early assessment of applicant populations also permits the identification of students with academic deficiencies, outstanding student loan obligations, and any number of real-life issues requiring advising intervention. In addition, technical streamlining at the front end affords the university as much time as possible for constructive involvement in the application process.

A good example of the successful outcome made possible by this blend of human resources and technological development can be seen in the 5,345 Fall 2000 conditionally admitted upper-division students. Fewer than twenty of these students were disenrolled for failure to clear the terms of their conditional admission; i.e., presenting evidence of successful completion of English, math, and other basic subject course work.

The Next Step in Technology

Spring 2000 semester marked the beginning of the next stage of technological development aimed at enhanced student services. The DARS project (Degree Audit Reporting System) is a software program that provides a constantly updated snapshot summary of undergraduate degree program requirements. It has been in production for seven years and as of Fall 2000 included the bulletins and courses for 31 California community colleges. [Please see www.sfsu.edu/~admisrec/dars/manual.html.]

The university has now begun to build on the base of the optical scanning approaches used to populate the DARS program with academic transcript data. We have made a substantial commitment to scanning and workflow handling of the admission application process for both graduate and undergraduate students. The practical result will be to permit the on-line access to and manipulation of an applicant’s entire academic file in a format that will allow maximum flexibility for use by all appropriate areas of campus. This approach is first being used in the handling of the Spring 2001 admits.

The potential of this project will be the elimination of most of the manual handling necessary for application processing. It will open a wide range of recruitment and admission possibilities. One intriguing scenario would be the ability to provide an immediate response to a student’s application, with a personalized e-mail letter from a counselor welcoming the student’s interest in SFSU, and offering a personal link to the university for any of the informational and advising needs which determine the successful transition to enrollment.

Where Improvement is Needed

The SNAPS survey and the Undergraduate Exit Surveys provide a student perspective on the admissions process. In the 1999 SNAPS survey, admissions services were ranked fourth in importance and 12th in quality from among 29 student services and resources that play a role in helping students achieve their educational goals. Over 91% of respondents rated admissions services as important, while less than half (45.4%) rated the quality as excellent or good. Students were asked to make three choices from among seven things the campus and high school/community college might do to improve the transition to the university. Well over half (57%) of the respondents chose timely evaluation of college course work credited to GE as their top choice. Timely feedback on admission decisions ranked second, and provision of information and applications on the Internet ranked third. The Undergraduate Exit Survey asks respondents to rate their satisfaction with the Admissions Office. Just over one-half of the respondents were satisfied or very satisfied in Spring 1999 (55.8%) and in the 1999-2000 College Year (55.6%)

The efforts discussed in the preceding paragraphs, as well as student satisfaction data, will provide the foundation for an effective university response to the areas of student services identified as needing improvement. The first is an organized and accessible body of course information specific to remediation issues. The on-line degree audit program (DARS) is a critical component to addressing the needs of students in the area of remediation. DARS can be used to provide verification of course work prerequisites for university-level English and math critical to an effective remediation advising experience.

The second is DARS’ inclusion of major program requirements on-line, which will provide needed improvement in early degree check information. This overall check is currently available when the student applies for award of degree in his or her final semester. Inclusion of major program requirements on-line will allow this information to be made available earlier in the student’s career and will be closely coordinated with the Academic Affairs goal of enhanced services in the area of major program advising across the colleges.

The scanning and workflow project mentioned in earlier paragraphs will address the third area cited by students as needing improvement. The timeliness of admission application response remains a natural priority for applicants who must juggle personal obligations with academic goals. Earlier admission notification is critical to their success. The work begun in this area during the Spring 2000 semester is the most viable response to this concern and should deliver measurable improvement within the 2000-2001 academic year for both the undergraduate and graduate application processing calendars.

The 2000-2001 academic year is also witnessing the realization of a model of student services designed around the Centennial Village project. This dramatic expansion of the current Student Services Center’s "one-stop shopping" concept emphasizes the commitment of the university to improvement in the following critical areas of our functioning: the coordination of student services in a dedicated campus location; the expanded delivery of services through longer public hours; and greatly developed on-line access to the university in an inclusive setting which connects with the surrounding student residential structures.

Retention and Progress

There is an increasing focus within the university on the retention of admitted students and on their progression towards graduation. Data from SFSU’s First Annual Accountability Report (August 2000), available in the Office of Academic Planning and Assessment, provide information about the continuation rates for first-time freshmen and community college transfer students. As shown in the table below, new students continue from their first to second year of attendance at a relatively stable rate.

One-Year Continuation Rates for Regularly Admitted First-Time Freshmen
and California Community College Transfer Students

	Fall 1996 to Fall 1997	Fall 1997 to Fall 1998	Fall 1998 to Fall 1999
First-Time Freshmen	78%	78%	77%
CCC Transfers	82%	80%	81%

The university offers a range of academic support services and programs that are critical to the retention and progress of its students. Accessibility and responsiveness to the needs of specific student populations are key factors in the development of these services and programs. SFSU's retention and support services range from programs for students with on-going special needs such as the Disability Resource Center; to all-university support services such as enhanced on-line access, which allows students to easily obtain current information about their university records; to the new Student Services Building in Centennial Village, where students can process most university business at a single site. In addition, SFSU provides a range of options to students who need learning assistance and tutorial support in order to successfully complete their academic careers.

Strategic Plan Recommendations Regarding Retention and Progress

Although the different academic support services may function in somewhat different ways and may serve somewhat different student populations, they are bound together by common goals that support the larger objectives of the university. These larger goals have been specified by the Commission for University Strategic Planning (CUSP) in its document Envisioning Our Second Century. The strategic plan envisioned the different student support departments working together to provide an education that promotes excellence in a collaborative, learning-centered, academic environment. The plan called for offering services to SFSU students that are user-friendly; that actively immerse students in the learning process; that provide students with on-going opportunities for diagnosis, self-assessment, and self-reflection; and that respond to the needs of a community of learners who are diverse in race, age, country of origin, path to the university, life experience, and goals.

All-University Academic Support Services

Acting within the framework set forth in Envisioning Our Second Century, the cooperating all-university student service units have agreed to pursue the following goals and objectives:

• Promote the retention of the SFSU student population as a whole by providing user-friendly services and a welcoming campus climate.

• Assist students in developing the skills necessary for successful completion of their academic careers: reading, writing, math, sciences, and study skills.

• Support students in the learning process by assisting them in assessing strengths and weaknesses, setting goals, identifying learning styles, and following through.

• Support students in developing confidence, independence, and a sense of belonging to the academic community.

• Assist students in establishing close working relationships with faculty, staff, and administrators and in developing their knowledge of campus policies and use of campus resources.

• Foster access and diversity by reaching out to students and developing programs which respond to student needs, including the needs of special populations.

Advising

The Advising Center provides advising workshops, individual appointments, courses on college success skills, and advising for re-entry students. The Orientation Program, which is offered in the summer and winter before the fall and spring semesters, provides an introduction to the skill requirements and formal graduation requirements for entering freshmen and transfer students. The Mandatory Advising for Probation (MAP) program is an intervention program designed to obligate students who are placed on academic probation to make contact with faculty and administration before they are allowed to register for the next semester. (A more in-depth look at orientation and advising may be found in Chapter 5.)

The Learning Assistance Center (LAC)

The success and high rate of utilization of the Learning Assistance Center [http://www.sfsu.edu/~lac/] stems from the following key elements:

• Involvement and support from faculty across disciplines;

• A high degree of student participation in their own assessment and learning; and

• Extensive, interactive, and on-going staff training.

At the LAC, students, many of whom are referred by individual instructors or advisors, work one-on-one and in small groups with tutors on developing college-level learning and study skills. It serves all lower level GE courses, composition classes, entry-level math and science courses, and other courses that require writing. The Grammar Workshop Program for Bilingual Students, the LAC–Raza Tutoring Project, and the Writing Skills Workshops for students who need assistance in order to complete English 114, 214, and 414 or to pass the Graduate Essay Test (GET) are all examples of retention programs housed within the LAC.

The LAC promotes the retention and progress of SFSU students by providing extensive training and consultation not only for LAC tutors, but also for other student support services and the SFSU faculty at large. Each semester, LAC tutors, a diverse group of 35-45 student assistants who are primarily graduate students, particularly in teacher preparation programs such as composition and teaching English to speakers of other languages (MATESOL), participate in a rigorous twenty-hour training program and semester-long follow-up sessions in the teaching of math, sciences, reading, writing, motivation, learning styles, study skills, and awareness of cultural differences that affect learning. The LAC coordinating staff, SFSU faculty with expertise in areas such as ESL, learning styles, and the teaching of academic writing and reading, also assist in the training of staff for other academic programs such as Engineering, Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts, the Pre-collegiate Academic Development Program, and the ESL Program.

Sponsored by the Testing Center and the Learning Assistance Center, SFSU faculty conduct all-campus academic skills workshops that are videotaped and made available through the Media Access Center in the library. In Fall 1999, six faculty and staff facilitated eight workshops on topics such as preparing a research paper, essay revising strategies, using a calculator, and coping with test anxiety with 249 students participating. For Spring 2000, seven faculty and staff led nine workshops with 127 students attending. Each semester the LAC prepares a Learning Assistance Services Referral Guide, which is distributed to faculty and student services programs and used in the center to assist students in finding the academic support service that best addresses their needs.

Data on the LAC—Between Fall 1998 and Spring 2000, the LAC provided tutorial services for 1,786 students, for a total of 9,920 individual or group sessions. LAC students attended an average of 5.6 sessions per semester. The student ethnic breakdown includes 46% Asian/Asian American, 23% Chicano-Latino, 16% African American, 11% Caucasian, .6% Native American, 2% Other. In The Learning Assistance Center: The First Five Years (July, 1998), the LAC reported that, based on a yearly sampling of 200-250 students over the first five years of operation, 95% of the students surveyed reported that they felt welcome, with 78% feeling very welcome. Ninety-five percent found that the tutoring they received was helpful, with 77% finding the center to be very helpful. Ninety-four percent felt that their academic and study skills improved, with 60% citing that their skills improved very much.

After expanding its hours of operation to provide evening hours twice a week, the LAC reformatted its schedule to offer drop-in tutoring during most hours of service. These drop-in hours have become extremely popular and have allowed the LAC to serve even more students, with an increase in student attendance from 1,921 tutorial sessions and 319 registered students in Spring 1999 to 3,580 sessions and 637 registered students in Spring 2000.

In response to the campus-wide focus on self-study and assessment, the LAC staff developed three complementary protocols to evaluate performance in the following areas: (1) skill development (student self-assessment); (2) course work, including cumulative GPA; and (3) retention of probationary students. (An expanded version of this study appears in the Learning Assistance Center Program Report 2000: Assessment, Performance, and Retention at http://www.sfsu.edu/~lac/.)

Regarding self assessment, LAC data on 563 students for four semesters (Fall 1998-Spring 2000) show that students rate themselves an average of 38.9 (on a 1-100 scale) for a particular skill at the beginning of the semester and 67.2 at the end of the semester, with a goal of 89.8 by the time they graduate.

The assessment of GPA's involved a correlative analysis to see if attending tutoring sessions at the LAC affected student grade point averages (GPA's). The LAC staff divided the 263 student sample (representing approximately 20% of the students who came to the center during the four semesters) into three groups—those who attended tutoring sessions two to four times, those who attended five to eight times, and those who attended more than eight times. The results show variable trends in student performance ranging from students showing immediate improvement to students showing improvement after a few semesters; however, all three groups of students demonstrated improvement in their GPA's over time.

Regarding measuring the retention of probationary students, the staff works closely with them in order to connect them with the services they need, both in and outside of the center. Of the probationary students in the study, 13.9% remained on probation, 19.4% were disqualified from university attendance, and 66.7% were removed from probation.

Community Access and Retention Program (CARP)

With its focus on retention, outreach, and innovative approaches to promoting student access, CARP provides a unique service to the SFSU academic community. Since its inception in Fall 1998, CARP has placed a primary emphasis on the development and implementation of academic support services for freshmen, particularly those students who are affected by Executive Order 665. However, CARP has also been able to expand its service delivery to include academic support for student organizations, special programs for student athletes, and services provided in the residence halls for students seeking assistance in a variety of university courses.

CARP is staffed afternoons and evenings, providing service four days a week until 9:30 p.m., an important service for students who need assistance during evening hours. In Summer 1999 and 2000, CARP provided tutorial services for students taking summer classes and ELM and EPT workshops, which the program assisted in designing and implementing. In addition, CARP offers academic skills workshops for students in the summer AACE/Upward Bound Program, for departments such as Mathematics and Black Studies, and for students preparing for the EPT and the Junior English Proficiency Essay Test (JEPET).

Other outreach efforts sponsored by CARP include providing support services for the residence halls and Athletics Department and hosting community outreach events. CARP sponsored an academic support program in the residence halls, originally initiated through the Afrikan Residence Association, which expanded to the development of a full service undergraduate academic support program in conjunction with Housing and Residential Services in Spring 2000. CARP also provides individual and group tutoring for athletes, facilitates study groups and skills workshops for them, and assists in the tracking of their progress through weekly communication with a representative of the Athletics Department. CARP participates in community outreach activities to provide admissions and financial aid information and bilingual assistance for parents and students for such events as the Third Street Fair in the Bayview-Hunter's Point Area and La Raza College Day and Community College Transfer Day. Information on CARP may be accessed on the web at www.sfsu.edu/~carp1/.

Data on CARP—During 1998-99, the first year of the program, CARP initiated its academic support and retention activities with a staff of 12 tutors working with 250 students in 1,362 tutorial appointments. During that year, 800 students participated in CARP academic skills workshops through classes in ethnic studies and interdisciplinary studies in education (ISED) and extracurricular sessions.

For eight weeks in the Summer of 1999, CARP recorded 673 tutorial appointments and presented a series of workshops to AACE/Upward Bound students during their SFSU summer program. For Fall 1999, CARP registered a total of 576 students, 279 of whom were newly enrolled, with a total of 1,125 tutorial appointments. In addition, in Fall 1999, CARP presented 17 academic skills workshops and facilitated a series of in-class workshops in several academic departments, including Black Studies, Math, and ISED. For Spring 2000, CARP registered 820 students, 246 of whom were newly enrolled, with a total of 1007 tutorial appointments. The ethnic breakdown of new students includes: 23% African-American, 16% Asian, 15% Chicano/Latino, 8% White, 8% Filipino, 2% Asian Indian, and 3% other non-White, with 25% choosing not to respond. Student athletes compose 9% of CARP’s student base. Also during the Spring 2000 semester, CARP presented 14 academic skills workshops and gave a series of 8 ELM/EPT workshops to high school students who registered to take the tests. During the 2000-01 academic year, CARP is participating in an external evaluation of its program and services utilizing nationally-normed instruments.

Educational Opportunity Program (EOP)

EOP is a recruitment and retention program that targets low-income and educationally disadvantaged students. Most of the 2,900 EOP students receive an EOP Grant. The professional staff includes 11 advisors who have an average caseload of 265 students and offer on going advising to all EOP students, with mandatory advising for those in academic difficulty. EOP students contract to see their advisor at least three times per semester, seek tutoring, attend workshops as appropriate, and improve their GPA. Failing to meet the terms of their EOP contract could affect their EOP standing, financial aid, or status as a matriculating student. Each academic year, EOP provides 25 student tutors to accommodate the demand for tutoring. Each prospective tutor must receive training on teaching tools and the target student population. EOP cooperates with academic departments by providing tutors for other university programs, such as the Mathematics Department. EOP offers several workshops per semester on academic skills development, college success skills, and utilizing campus resources. The EOP web site is www.sfsu.edu/~eop/.

Data on EOP—Two measures that EOP considers benchmarks for a successful program are the persistence rates and graduation rates of EOP students:

First Time Freshmen (FTF) 3-Year Persistence Rates

1995 Cohort Admits
FTF	1 YEAR	2 YEAR	3 YEAR
CSU Systemwide FTF	.803	.699	.656
EOP FTF (SFSU)	.872	.814	.739

First Time Freshmen (FTF) Graduation Rates

1992 Cohort Admits
FTF	1996	1997	1998
EOP FTF (SFSU)	1.7%	12.4%	27.8%
SFSU Regular Admit FTF	5.1%	23.5%	31.6%

Other EOP Retention Programs

The EOP program also administers the SSS and EOP Summer Bridge programs:

Student Support Service (SSS)—SSS is a predominantly federally funded TRIO program, administered by EOP, targeting college students who are first generation and are educationally and financially disadvantaged. SSS requires an intensive program of mandatory weekly tutoring, biweekly academic advising, and monthly workshops for its 200 students. Students also gain priority touch tone registration in GE Segment I classes and priority financial aid packaging.

SSS Data—Since its inception in Fall 1997, the SSS average retention rate has been over 90%. For 1999-2000, SSS statistics include: 2,061 advising sessions, 1,164 workshops sessions, 2,066 tutorial hours, a retention rate of 91.0%, an average student GPA of 2.70, and a Canton Associates 13-point evaluation rate of satisfaction of 90.1%.

Summer Bridge—Summer Bridge is an intensive four-week college preparatory program targeting low income, first generation EOP students. Summer Bridge course work is primarily dedicated to math, English, and computer science skills. The program also focuses on the development of self-esteem, motivation, and relationships with faculty, staff, and peers. The Summer Bridge web site is http://www.sfsu.edu/~eop/sb/Welcome.html.

Summer Bridge Data

Overall College Performance (three-semester average):

Average SFSU units 10.5

Average SFSU GPA 2.61

Academic Status Fall ‘99:

Percentage on Probation 12.5%

Persistence Rate after 3 semesters 91%

Other Academic Support Programs

Alliance for Minority Participation (AMP)—The Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation (LSAMP) is an academic support program whose goal is to increase significantly the number of underrepresented minority students (African American, Hispanic or Latino American, American Indian or Aleut, and Pacific Islander) who receive undergraduate degrees in science, engineering, mathematics, and technology. AMP focuses on strengthening the mathematical and problem-solving skills of its participating students. The AMP program works very closely with the MESA Engineering Program (MEP) and the Student Enrichment Opportunities (SEO) Program.

Disability Resource Center (DRC)—The DRC offers tutoring services to students with verified learning disabilities on a semester-to-semester basis. Individual peer tutoring in course content and a scheduled, across the curriculum, tutoring service are available to eligible students. Students who are concerned that they might have a learning disability can also contact the DRC for assistance. (See Chapter 10 for more detailed information.)

Faculty/Student Mentorship Program (FSMP)—FSMP is a retention program whose goal is to enhance the academic performance of underrepresented and at risk freshmen of color. Tutoring is available for students enrolled in the FSMP on a drop-in basis for reading/writing, critical thinking, biology, math, and computer science.

Intensive Learning Program (ILP)—First-time freshmen that score 370 or below on the ELM test are eligible to register in ILP-sponsored math courses (MATH 59 and a few sections of MATH 70) and receive tutoring from basic arithmetic to advanced algebra. The courses provide increased opportunity for one-on-one instructor-student interaction.

Academic Support and Retention Project for MATH 59 Students—Beginning Fall 1999, ILP, CARP, EOP, and LAC formed a consortium in collaboration with the Mathematics Department to provide in-class tutorial support for students enrolled in MATH 59. Thirteen tutors who received special training in working with this special population were placed in 19 MATH 59 lab sections in Fall 1999, with four tutors in four sections of MATH 59 for Spring 2000. In addition, each of the programs provided individual and small group tutorial support and established a systematic referral and tracking system. Starting Spring 2000, ILP began coordinating a peer-tutor support program for ILP students, which draws 10 tutors from CARP, EOP, and LAC, who provide learning assistance and information on the requirements of E.O. 665 to MATH 59 students.

Colleges and Departments—In addition to the services mentioned above, tutorial assistance is available through such departments as Chemistry, English, Physics, Psychology, and Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts. The Residential Life Program, offered through the dorms, is designed to acclimatize students to college life by orienting them to campus resources and academic expectations through contact with SFSU faculty in the Faculty Lecture Series and Dinner with Faculty Series. A complete listing of learning assistance services available on campus may be found at www.sfsu.edu/~academic/learning.html# campus .

The Future: Improving Services for Retention and Progress

The following steps are recommended for improving services for the retention and persistence of San Francisco State students:

1. Establish and promote a more highly coordinated effort among programs that provide retention services regarding communication, assessment, goal setting, record keeping, staff training, student support, and referral.

2. Develop and initiate a plan to educate the campus community about the retention services and programs available to students and the faculty and staff who work with them.

3. Form a collective voice for students for whom retention services are critical in order to remain part of the SFSU community: underrepresented students, students with disabilities, students from lower economic backgrounds, students whose home languages are languages other than English, and students who are under-prepared for university-level academic work.

4. Continue efforts, within each service, to assess effectiveness and develop strengths of individual programs in relationship to the goal of retention and progress of SFSU students.

In order to accomplish these goals, SFSU’s student support services must work to promote a sense of mutual responsibility and leadership in facing the challenges inherent in realizing the objectives outlined above. The different support services will need to comprehensively assess the strengths and weaknesses of the individual programs in relationship to meeting these objectives, while developing a spirit of collaboration and cooperation that ensures successful completion of these goals.

With the demands of such mandates as Executive Order 665, and increasing faculty concern about the level and quality of student writing at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, the coordinating staff of the individual retention programs need to find new and creative ways to work together and within their own programs to address the needs of the campus community. The Academic Support and Retention Project for MATH 59 students, a combined effort among ILP, CARP, EOP, LAC, and the Mathematics Department, is one example of successful collaboration between several SFSU student support services and an academic department. Cooperative efforts can take many different forms, with the central goal always being to retain students by utilizing the strengths of individual programs.

GRADUATION AND CAREER PLANNING

Graduation

San Francisco State has joined with its colleague campuses in the CSU in beginning to focus special attention on the graduation rates of its students. Several forms of graduation rate reporting have currency in the public arena and are reflected in the persistence and graduation data found in SFSU’s First Annual Accountability Report. The first table below shows that over one-fifth of regularly admitted, first-time freshmen graduate within five years, while an additional 30% are still enrolled.

CPEC Continuation, Graduation, and Persistence Rates:

Five-year Persistence Rates of Fall, Regularly-admitted, First-time Freshmen

	Fall 1991 to Fall 1996	Fall 1992 to Fall 1997	Fall 1993 to Fall 1998	Fall 1994 to Fall 1999
Was graduated within 5 years	24%	24%	22%	22%
Still enrolled at 5 years	30%	30%	33%	31%
Graduation and continuation rates: Persistence rate	54%	54%	55%	53%

For regularly-admitted, upper division, transfer students (see next table below), over 40% graduate within three years, while an additional 25% are still enrolled. These numbers have remained relatively stable for the various entering cohorts.

CPEC Continuation, Graduation, and Persistence Rates: Three-year Persistence Rates of Fall,

Regularly-admitted, Upper Division, California Community College Transfer Students

	Fall 1991 to Fall 1994	Fall 1992 to Fall 1995	Fall 1993 to Fall 1996	Fall 1994 to Fall 1997	Fall 1995 to Fall 1998	Fall 1996 to Fall 1999
Was graduated within 3 years	43%	43%	42%	42%	41%	46%
Still enrolled at 3 years	23%	22%	22%	25%	25%	24%
Graduation and continuation rates: Persistence rate	66%	65%	64%	67%	66%	70%

The following two tables indicate that, for the 1987 cohort of students entering SFSU, approximately 55% of regularly-admitted, first-time freshmen graduate from SFSU within 12 years, while an additional 13% move to and graduate from another CSU campus, for a total of 68%. For upper division transfer students, 65% graduate from SFSU within 12 years, while an additional 7% move to and graduate from another CSU campus, for a total of 72%.

CSU Persistence to Graduation: Fall 1987 Regularly-admitted, First-time Freshmen

Fall	Enrolled	Earned a Degree at Campus of Entry	Earned a Degree at CSU Campus of Transfer
1987	1.000	0.000	0.000
1988	0.803	0.000	0.000
1989	0.681	0.000	0.000
1990	0.629	0.008	0.000
1991	0.532	0.066	0.004
1992	0.297	0.268	0.030
1993	0.138	0.403	0.064
1994	0.064	0.483	0.082
1995	0.033	0.507	0.091
1996	0.022	0.525	0.107
1997	0.014	0.532	0.114
1998	0.015	0.539	0.122
1999	0.012	0.549	0.129

CSU Persistence to Graduation: Fall 1987 Regularly-Admitted, Upper-Division, California Community College Transfer Students

Fall	Enrolled	Earned a Degree at Campus of Entry	Earned a Degree at CSU Campus of Transfer
1987	1.000	0.000	0.000
1988	0.791	0.006	0.000
1989	0.567	0.137	0.006
1990	0.241	0.407	0.026
1991	0.100	0.528	0.041
1992	0.044	0.587	0.050
1993	0.030	0.604	0.056
1994	0.026	0.611	0.063
1995	0.017	0.624	0.065
1996	0.009	0.633	0.069
1997	0.004	0.643	0.070
1998	0.007	0.646	0.072
1999	0.006	0.652	0.072

Career Planning

With an eye to long-term goals, San Francisco State students, like most college students today, place a high value on careers—before entering, while progressing, and upon leaving their higher education experience. When asked: "What is the single most important reason you decided to attend college?" the Student Pulse Fall 1998 response frequencies were:

Career/Job	Learn More	Parents	Make Money	Other
58.4%	21.4%	8.5%	3.9%	7.8%

Other survey responses are consistent with students’ continuing view that careers are important to them. The 1999 SNAPS survey shows their perceptions of the "importance" of the issue vs. the "quality" of service received:

Career Advising by Faculty		Career Center Services
Importance "Very" or "Somewhat" 89.0%	Quality "Excellent" or "Good" 40.3%	Importance "Very" or "Somewhat" 81.3%	Quality "Excellent" or "Good" 43.2%

The table displays the contrast between the high level of student need and the perceived shortfall in the services they receive. This contrast clearly calls for extensive university discussion and action.

As students leave the university, a perennial question is how they fare upon graduation. A 1999 SFSU employment survey entitled "Where Have They Gone" [www.sfsu.edu/~career] revealed that only 2.0% of SFSU’s graduating students are unemployed. Also of note is the finding that business employs 38.7% of SFSU’s graduates; education 22.4%; non-profits 15.6%; and government 10.4%. Eighty percent work in the Bay Area, with 14.0% working in other areas of California, 4.6% in other states, and 0.8 % internationally. Approximately forty-five percent say that a bachelor’s degree is needed in their work; 20.1% say a master’s; and 35.4% state that "some college" is necessary to do their jobs. As for this work being related to a major studied at SFSU, 53.9% state that their major turned out to be "directly related" to their work; 28.7% "somewhat related;" and 17.4% "not related."

Career Center Services

Based on the professional standards for college and university career centers established by the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), the SFSU Career Counseling and Development Center provides counseling, information, and employment services for graduating students and for most other students leaving the university. Career counseling includes personal exploration, job search skills, interviewing techniques, and resumé and cover letter writing, through one-on-one sessions. During 1999, approximately 850 students received career counseling, with 87% rating the counseling as excellent or good.

Current, comprehensive, career information is accessible 24-hours a day through a web site [http://career center.sfsu.edu] with links to government sites with the latest forecasts of current and future job trends. In 1999, there were more than two million hits on the career web site.

The Career Counseling and Development Center provides job listings in a variety of formats: JobsLine, E-Jobs, and JobDirect. Included in these electronic services are e-mail deliveries of job listings directly to students and also links to various other employment web sites. In 1999, approximately 25,000 jobs were listed directly with the center and access provided for over a million more.

Every semester the center offers a variety of job fairs, which are opportunities for students to meet many employers at once. Many of the job fairs are specific to the interests of the various colleges; e.g., Meet the Firms for the accounting students in the College of Business. In addition to the fairs, information sessions are offered, presenting informal opportunities to learn about positions at various companies.

Specifically for graduating seniors, graduate students, and alumni, there is on-campus job interviewing every semester. Associated with this service is the on-line Resumé Bank, where the students can post their resumés for referral to recruiters. In 1999, 252 companies participated in on-campus interviews, and 2,458 students had their resumés registered on the web site.

In addition, for students with disabilities, there is the Workability IV placement program; and a veteran’s counselor from the California Employment Development Department is on campus every Wednesday to help place veterans. There is a close working relationship with the Cooperative Education Program in the College of Science and Engineering to place students in career positions related to their major.

To date, there has been an inability to adequately monitor or track graduates and students using the Career Counseling and Development Center's services. The center is researching the tracking systems used by other CSU career centers for implementation on this campus.

Recent Developments

For many years, from the mid-1980’s through the first half of the 1990’s, the SFSU Career Center was widely acknowledged to be among the leading centers in the country. WASC’s 1992 report even cited its innovation and creativity in the field and its inroads in building partnerships with the faculty.

The 1998 retirement of the Career Center’s long-time director, together with some resource issues, has put the currently named "Career Counseling and Development Center" into a transition mode. There has been a succession of four directors since 1998, none permanent and each with different views of what a career center should be.

In the face of these challenges, major steps are being taken. An October 2000 decision was made by President Corrigan and Vice President Saffold to conduct a thorough evaluation of the Career Center situation, using external consultants. This is to be followed by a national search for a permanent director. Also scheduled is the physical move of the center to new quarters in the new Student Services Building. The center staff, the administration, and many faculty are getting behind this renewed effort to learn from the recent developments and move ahead positively.

Conclusions and Recommendations

In general, student services at San Francisco State University are strong and are working quietly and effectively all around the campus. This is especially true for the wide array of diversity services available and flourishing for our multicultural student body. Needy groups are targeted, sought out, contacted, and served both on- and off-campus. A strong partnership movement is developing for cooperative work with faculty for more effective delivery of services. New technology is on the rise, balanced with great human caring—always deployed to make things easier for the student.

In addition to recommendations made throughout this chapter, below are three overarching recommendations to strengthen the future of student services at this university.

1. Continue close work with faculty and academic programs—Student learning is rightly the center of the university’s work. All student services should relate in some way with some aspect of the academic curriculum. Such focus should be philosophically and practically in the forefront of the planning, the organizing, and the direction taken with all the service units.

2. Strengthen and expand strategic planning—Projecting into the future, all student services should work in the context of full campus strategic planning. No student service should be an island. Service units must follow good practice with careful coordinated planning, collaborative goal setting, and wise assessment activities.

3. Showcase the best diversity initiatives—At San Francisco State University, diversity is all around and cannot be missed. We celebrate it. However, some excellent programs servicing diverse students go about their work without any wider notice. Some visible examples of fine diversity initiatives could, with some media attention, focus a needed spotlight on this contemporary societal issue and identify competent service-oriented leadership for other campus-wide efforts.

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