Coping
Many first time college students are young and inexperienced in dealing with problems. They don’t have sufficient coping skills to deal with issues that can arise. Many are used to a parent handling these issues and some have had no support whatsoever. With proper support and guidance these students can be guided to the right path.
Many colleges in the traditional sector offer some sort of transition course. Has your school considered a first year experience type course to help students master some of the skills you mention?
Our institution offers a Career Success and College Success course that offers guidance for the students to help the transition from high school to college and even for career changers.
Are these courses part of the required curriculum? When do students take them and are they for credit?
Are the instructors from the program faculty or from the support services side of the house?
Yes! These courses are part of the curriculum for the associate degree program. The College success course is taken in the beginning of the program and the Career Success course is taken towards the tail end of the program. The instructors are a combination of faculty and adjuncts.
So well put. We need to have mentors on hand to help the students through "new" issues that they themselfes have not had to "deal" with.
How do you know when a student is dealing with a new issue and who has the responsibility to connect with them?
Our students are all placed with Program Managers. We put forth extra effort to contact the students as their instructors alert us to changes in behavior, grades or stated concerns.So all students have at least several people involved with them throughout their college career. We have connections with United Way and other social service organizations if students require more assistance.
Coping with stress in this industry can be very tough. The hours, pressure, and customer service can drive anyone crazy! You just have to find a decent outlet to deal with these things.
True with the younger ones but the older ones Should have enough maturity and life experience to not let anything interfere with thier goals.
I believe that it becomes the responsibility of the school to provide the students with a support department. It is often frustrating to me as an instructor to feel as if it is my responsiblity to help students with personal issues that I am not qualified to assist with. A support system for not only first year students, but all students would be an asset to any school.
It seems that these students skipped a step or two in their development and concentrated their abilities on the technolgy instead of learning skills that they would need to survive in this world.
Coping is a big concern for new students, especially since we don't know all their outside issues. One thing we must remember is that we can give individuals/students all the necessary tools/materials need for coping, but they have to know what to do with them and how to use them in order to be effective.
