25th Annual Conference The First-Year Experience

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25th Annual ConferenceThe First-Year Experience

• Career Services and Employment Resources that
  Impact Retention

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Montgomery College Three Campus Community
College

• Plus
• School of Art and Design
• Off Campus Sites

.and 166 distant courses with 2,941enrollments.
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Career Services/Employment Resources

• Defined

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Definition Career and Employment Resources

• Career counseling and assessment (group and
  individual)
• Job search assistance
• Career infusion through curriculum
• Class presentations/workshops as requested by
  faculty and staff
• Workshops (ranging from job search assistance
  résumé and interviewing skills, to career
  decision making)
• Job Fairs
• On-campus recruitment
• Career resources management
• Major related career fairs
• Job database/résumé exchange oversight

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Why do Students Need Career/Employment Services?

• Rising College Cost
• 48 college qualified HS grads prevented
• 22 excluded completely

• Record number of students plan to work
• Number of hours worked impact degree attainment
• Family income positively correlates with degree
  attainment

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Why Students Work!

• Self Sustainment
• Pay for Rising Tuition Cost
• Offset Federal, State Local Budget Cuts
• Avoid Debt Latino Students
• Résumé Enhancement

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Financial Aid Not Enough!

• 1979 Pell Grants covered 99 of student needs
• 2003 Pell Grants covered 66
• Perkins Loans facing all but elimination
• Loans, grants, federal work study, need and merit
  based aid
• Expected Family Contributionright!

Result Student retention down
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Career/Employment Resources Helps Retention

• Short and long range goal clarification
• Better jobs, less work hours needed
• More time to earn higher GPA
• On-campus jobs not for everyone
• Addressing risk factors

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Building Career/Employment Programs

• Tie program outcomes to mission and concerns of
  the college/university
• Speak the institutions language of retention
  persistence and other revenue enhancing terms.
• Develop strategic plans

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Building Career/Employment Programs

• Collaborate with other departments
• Public Relations/Marketing
• Institutional Research
• Financial Aid
• Student Life
• Counseling and Advising
• Academic Committees (Assembly)

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Outreach

• Students
• Business Community
• Web Sites
• Brochures
• Newsletters
• Reports
• Faculty Staff
• FYE
• Targeted Classroom Presentations

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Developing Need Based Services and Resources

• Varied hours of operation
• Modes of service delivery
• Cultural sensitivity
• Content

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Evaluate

• Are students getting what they paid for?
• Can you correlate your services with student
  success?
• How do services impact the priorities of the
  institution?
• Does the institution know about your services?

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Are Your Students Planning or Darting into their
Future?
Career and Employment Services Can Point the Way!
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No one achieves their dream without a goal real
enough to taste, a reason strong enough to move
mountains, a strategy as specific as a
roadmap, and a willingness to take action no
matter what the circumstances. -Anonymous
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• References
• Astin, A. W. (1984). Student involvement A
  developmental theory for higher education.
• In Shields, N. (ED.), (1994). Retention,
  academic success, and progress among adult,
  returning students A comparison of the effects
  of institutional and external factors.
• Bean, J., Metzner, B. (1985). A conceptual
  model of nontraditional undergraduate student
  attrition. In Shields, N. (Ed.), (1994).
  Retention, academic success, and progress among
  adult, returning students A comparison of the
  effects of institutional and external factors.
• Boehner, J.A., McKeon, H. P. (2003). The
  college cost crisis A congressional analysis of
  college costs and implications for Americas
  Higher Education System.
• Farrell, E.F. (2005). More students plan to work
  to help pay for college Record percentages of
  freshman also expect to take on high debt.
  Electronic Retrieved February 2, 2005, from
  http//chronicle.com/prm/weekly/v51/i22/22a00101.h
  tm

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• References
• Lace, W.W. (1986). Non-traditional approach. In
  Shere, C. (Ed.). (1988)). Who is the adult
  learner? The Journal of College Admission (1988),
  Fall). Pp. 18-27.
• Lederman, D. (2006). Flat, frozen or facing
  extinction, Electronic Retrieved February
  8,2006, from http//insidehighered.com/news/2006/0
  2/07/edbudget
• MacKinon-Slaney, F. (1994). The adult persistence
  in learning model A road map to counseling
  services for adult learners. Journal of
  Counseling Development (72), pp. 268-275.
• Madrid, A. (2003). Educating the largest minority
  group What are the biggest issues concerning
  Latino students that colleges will confront in
  the near future? Electronic Retrieved
  February2, 2005, from http//chronicle.com/prm/wee
  kly/v50/i14/14b00601.htm
• Reynolds, J. (1996), Fall). Cognitive development
  theories can be tools in our classrooms.
  University Studies Today (1), pp. 3-4.