The Center for Academic Program Support, a free service offering student tutoring in most 100-200 level classes, is making a strong effort to ease the transition and help students adjust to the rigors of university academics.
Karen Olson, CAPS program manager since 1993, said an average of about 60 student tutors are available annually for students needing help in most subjects.
"We tutor a lot of beginning math courses and chemistry courses," Olson said. "We don't tutor graduate courses, but we do tutor graduate students. I would say 50 percent of the students we see are freshmen."
Olson also said she is excited about the changes she has seen in her time with CAPS.
"One major change is we've really made an attempt to make CAPS more accessible," she said. "We tutor writing for any academic paper and the writing labs always seem to be full. If we don't have a tutor for a particular course, we will make every effort possible to hire a tutor to help that student."
All tutors hired by CAPS are required to undergo certified training every year.
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It is one of 400 tutor-training programs certified by the national College Reading and Learning Association.
Jay Williams, a CAPS tutor and Ph.D. candidate in linguistics, said he became involved with CAPS after seeing a flyer. He applied and was hired the next day.
He said the intrinsic reward of helping students is gratifying.
"It makes me feel wonderful," Williams said. "It is such a reward to see that light bulb turn on in a student's head through different learning strategies. We are not a crutch, we're just tutors. We help students in their areas of studies. We are people just like them, we've all been there and we are all students."
CAPS has implemented some new policy changes this fall due to a new database and sign-in system. All CAPS users must register before tutoring can begin.
The main tutoring services are on the third floor of Zimmerman Library, Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
CAPS has also implemented a "CAPS Across Campus" program this year to make tutoring more accessible to on-campus residents and non-traditional students. Tutoring is also available on Wednesdays and Thursdays in the Student Residence Center from 7-9 p.m., Tuesdays and Thursdays from 7-9 p.m. in the Hokona Hall cellar and at Dane Smith Hall on Mondays and Tuesdays from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.
For more information on CAPS services go to http://www.unm.edu/~caps/.
