In addition to final projects, papers and the pressure of registering for classes, students with 80 credit hours now have to attend a mandatory advisement seminar in order to remove a hold on their accounts.
The college of Arts & Sciences instituted mandatory graduation-planning sessions last year. Students with 80 credit hours attend group sessions where they are taught to look over their e-Progress reports and determine their graduation dates, said Stephanie Hands, director of advisement for the Arts & Sciences Advisement Center.
This year, Hands said the department has created the option of larger, walk-in sessions.
"It's an hour-long session, and the first thing we do is an overview on how to read the degree audit," she said. "Once we go over that piece of it, we go over what the numbers really mean. I think that's probably the biggest discrepancy as far as how to use it."
Hands said the point of the sessions is to teach students how to look at their academic progress in an easy, interactive manner.
"We want you to look at each piece of (the worksheet)," she said. "And we want you to notice where you have courses that you still need to complete and how the specific courses you need for group, core, major and minor."
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If a student can't attend the large graduation sessions, Hands said students can attend a smaller workshop or make an individual appointment.
Mikel Evans said he had to miss a class to be present. He said he attended the session to get the hold off his registration.
"I'm just here because it's required," Evans said. "I also had to miss a lecture in order to attend this, so I was a little biased from the beginning. However, I was surprised at how succinct and helpful it was. I actually realized that I need another class to graduate, which I otherwise may not have learned about until too late."
Hands said the sessions are meant to give students an idea of what they need to do to graduate.
"It's not to replace one-on-one advisement. It's just to provide for a more informed conversation in the follow-up visits," Hands said.
Student Ashley Palacios said she found the session useful but inconvenient.
"I think I would say it was helpful, but at the same time I don't think it was completely necessary," Palacios said. "I think that if we had been taught to read the degree information as freshmen, it would be more helpful instead of as seniors at the last minute."
Hands said the Advisement Center is working to lessen the stress students have to deal with this month.
"We're trying to be as accommodating as possible," Hands said. "We want to get as many students in and give them the information prior to registration, and the last thing we want to do is hold up their registration."
