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To accommodate the growing number of people using UNM’s Center for Academic Program and Support, the tutoring program decided to start a branch in the Casas del Rio dormitories during the beginning of this semester. CAPS is an on-campus program that provides various academic resources to students.
“CAPS is getting very large,” CAPS Director Michelle Steiner said. “Zimmerman (Library) is getting very crowded, the SUB is getting very crowded, and these areas continue to increase in size.”
Steiner said that CAPS decided to include a tutoring area in Casas del Rio, the new student housing buildings on campus, to accommodate students living in the dorms, especially freshmen. She said that freshmen who are struggling to adjust to college life particularly benefit from their program’s environment. Students don’t have to be freshmen or living in Casas del Rio to take advantage of the new CAPS location.
“CAPS is one of those community organizations where we have a community of learners,” she said. “It’s an informal peer to peer interaction, which makes it more comfortable to students.”
According to Steiner, about 30 students have been attending CAPS study groups in Casas since it opened about six weeks ago. She said that although this is a great starting number, it is still not as busy as the locations in Zimmerman and the SUB.
“It takes a while for a location to become publicized, to resonate with people, and for people to find it,” she said.
Steiner said that CAPS hired four student tutors and one student manager to work in Casas, and that two of the student tutors conduct online tutoring, while the other two facilitate the student groups. She said that the Casas branch focuses on lower-level courses, including Math 100, Math 121 and English 102, because freshmen usually take these courses.
“That center in Casas del Rio is a real conglomeration of partnership,” she said. “We’re doing a good number of things there for freshmen.”
Steiner said CAPS utilizes its own funding for the Casas branch and that the University didn’t allocate funding to CAPS for the expansion.
“Right now, we are using our budget as it is to fund Casas del Rio,” she said. “But I believe that if that’s a very successful space, then perhaps we’ll get some money to enhance and develop there.”
_For more information about CAPS and tutoring schedules, visit
caps.unm.edu
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