Counselors need to create an easier process for students to receive the help they need.

A vital part of the graduation/transfer process at a community college is speaking to a counselor, something that could be made smoother.

For starters, students at Cerritos College must make an appointment to speak to a counselor which is typically scheduled for the upcoming week.

Just who are they preparing to see?

Most institutions prefer for counselors to have a bachelor’s degree, but they might require counselors to have a master’s.

A good portion of counselors have degrees in psychology. However, those with degrees in other areas could find themselves counseling students that are declaring the same major.

Counselors receive on-the-job training more often than not–meaning that if an institution has a good reputation, adequate on-the-job training will likely carry on to the future generations of counselors.

But, if bad, watch out because your education could be at stake.

With no professional certification or license needed to be a counselor, it could be a hit or miss depending on who you speak with. Again, your future depends on it.

If guided toward the wrong class, you could find yourself spending more time (and money) at the community college level while a properly-guided student could efficiently breeze into a university.

Counselors can communicate with one another to help the needs of students by talking amongst themselves and coming up with different ways to optimize the process.

The process could be improved by counselors abiding by the same guidelines or even coming up with a better form of online counseling.

By designating a tech-savvy counselor to aid students online, the lines would be reduced on campus and would allow for students to get their questions answered quickly and conveniently.

After all, counselors have all the necessary tools to research a student’s academic history in front of them on their computers.

If students took advantage of such a system, they too would save a lot of time with the given process.

Rather than wait a week for an upcoming appointment, simply go online and receive a wait time that would be estimated by an online form, much like the way companies utilize online customer support.

Cerritos College’s counseling department allows students to email counselors, but a response time of three business days is quoted by its website, with a disclaimer that during heavy periods of enrollment it will be delayed.

It also suggests that a counselor be seen in person for the following matters:

• Progress toward completing an academic goal
• Transcript reviews
• Course grades and test scores
• Personal counseling

Why?

When a student sees a counselor face-to-face, he must absorb all the information or come back seeking help again.

Going back to the online system, a script of the session could be emailed to the student at the closure of the chat allowing for him to reference it anew in the future.

This makes it irrelevant to revisit with a counselor unless new questions arise which can be answered online again.

It sounds easy, so why isn’t it implemented?