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For many college and university students, the road to success is littered with emotional traffic, financial potholes, and academic speedbumps. The journey to reaching one’s goals hinges on access to and awareness of vital student success resources. Nicole Guerrero Trevino, Ph.D., Vice President for Student Success at TimelyCare points to a recent survey in which 95% of students acknowledged they face significant challenges in reaching their full potential.
“Mental health, financial stress, academic preparedness, career readiness, and basic needs and security are just some of the obstacles students deal with while in college,” said Trevino.
As part of its GenZtressed Webinar Series, TimelyCare hosted a lively discussion about redefining student success and strategies for removing barriers, moderated by Melissa Ezarik, Student Success Editor at Inside Higher Ed.
Stress impeding success
According to Ezarik, a recent Inside Higher Ed Student Voice/College Pulse survey revealed that three out of four students said stress is negatively impacting their ability to finish college. Panelists Cynthia Hernandez, Ph.D., VP of Student Success at Texas State University, and Emily Stone, Ed.D., Dean of Counseling and Student Success Programs at Diablo Valley College, emphasized the importance of early intervention to support struggling students. Regular check-ins and formal surveys help keep administrators informed of what’s impeding student success.
“We’ve got a number of systems that help us keep a pulse on our students in that first year,” said Hernandez. “Whether that be RA checks in the residence halls…as well as peer mentors, that we might have in some of our first-year experience courses and then, the first year experience, staff or faculty leading that particular course.”
Diablo Valley College has participated in surveys that revealed gaps in basic needs, such as food and housing insecurities, and underserved mental health needs. Stone said, “Not unlike many community colleges and higher ed institutions, we have seen in particular post-pandemic, a burgeoning area of need around addressing student basic needs.”
“We want to have early identification of student needs to get students connected to resources that we may have to offer them ideally at the beginning of the semester rather than waiting and finding out mid-semester,” said Stone.
Student engagement
Beyond addressing immediate challenges, fostering ongoing student engagement and involvement in extracurricular activities is integral to promoting success. Ezarik said a fall 2023 Student Voice survey by Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse found that one-third of students spend no time weekly on extracurricular activities on campus. “Stress from academic workload specifically seems to play in campus involvement or lack thereof…Have you made efforts to help students feel less stressed about their coursework?” asked Ezarik.
“Professors everywhere would agree that giving less work is not the answer,” said Hernandez. “Part of it is really addressing the root of academic stress and sometimes we see that through our counseling center, or through our student success staff, our tutoring staff, our success coaching staff, to really be able to hone in on what’s at the root of that issue and help students navigate how to get through that.”
At a community college like Diablo Valley College, the seasonality of transfer season can cause academic stress and influence those students’ ability to engage in extracurricular activities, said Stone. However, she said, “We also recognize the importance of students who have transfer as a goal, for example, of being engaged as part of making their transfer application a more competitive application. So, it’s helping students to authentically engage in those activities and maintain their academics.”
She said non-traditional students at community colleges may also be juggling family and work responsibilities. Faculty and staff are encouraged to co-create experiences with students. “We know that just making one meaningful connection for a community college student, yields tremendous gains in our retention.”
Hernandez noted that requiring students to live on campus during their first year has improved engagement at Texas State. “We’re building a sense of place where students feel welcomed and valued,” she said. “We want to be memory makers, not just event coordinators.”
Help Your Students Reach Their Goals
Mental health and well-being support
Heightened awareness and less stigma have led to more students seeking mental health resources along their success journeys, creating a high demand for support from campus counseling centers.
Stone said Diablo Valley Community College has a robust behavioral intervention and care team. “The care team really triages and prioritizes based on how the student responds to determine, do they need face-to-face counseling, or could benefit from TimelyCare, our telehealth provider. TimelyCare telehealth has become an integral part of our offerings to students.”
Hernandez adds that everyone struggling with mental health and well-being can’t just be sent to a counseling center. “We will never staff up our counseling centers in a way to be able to manage and handle that demand,” she said. “Counselors and my counseling center director will tell me there are times where students may be having anxiety or a panic attack, and what they don’t need in that moment is counseling. It might be another way of utilizing the skills and the practices they have learned to lower that anxiety or to manage that. It could be they need to see a health provider in our counseling center or someone on our care team.” Hernandez also cited TimelyCare TalkNow sessions and telepsychiatry as part of the comprehensive framework to address mental health.
“We will never staff up our counseling centers in a way to be able to manage and handle that demand.”
Cynthia Hernandez, Ph.D.
VP of Student Success
Texas State University
Accessing student success resources
Getting students’ attention to direct them to support resources can be a challenge. Not knowing where or how to seek support is a common theme among students despite frequent email announcements, social media posts, and digital billboards promoting services. Panelists pointed out that visibility, timing, and messengers all play important roles in reaching students.
“The more that our faculty are trained and aware of the resource, they are the best ambassadors,” said Stone.
Hernandez added, “They (faculty) are our critical eyes and ears, to help us, triage an issue when it comes to their attention or to confer with us in case they need to be part of the solution.”
Student peers are excellent ambassadors as well, said Stone. “You can access and reach your fellow peers in a different way than a faculty member. So it’s like we’re coming at it from all these different places and spaces, and hopefully, as a result, most students are aware of getting connected to the resource.”
TimelyCare now offers Student Success Coaching as an integrated and streamlined experience for students to get support when and where they need it. Learn more here.
