Freshman Success Advisors Program Provides Support for Commuters

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Mentor Chelsea Clark helps freshman Wes Key perform a degree audit

Over 500 freshmen at the University of Arkansas live at home instead of in a residence hall, causing some students to feel an increased pressure to figure out how to get connected to campus and how to become involved in addition to attending classes. In an effort to fully embrace these students into the campus community and increase retention, Off-Campus Student Services has developed programs to assist freshmen commuters in becoming involved prior to their first fall semester and during their first year.

Off-Campus Student Services sought to create a mentoring program that fit the commuter-student lifestyle; one that focused on connecting mentors and mentees through whichever means was feasible for their schedule, be it email, text, or in-person communication. Due to many freshman commuters working off-campus and having varying schedules both at home and at their place of employment from week to week, some of these students are discouraged from participating in traditional mentoring programs that required frequent in-person contact with a mentor. The freshman commuter mentoring programs is called Freshman Success Advisors.

Participants of Freshman Success Advisors are encouraged to communicate with their mentor each week and are given a weekly "dare" in an email from their mentor. These dares range from doing a degree audit, to asking a classmate for their contact information so they can study together, to creating an account in GivePulse to explore volunteer opportunities. While many mentors and mentees communicate more frequently through email and text message, it is not uncommon to see FSA mentors and mentees hanging out in the Commuter Lounge in the Arkansas Union. Mentors also have access to funds that they can use to treat their mentee to coffee or lunch on campus to encourage face-to-face communication. One mentor, Sara Koch, a junior International Relations major, is serving as an FSA mentor for the second year.

"Being a mentor for the FSA program has allowed me to help create a better community for commuter students. Off-Campus Student Services has given me and other student leaders who live off-campus the opportunity to use our own qualities and experiences in order to help freshman commuters through a transitional period by providing them with the resources, guidance, and advice that will help make their first semester a great one," reflected Koch.

Freshman Success Advisors is in its second year after a successful program in Fall 2015. Last fall's program cohort consisted of 20 freshman commuter mentees, 16 of whom were retained for their sophomore year at the University of Arkansas. This 80% retention rate for participants is higher than the 75.6% retention rate for the overall freshman commuter cohort in 2015. Four freshman commuters that participated as mentees in 2015 are now mentors in the 2016 program and enjoy sharing their recent freshman commuter experience with their mentees.

"Last year as mentee in the program, I really enjoyed having someone that I could talk to if I had questions, and to give me advice and helpful hints on adjusting to college life as a freshman living off-campus. This year, I decided to be a mentor and try to share that same great experience with someone else. It has been very rewarding and fun to be able to help these students adjust to college," said Chelsea Clark, a sophomore pre-nursing major.

For freshman commuters that are unable to commit time to a mentoring program, Off-Campus Student Services offers an extended orientation program, ConnectU, the Sunday before the fall semester begins.  Another one-evening event in the spring focuses on celebrating the first year successes of freshmen and preparing them for their sophomore year. More information can be found in the Freshman Commuter section of offcampus.uark.edu.

In Fall 2016, Freshman Success Advisors and ConnectU impacted 78 of the 507 freshman commuters and Off-Campus Student Services seeks to make contact with approximately 30-40 more students during the spring event.

Off-Campus Student Services, a department within the Division of Student Affairs, educates and advocates for off-campus undergraduates and non-traditional students at the University of Arkansas to advance their success at the institution through programming, services, and campus and community resource referrals.