Community colleges invariably encourage students to meet with counselors and academic advisors. But, in many instances, the students fall through the cracks without participating in any personal counseling sessions. Even schools that require such sessions have a dilemma, since there are so few counselors and advisors to serve a large student population. Reportedly, the ratio of counselors to students at community colleges is often as high as 1,000 to one.
A number of commentators have speculated that counseling is the key to keeping students in school and achieving success in their classes. Recently a pair of Ohio two-year schools conducted an experiment to try it out. By all appearances, the researchers followed the requisite protocol for a valid statistical study, using "control groups" to compare with student cohorts in other categories.
In a word, the study seems to confirm that intense, repeated counseling sessions can achieve dramatic results. Students who participated in the sessions performed better in all respects. Obviously one problem with implementing such a program everywhere would be the cost involved, since it would necessitate hiring more personnel as counselors and advisors. Some may also question the Ohio schools' use of small stipends that were paid to students to encourage them to attend counseling sessions.
Here's a link to the study.
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