Adviser Shelby Desrochers works with incoming student Ivan Garza, who plans to study welding.
Sven Aniksdal, who will study business, plans his schedule with adviser Perry Ledet.
Adviser Shelby Desrochers works with incoming student Ivan Garza, who plans to study welding.
Sven Aniksdal, who will study business, plans his schedule with adviser Perry Ledet.
If Sven Aniksdal of Lafayette wasn’t wholly conversant about financial aid when he arrived for orientation at South Louisiana Community College on Tuesday, his eyes were wide open by the time he left.
The Student Success orientation for new students, entering its final days this summer, gave him important insights on how to pay for attending the two-year school starting this fall semester and helped him navigate his way through the SLCC website. Both were important, he said.
Aniksdal, who will begin studying business this fall in hopes of eventually transferring to a four-year program, was one of several students who attended the afternoon session. They gleaned important insights on how to choose a program, navigate academic or workforce training program requirements, make an efficient schedule that will keep them on course to graduate and consider myriad forms of financial aid.
Timothy Wise, assistant vice chancellor for student affairs, said the orientation included important information for getting started on a college journey. He said the slide presentation and one-on-one advising presented students with course choices, appropriate software to navigate registration and some savvy tips about how to build schedules.
“Most students when they come in do have an idea about what they want to study: health science, business transfer, HVAC or welding,” he said. But first-time students generally need some guidance to set their schedules appropriately.
“We talk about required courses and electives,” he said. “As we teach them, they become better able to register themselves.”
Wise said while many students seek online courses, he advises them to start out in face-to-face classes so they can better understand how college works.
“Some are scared. Most are first-generation students who have never enrolled in a college course,” he said.
Many want to schedule classes so they can go to classes for fewer days, saving them frequent trips to campus and saving gas money. Some prefer all their courses on Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Tuesday-Thursday so they can work more hours on the jobs that help them pay their way.
“So many of these people are working today,” he said.
That’s why students need to be aware of a host of financial aid programs for two-year students, said Christine Bourque, a financial aid outreach specialist. Her program presentation helped students understand that as well as the processes they have to complete to access loans and grants.
“They also need to check their course requirements, verify their financial aid documents and know how to maintain their aid,” she said. To make sure all that sticks, SLCC sends students an electronic packet, in addition to the orientation.
Shelby Desrochers, coordinator for student engagement and conduct, said the financial aid information helps a lot. She said SLCC holds classes on nine campuses in eight Acadiana parishes’ most of the campuses have had some type of orientation. She said while only seven students showed up for Tuesday’s session, more attended a session last Saturday. In all, 152 students have attended a session through Tuesday.
In fact, SLCC has been doing student orientation sessions since the second week of July. The sessions end next week. After that, students who register must take whatever courses are left over.
Jakia Steele, a student life coordinator, said college enrollment is open so students can come without attending a summer orientation, but those students who attend the sessions are better prepared to start higher education.
If you show up late to register, she said, there might be “a scramble for financial aid” and conveniently scheduled classes may not have seats left.
Student Success Live sessions remain at the Abbeville campus, 1:30-3 p.m. Aug. 10; Evangeline campus, 9-11 Aug. 11; Lafayette, 9:30-11:30 Saturday; New Iberia, 1-4 Tuesday.
Also, Opelousas T.H. Harris campus, 2-4 p.m. Wednesday; 2-4 Aug. 10; 2-4 Aug. 17; 2-4 Aug. 24.
Email Ken Stickney at kstickney@theadvocate.com.
Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.
Purchases made via links on our site may earn us an affiliate commission
News Tips: newstips@theadvocate.com
Other questions: subscriberservices@theadvocate.com