As a fourth-year student, set to graduate in the spring, I’ve been counting my credits, ensuring I have everything I need for graduation. Seeing the new first-years begin their move-ins, brought me back to the confusion and newness of my first year.
The Week of Welcome has numerous activities for our incoming first-years and there is no doubt that the university wants to make a good impression on students and their families.
My Week of Welcome was behind masks and overshadowed by the most chaotic move-in process of my life, but I couldn’t deny my excitement for starting a new chapter.
Yet, when it came to the specifics of how to register for classes, what to take and who to talk to, I was pretty clueless. I remember vaguely being told to schedule a meeting with an advisor, but after doing so, they just helped me pick out a few classes and sent me on my way.
Unsurprisingly, like many students, I made mistakes when applying for classes. I eventually learned that classes with numbers one through three next to them are good for collecting credits. By the end of the year, most of what I learned about Duckweb, what classes to take and how to navigate Canvas, was self-taught.
When classes start, the dorms fill and the campus is in full swing. The new first-years will feel the overwhelming newness of college life, and finding the resources they need past week one can be intimidating and difficult.
It’s not that the resources do not exist, as Jasmine Saboorian highlights in her article, “Student resources to know before the school year begins,” UO has resources ready for students. However, the excitement of the Week of Welcome is short-lived. For the first-years, taking the step to reach out to an advisor or an assistance program is incredibly daunting.
Alyvia Embree, a fourth-year UO student had a similar experience with student support services.
“As someone who is a first-generation college student, I found myself struggling to navigate through all the logistics of picking out classes, working out my financial aid and setting up the needed schooling accounts such as Canvas,” Embree said. “I was always confused and scared that I was doing something wrong and because neither of my parents went to college I had no one to guide me through the process. I also had no idea about many of the student resources that were available to me and, unfortunately it took me a while to discover them.”
Experiences like Embree’s are all too common, and students are paying the price, literally.
Most tuition money goes directly toward classes. And when students mistakenly register for classes that don’t count towards their major, graduation credits or turn out to be classes they didn’t need, they’re essentially losing money.
These programs can and should be improved so that students don’t make simple mistakes—that can cost hundreds in tuition money—just from a lack of information.
