Peer Advising: A Working Model

Abstract

The transition into higher education involves a number of challenges for new students and responsibilities for faculty, staff, and returning students. Whether o r not some of your students persist at your institution may, in part, depend upon the program designed to help them become oriented, advised, and registered. Here we discuss the development and implementation of a Peer Advising Program established a t a small, public four-year university in the Midwest. We describe the components and evaluation of the program and discuss our observations and conclusions drawn from a working model. Student participation in academic advising has existed for some time at the college and university level. Recognizing that new students needed both immediate information and reassurance during their initial period of adjustment, Brown established a program of academic assistance based o n student-to-student counseling procedures at Southwest Texas College in the middle 1960's.' Lately, interest has increased in the use of academic advising as institutions grow more complex, enrollments threaten to decline, and student populations become more diverse.' Academic advising programs in higher education are as diversified as the missions and purposes of colleges and universities in the United States. It is important that they be designed and implemented t o meet the unique needs of each student body. As new students enter their new academic community, we have seen evidence that their values change during the first six to eight weeks of their collegiate life.' A number of research studies have indicated that one most important factor influencing attrition o r retention of students on-campus involves establishment of a meaningful relationship with one person associated with the academic p r ~ g r a r n . ~