AlamoADVISE

Institution:

Alamo Colleges District

State:

Texas

Academic Level:

Associate

Issue Area:

Support Services

Program Focus:

Institutional Change

Website:

http://www.Alamo.edu

Key Personnel:

Blanca Balle Villegas

Contact Info:

bballe@alamo.edu | 210.458.0170

Overview

AlamoADVISE provides community college students with a personalized academic/career pathway through the support of a certified advisor. AlamoADVISE’s goal is to close academic and completion gaps for underrepresented students by ensuring the following metrics:

Student to advisor ratio of 1:350.
Achieving an advisor caseload of 99%.
Advisors complete competency-based training within 1 year of employment.
Increase student satisfaction with advising.
Increase student credential completion.
Decrease student time to credential completion.

Program Description

Established in 2014, AlamoADVISE was designed in response to several challenges encountered by Alamo College District students: a 21% transfer rate, completion time of 4.6 years, and average of 92 credit hours at degree completion. AlamoADVISE is an intrusive and intentional case management model that caseloads all students with a certified advisor to help students formalize an academic plan, create a mission statement, and requires students to meet with them at 15, 30, and 45-hour touchpoints. These designated touchpoints allow the advisor to monitor progress, identify challenges, and design strategies to help students maintain momentum to achieve the goals of completion and transfer/employment. Advisors are trained in holistic advising to support individual student needs, including developing individual success plans and implementing strategies to support Latino students.

Outcome

In less than 6 years, AlamoADVISE has achieved all intended program measures:

Student to advisor ratio of 1:350: In 2014, the student to advisor ratio was 1:900. In 2020, the student to advisor ratio sits at or below 1:350 each semester.
Advisor caseload of 99%: A caseload rate of 99% has been attained each semester across all 5 colleges in the Alamo Colleges District. Equity data confirms that the current percentage of Latino students assigned to an advisor matches the 62% of Latino students enrolled in the Alamo Colleges District.
Competency-based advisor training completed within 1 year of employment: 100% of advisors completed and became certified in competency-based training within the first year of employment.
Increased student satisfaction with advising: In the last 3 years, the percent of students satisfied with advising increased from 75 to 95%.
Increased student credential completion: In academic year 2017-2018, 26% of program participants graduated within 4 years in comparison to only 9% of program participants in 2005-2006.
Decreased student credential completion time: Time to degree completion decreased from 4.6 to 3.9 years. In 2018, there was also a reduction in excessive semester credit hours from 92 to 82 hours and a decrease to 67.5 hours for Native students.
Increased student transfer cost savings: Transfer Advising Guides (TAGs) are used by advisors to ensure applicability of courses for transfer. To date, 1,276 TAGs have been built with an average savings of $8,802 at public and $52,767 at private universities.