This morning in the Senate Higher Education Committee, Sara Wilson, Western Washington University’s Special Assistant to the Senior Vice President, Vice President for Enrollment and Student Services, and Rickey Hall, Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer at the University of Washington, presented during a work session about student success at public four-year universities.

The presentation touched on what support services are, how they benefit postsecondary students, growth in demand for student support services at Western, and WWU’s 15 Gets You There advising initiative designed to help students stay on track toward graduation. Regarding student demand at Western, the presentation emphasized that:

• The number of students accessing Western’s Academic Advising Center has increased by 76 percent since 2010;
• Student demand for the Tutoring Center has almost tripled over the past 10 years, with nearly half of all WWU undergraduates using Tutoring Center services at some point while enrolled at the university;
• One in 10 WWU students are in need of psychiatric care and studies show that stress, anxiety and depression are major interferences with academic success; and that
• Western has seen a 90 percent growth in the number of students qualifying for disAbility Resources for Students since 2009, including a 151 percent increase in the number of students with a mental health diagnosis.

With the state providing millions of dollars for student financial aid and tuition affordability each year, investing in evidence-based support services that ensure students graduate helps maximize a return on the state’s investment. Data shows that support services such as academic and career advising, tutoring, peer mentoring, disability support services and mental health counseling assist students in navigating higher education and increase student retention and graduation rates.

For additional information about the importance of student support services, you can find footage from today’s work session here, a related blog post from earlier this session here, and Western’s Student Success and Achievement package here.

Stay tuned to the Western Legislative Review for additional updates throughout the legislative session. You can sign up for email updates from the blog on the right side of this page and you can follow Western Government Relations on Twitter.

WWU’s Sara Wilson presents in the Senate Higher Education Committee on March 23, 2017