Knowing What Resources are Available to You at Community College

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Counseling Centers

As noted above and elsewhere, you'll have as much help as you want with academic, career, and financial aid issues. Sometimes, however, you may need help with other issues at a personal or family level.

Personal and family issues especially can take a hidden toll on you when you are in community college. Before you know it, you're not focusing in class, you're missing a few sessions, and you're skipping assignments. Remember that your success at community college is important to your family, too.

 Counselors will be available to talk out issues, help you sort out options, and help you decide on a course of action that can help you stay focused and in school even though other aspects of your life are unsettled.

Programs will also be available to help you deal with medical and health problems, as well as serious issues such as alcohol and drug abuse problems.

Counseling sessions are confidential, so you don't have to worry that your problems will become public. Your professor can be sympathetic and help to a certain extent, but you might need some additional professional assistance to help you resolve your issues. It's available, so take advantage of it.

Your college may have a separate center or several centers that can help you with these issues. You'll want to check with your office of student affairs or student services to see what services are available on your campus. In addition, should you need more assistance than the college can offer, counselors will be able to direct you to external resources and professionals who can help you.

Other Campus Resources for Academic Success

Community college is really geared to helping you succeed at every level. Be sure to take advantage of additional academic resources on campus and online to help you do as well as you
possibly can do in your coursework. It's challenging, but help is available.

Academic Support

Most colleges have a center or several specialized centers dedicated to offering you additional academic support in a broad range of subjects, especially in basic skills such as reading, writing, and mathematics. These academic support centers or learning resource centers offer a variety of types of assistance ranging from individual or group tutoring to access to computer-based or online course reviews. They may also be specialized, such as a writing center, a mathematics center, or an academic computer center to help you sharpen your basic computer skills.

At Westchester Community College in New York, for example, the Academic Support Center operates on a walk-in basis. As Joanna Peters, a lab coordinator, points out, "This system allows students to seek help easily when they need it. Our tutors know how to pinpoint their needs and address their problems. We find that students start to view the Academic Support Center as a safe haven and a comfortable place to be, especially once they develop a rapport with the tutors.