KRISTIN ELVES

Academic advising coordinator Judy Seger, right, discusses questions with Lupe Jacobo, who plans to take classes after having been away from the university for a several years. Funding that was originally intended to streamline campus advising services will be used to address the $13.8 million budget shortfall at the UA, officials said.

Thursday October 4, 2001

Paying faculty more important than revamping advising, ASUA president says

Tuition money originally designated for improving advising will go to easing shortages created by Gov. Jane Dee Hull's proposed $13.8 million cut from UA's budget, ASUA President Ray Quintero said yesterday.

UA students paid higher tuition this year, and in return were promised improvements in academic advising by former ASUA President Ben Graff. Quintero said the bulk of these improvements will not occur this year.

Because many of the changes in advising will not be implemented until next fall and the advising funds will not be used in the meantime, the Academic Advising Task Force announced Monday that $800,000 of the $1.9 million allocated from tuition money to improve advising will be returned to the University of Arizona to help offset the budget shortage for this year only.

UA administrators have already spent approximately $500,000 of the $1.9 allocated for academic advising on projects that ASUA does not consider part of academic advising.

The Arizona Blue Chip Program, multicultural centers and the Integrated Learning Center received funding but should not have, Quintero said. While these programs are considered advising, they do not provide academic advising, Quintero said.

"(UA administrators) promised to spend this money on academic advising," said Jenny Rimsza, co-director of the Arizona Students Association. "We were fighting to get the (spent) money back."

But ASA stopped asking for the money spent on non-academic advising to be returned in light of the recent budget cuts.

Whether to spend the money on improving advising, or helping to ease the current budget shortfall was a question of priority, Quintero said.

Quintero referred to the possibility that adjunct professors and other UA employees who do not have contracts may lose their jobs next semester because of cuts in state funding to the UA.

"If, as a student faced with not having professors hired to teach classes, or making small advances in improving advising, I'd choose keeping the professors and graduating on time," Quintero said.

At an ASUA senate meeting yesterday Quintero said he would attend future meetings with UA President Peter Likins to be sure that the $800,000 would further students' interests.

Tricia Williams, administrative vice president of Associated Students of the University of Arizona, said the academic advising process still needs to be streamlined.

Williams went on to say that the academic advising system at the UA is disorganized, meaning students need to visit separate advisers for their major, general education requirements, graduation, honors college and other needs.

She also said some students need help finding their advisers.

Quintero proposed a central location, such as the Student Union Memorial Center, where students could go to be referred to the appropriate adviser.

The AATF is still in the research phase of deciding how to improve advising, said Roxie Catts, co-chair of the AATF.

Decisions about how to improve advising will be made in December. A survey asking students how advising can be improved will be available next week and advertised on the Mall.

Major changes, like a central place to find advising, an online guide informing students where they can find advising for specific needs, and scheduling appointments for advising online, are likely to be implemented in fall 2002, Quintero said.

When the taskforce has outlined specific uses for the money, there will be $1.9 million available, Quintero said.

UA President Peter Likins has invited any member of the UA campus community who has ideas on how the UA could save funds to send e-mail to: ota@u.arizona.edu.