WILL SEBERGER/Arizona Daily Wildcat Anthropology senior Marina Sergeyeva goes over a degree check with her advisor R. Scott Johnson in the advising center at the Douglass building yesterday afternoon. ASUA has proposed a new advising contract that will hold advisors responsible for bad advice given to students, hoping to improve overall advising at the UA.

Joshua Jacobs spent most of last semester playing Online Scrabble and eating Cheetos, finding he had an unusually high amount of free time on his hands.

Jacobs, a pre-education freshman, was told by his academic adviser to take only 12 units because most freshmen feel burdened in their first year at college.

Now Jacobs, who will be taking summer courses in order to graduate in four years, said he believes if his adviser had reviewed his high school courses, she would have known he was capable of handling 15 credits.

"I'll start going to advisers when they start focusing on what is best for the student and not the university's bank account," said Jacobs.

Jacobs is not the first student to receive bad advice. While most advisers direct students in the right direction, communication problems continue to strain student-adviser relations on campus.

But a program under development by Associated Students of the University of Arizona, in which advisers would enter into a contract with students, may help bridge the communication gap.

The "adviser contract" creates a note-taking system that would require each meeting between an adviser and student to be documented electronically or on paper.

J.P. Benedict, ASUA president, recognizes the communication problem between students and advisers.

"I've heard too many stories of students who got incorrect information from an adviser who were then forced to take extra classes and even extra semesters," Benedict said.

The communication problem recently came to the attention of Cassiopeia Sonn and Kim Bui, academic affairs directors for ASUA.

Sonn said discrepancies exist between the various colleges concerning general education credits.

"When a student changes their major, what used to count for, say, a tier two credit, may no longer count at a different department," Sonn said. "There needs to be a way to protect students."

Working with the Undergraduate Academic Advising Council, Sonn and Bui came up with the note-taking system.

The meeting notes would be online so students could view the advice given, and compare them with their SAPRs. In addition, advisers in different departments could share notes.

"This way, when an adviser says something will count as a credit, it has to count and the student won't get stuck taking extra classes," said Sonn.

I've heard too many stories of students who got incorrect information from an adviser who were then forced to take extra classes and even extra semesters. - J.P. Benedict ASUA president

Many students on campus believe the adviser contract would help students get through college with less confusion.

"The advisers need to be held responsible for ambiguous advice," said Kelli Gacic, a sociology senior. "Although students map out their own education, we depend on advisers to keep us on track and give us information we don't know."

But the nebulous guidance advisers give may partially be the fault of students.

Teddy Lopez, a senior academic adviser for the College of Humanities, said advisers give broad advice because they are unaware of students' specific needs.

"If students come to their advisers with specific questions or problems, they will get specific advice," she said.

But Didi Lawson, a senior academic adviser for optical sciences and engineering, said advisers give bad advice because there is an unreasonable student-adviser ratio, creating communication problems during registration and orientation.

"It can happen that erroneous advice is given due to the hectic schedule at times like that," Lawson said.

According to Ann Parker, the director of the Adviser Resource Center, the adviser-student ratio is supposed to be 400-to-1. In order to bring the ratio down, 18 advisers were hired last summer, and 10 more are expected to be hired later this year.

But within each department, the ratio varies as a department will employ one full-time professional adviser, and several faculty advisers. Thus, while an engineering physics adviser may have 30 students, two molecular and cellular biology advisers have to accommodate roughly 600.

Communication between departments regarding general education and elective credit is another reason students receive bad advice.

According to Parker, departments are granted the power to assign general education credits from extra electives. The inconsistency arises when a student switches majors, and the previous adviser substituted an elective for a general education credit.

"The new adviser doesn't mind honoring the substitution, but they usually request some sort of proof," said Parker.

This is why Parker wants the notes an adviser puts online to show up on student's SAPR, as well being available for other advisers.

"If the student doesn't agree with or understand the notes, they need to meet with their adviser again right away to clear it up," said Parker.

Dr. Srin Manne, an engineering physics adviser, supports the idea of note taking during an appointment, as it will help alleviate confusion between students and advisers.

"There should be a more formal way of doing things," Dr. Manne said. "Students can always e-mail advisers with an interpretation of how the meeting went, and the adviser can confirm it."

Lopez already encourages students to get information in writing, especially if they receive bad advice.

"It becomes one person's word against another," said Lopez. "If the student provides written proof of what the adviser said, the adviser is responsible and will work with the student to fix the problem."

If approved, the adviser contracts are expected to begin in the fall of 2004.