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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 3, 1996)
By Kelly McNally Staff Reporter For students trying to juggle work, school and a new set of undergraduate requirements, regular visits with an adviser are crucial. But most students are as diligent about visiting their ad visers as they are about scheduling regular check-ups with their dentists. Maybe that’s because getting an appointment with an adviser can be like pulling teeth. Patrick McBride, director of New Student Enrollment for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, said it was more critical now to see an adviser than it has been in previous years. “With the university’s new general education requirements, not to talk to your adviser could delay your gradua tion by just not looking up the right part of the undergraduate bulletin,” McBride said. But for some students, consulting an adviser is a difficult task because of schedule conflicts. When advisers are in their offices, they often are busy with another student or other tasks. Ryan Anderson, a freshman general studies major, said he was hesitant to contact his adviser because he knew the adviser had a busy schedule. Anderson said he fears his ques tions may not be important compared to questions of the many students his adviser sees each day. “It’s not like talking to your high school guidance counselor,” he said. Most high school guidance coun selors make advising their only job and are not required to teach. At the uni versity, professors combine teaching, research and advising into one time consutniag job. , _ :: : ^ Mark van Rbojen, assistant profes sor and undergraduate adviser in the department of philosophy, said he didn’t feel advising was a burden. He said he spent fewer than five hours i week advising. Van Roojen said that within an av erage year he sees more than half of the 50 students assigned to him. However, in larger colleges, such as the College of Business Adminis tration, meeting with a faculty adviser is difficult. CBA tries to make up for this by opening a student advisory center where students can receive advice on class registration. Leslie McPherren, a senior busi ness administration major and a CBA student adviser, said visiting a student adviser rather than faculty adviser gives someone a fellow student’s per spective. The student advisers are taking the same classes as the students they ad vise and can give a better perspective on the courses, she said. In a peak month, the student advisory center has received as many as 11,000 visits. McPherren said the service helped the advisers as well as the students because many advisers had little time to devote to advising. Alexia Scott, a senior biology ma jor, said it was difficult to find the time to meet with her faculty adviser. Her alternative is the Biology Advising Center, where two or three students are available to talk to instead of one fac ulty member. Scott said she could have figured out her schedule on her own, but her adviser was helpful. Scott said she hoped to graduate in four years, and her adviser has helped by keeping a checklist of the classes she has com pleted. McBride said students are triggered to see their adviser when the new class schedule comes out, but that they prob ably should go before then. Oct. 21 is the first day to register for the spring semester. WAGE from page 1 -ees’ current wages already were above the minimum level. Douglas Zatecha, UNL director of housing, said most employees were paid above minimum wage to stay competitive with other jobs offering higher wages. “I’d say that about 90 percent of our students were above minimum wage at the time of the increase,” Zatecha said. Zatecha said the minimum wage increase mainly affected those UNL Housing employees with jobs requir ing a lower level of skill. The lower-skill jobs had a set wage 25 cents above the old minimum wage, cutting in half the impact of this year’s 50-cent wage increase, Zatecha said. The Office of Campus Recreation also paid most student employees more than minimum wage at the time of the wage increase. But Rod Chambers, financial direc tor of Campus Recreation, said even these higher wages were increased as a reshtPbf the mininapi-wage in “Just about all of our students in creased 50 cents or so,” Chambers said. He explained the increases in wages were in response to a student employee scale that uses a variety of variables tp place students in five main wage levels. >\ When the minimum wage in creasedyall five wage levels increased accordingly to avoid “compression.” Chambers estimated the first stage of the minimum-wage hike would cost Campus Recreation $35,000 to $40,000. When the second h mum wage increase About half of While its overdue Swanson have been paid for quite 'When the second stage of the wage hike increases minimum wage by an additional 40 cents, Chambers said, the overall cost to Campus Recreation could reach $100,000. Chambers said options still were being discussed to cover the cost of the recent minimum-wage increase, and the later increase of 40 cents would be handled by requesting more student fees money. Larry Kahle, associate dean of li braries, said the impact of the mini mum-wage increase on the UNL Li braries will not be extremely damag ing if the libraries coaid hire more work-study students. The libraries pay only 20 percent of-their work-study employees’ wages, he said. The ma jority of work-study student wages is paid by die federal government Daryl Swanson, director of the Nebraska Unions, said the minimum wage increase only affected half of the unions’ employees. Those employees previously earned $4.50 an hour. The cost of up grading their wage to $4.75 m hour d into our: budget^ v; r • The Goodyear blimp, the “Spirit of Akron/ leave Lincoln by Friday. v -•> *'vy** r -.-••r,. **r *• .tTv^Tr - •':?> OTWff* s : Matt Miller/DN ji ies over the State Capitol Tuesday afternoon. The blimp will j