The office of Student Life is dedicated to providing student involvement and leadership opportunities that enhance the college experience and prepare students to contribute a diverse, dynamic and global society.
Our office supports 5 core programs including: • Associated Students (Student Government) • Culture & Community Center • Sustainability Resource Center • Inter Club Council • Chico Center Student Lounge Our office also supports several core services, including: • Student Activity Card production • Student Handbook distribution • Poster approval • General campus event support
Current SLO cycle includes summary and recommendations to be developed spring 2017. Once those are developed they will be included in this section.
The Office of Student Life helps meet the persistence and achievement standards by providing students ways to connect to the college in order to retain students and give them the skills to achieve course completion.
1. Enhancing a Culture of Completion and Academic Achievement *Student representatives on relevant committees: Program Vitality, Curriculum, Academic Senate, Matriculation, Distance Learning 2. Supporting Student, Faculty and Staff Success *Student representatives on relevant committees: Safety, Student Technology Advisory, Technology Council, Safety 3. Using Data-Informed Processes for Continuous Improvement *Student representatives on relevant committees: Participatory Governance, Accreditation 4. Maximizing Resources to Support Student Learning *Student representatives on relevant committees: Planning and Budget, Facilities Master Planning 5. Modeling Sustainability *Student representatives on relevant committees: Sustainability Steering, Land Use *Events: Campus Sustainability Days in the fall, Earth Day in the spring. *Funding the Sustainability Resource Center which is a student hub for Sustainability events and community building. 6. Enhancing a Culture of Inclusiveness *Student representatives on relevant committees: Diversity Committee *Funding the Culture and Community Center, which is a hub for diversity and inclusion for students and clubs.
We had three recommendations via Program Review in 2013.
Recommendation #1: Add permanent staff to the Culture and Community Center and the Sustainability Resource Center.
Recommendation #2: Continue to explore ways to increase student awareness of the role the AS plays on campus and the opportunities available for student participation/representation. We have explored and implemented several strategies to increase student awareness of the role the AS plans on campus and the opportunities available for student participation and representation. Including: social media, online elections, use of campus televisions, professionalizing promotional materials. It is also one of our newly developed student learning outcomes.
Recommendation #3: Develop and administer surveys or other tools that measure student awareness of participation in AS sponsored activities, as well as the utilization of AS-run center/facilities. We have developed and administered surveys and other evaluation tools to measure student awareness of and participation in Student Life sponsored activities and related centers. Including annual spring survey, event feedback forms, event participant feedback surveys, club member and Club Advisor surveys, Student Learning Outcome assessments.
Low enrollment and increasing personnel costs are forcing us to focus on our budget and to create a strategy for maintaining student-oriented and value-based services that support the department and Dristrict mission.
Strategy 1 - Expand recruitment, resources and training for AS Officers and Student Ambassadors
Will continue outreach and promotion efforts to attract and retain excellent student leaders to fulfill positions on the AS board and the Student Ambassador Program including: develop marketing plan that includes classroom presentations, flyers for counselors to give out, and recruitment events each semester. Will also expand resources and training for new student leaders including: expand AS fall retreat to include more practical skills, create online training tutorials for students who miss scheduled trainings, and conduct pre- and post-surveys to determine what resources and training have been helpful and what else is needed for students to be successful.
Student leaders in the AS and the Student Ambassador Program are representing over 9,000 students through managing budgets (from student fees) and participating on decisions making committees that influence policies and procedures at the college. They should be well prepared and confident in their ability to fulfill their positions and responsibilities.
Strategy 2 - Expand outreach and resources, training for campus clubs.
Campus Clubs are a tremendous resource on campus. It is a focused pool of student leaders that we can further develop. There are many challenges we face on how to provide training and resources to a group of students that are already busy. We currently meet with the Inter Club Council twice a month, about 25-35 clubs are present at these meetings. We would like to provide additional training to further develop the clubs included, but not limited to: online training modules, leadership conference, retreats, hard copy resources, etc.
Providing club members with additional training and resources we are contributing to the college standards and goals of completion and persistence. Especially in the academic areas where we currently have clubs attached to such as: Welding, Paramedic, Respiratory, Nursing, Math and English. This will give students additional experiences outside the classroom that they can use on transfer applications and further developing their skills in the subject area.
Strategy 3 - Maintaining value based services with decreased budget
With enrollment decreasing each semester, the Office of Student Life has experienced a declining budget. Budgets cuts are inevitable, maintaining services that students have stated are their values: sustainability, diversity and inclusion, and representation are a priority. Seeking funding from other sources to allow the department to continue to fund services will be a strategic priority for the department in the coming year.
The college commitment, as presented through the strategic direction, gives us evidence that the values of the students match those of the college. Modeling Sustainability has been a part of the strategic direction for many years, and now adding Enhancing a Culture of Inclusiveness which also matches the students’ values. We are focusing on these two strategies and helping the students create a sustainable and inclusive future, as we face financial challenges.
1. Meeting space for about 30-50 people in a U shape or Circle for bi-monthly Inter Club Council meetings.
2. Long term permanent office/program space for the Sustainability Resource Center (SSG101) and Culture and Community Center (SSF102) through Measure J funding.
4. Programming/Conference Space for events and activities (for a minimum of 200 people), a multiuse space through Measure J funding.
Every day-time main campus and Chico Center student is charged an $18 Student Activity fee. This fee generates approximately a $300K budget per academic year.
All students are charged a $2 representation fee. $1 goes to the state to support SSCCC the other $1 supports representation of students at the local and state level. This generates approximately $20,000 per academic year, these funds are highly redistricted in use, mostly used to train student government officers and travel for state representation.
| Original Priority | Program, Unit, Area | Resource Type | Account Number | Object Code | One Time Augment | Ongoing Augment |
| Description | Supporting Rationale | Potential Alternative Funding Sources | Prioritization Criteria | |||
| 1 | Student Life | Personnel | $0.00 | $56,000.00 | ||
| PR and Marketing Specialist | Support for this augmentation include: (a) Historical Enrollment Data (b) Projected funding losses as a result of declining enrollment; (c) Student Life fees across the California Community Colleges; and (d) Student Life Program positions across the California Community Colleges. Each of these areas are described in detail below. (a) Historical Enrollment Data. Enrollments have been declining the last few years. The Student Life budget is directly proportional to enrollment. As enrollment changes, so does the budget. Thus, we have seen a decline in funding in past years. We have ten year projections which will require eliminating this crucial position in about 5 years. (b) Projected funding losses as a result of declining enrollment despite only minor funding decline due to future enrollment trends, due to rising costs of personnel, the projected Student Life budget will experience exponential loss over the next 5-10 years and beyond. Without question, the Student Life office will be forced to cut personnel, programs and/or services or gain financial support from the District within the next 3 years. The expected loss is estimated to increase each year, starting with a small amount 2017-2018 of $4,721, to 2021-2022 $51,707. (c) CACC Student Life Fees. The Associated Students have raised the Student Activity Fee four times over the past 14 years. One would think that the Student Life Office could simply raise their fees again. However, data illustrates that the majority of student activity fees cross the California Community Colleges are lower than what Butte College students are charged. Out of 113 California Community Colleges, Butte College charges the fourth (4th) highest fee. Raising the fee at Butte College is not an option the current BCAS officers would like to pursue. (d) Student Life Program Personnel. Student Life programs tend to be high-touch programs and include a variety of personnel levels to ensure their success. Depending on the kind of programs offered, amount of funding available from student fees and the district and the number of students, the make-up of professional and student personnel varies greatly among colleges. |
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| 2 | Office of Student Life | Operating Expenses | $0.00 | $10,000.00 | ||
| Club Advisor Stipends | When the district was facing budget cuts it was asked of the Office of Student Life to to help reduce the cuts by providing $10,000 to supplement the Club Advisor's union contracted stipends. The office of student life now finds itself in the same situation and would like to discontinue the contribution to club advisor stipends in order to help balance our own budget which is dwindling due to low enrollment. |
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| 3 | Student Life | Personnel | $18,335.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Student Staff for Culture and Community Center | Proposed funding for 2-3 student assistants in the Culture and Community Center. The students hired will identify with the dashboard populations. Students who are connected on their campus are more likely to complete and transfer. Many students who are Hispanic, African American, and Native American, can only be involved by working because they must provide for their families and pay for their education. Having them work at the Culture and Community Center will enable them to get connected, receive mentoring from staff and leadership from our extensive training. The students hired will also help with planning the multicultural summit if it is funded (additional proposal submitted). |
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| 4 | Student Life | Operating Expenses | $17,730.00 | $0.00 | ||
| Multicultural Retreat | The proposed activity is a Friday-Sunday Diversity/Cultural Summit (name to be defined if funded). The summit will include students and faculty and staff that identify as Hispanic, African American and Native American. Attached is a sample schedule. Marketing of the summit will be direct to those who have self-selected on their admission application, word of mouth and traditional forms of marketing at Butte College (campus announcements and posters). Participants will do self-exploration exercises and develop trust among peers and professionals. Articulate awareness and understanding of one’s attitudes, values, beliefs, assumptions biases and identity as it affects one’ own work with others; and take responsibility to develop personal cultural skills by participating in activities that challenge one’s beliefs. Participants will be able to describe community as a complex process of relationship building and networking within and outside one’s identity group. This experience will empower students to get connected with campus and campus professionals that will enable them to visualize their future and provide them with the resources to complete courses, degrees, and transfer. |
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