CAPITALIZING ON BUDGET CRISES TO FUND STUDENT MENTORING OPPORTUNITIES AT A 2-YEAR COLLEGE

With shrinking enrollments and declining budgets, colleges are forced to make difficult personnel decisions regarding support staff. Scottsdale Community College Natural Science Division has 17 full-time faculty, over 40 adjunct faculty, 5 laboratory technicians, and 3 buildings supported by one full-time administrative staff member. While not an ideal setting, student workers became essential to continue fluid support and operations. The issues of retaining, engaging, and accounting for student work became prevalent. This served as an opportunity for mentoring and programmatic change. Vacancy and turnover rates of student workers decreased, while student accountability increased. Students provided subject specific tutoring, peer mentoring, laboratory curation, and utilized the front office environment to create community among students, faculty, and staff.