Tagged With "college students"
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The new face of Sacramento’s affordable housing crisis: College students forced to drop out (sacbee.com)
Going to college is tough for many students under normal circumstances. But for tens of thousands of young Californians today, it’s beyond difficult. It’s financially and physically perilous. Faced with tuition escalation and fast-rising rents – particularly in Sacramento – higher-education students find themselves struggling to get a decent night’s sleep, find permanent shelter and put food in their stomach so they can focus enough in class to make it to graduation. Nearly 40 percent of...
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The University Elephant in the Room: Where’s Community Engagement Headed? (nonprofitquarterly.org)
The theme was lofty: True Stories of Engagement: Higher Education for Democracy . But bringing those words to life has not been easy, as became clear when more than 500 university staff and faculty gathered at Campus Compact’s biennial conference in Indianapolis last month to discuss the state of the field of community engagement in higher education. For the uninitiated, Campus Compact is a national organization dedicated to promoting community engagement by universities. The organization...
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This Trail-Blazing Suburb has Tried for 60 Years to Tackle Race. What if Trying Isn't Enough? [washingtonpost.com]
By Laura Meckler, The Washington Post, October 11, 2019 It’s an article of faith in this Cleveland suburb: If any place can navigate the complex issues of race in America, it’s Shaker Heights. Sixty years ago, black and white families came together to create and maintain integrated neighborhoods. The school district began voluntary busing in 1970, and boundary lines were drawn to make schools more integrated. Student groups dedicated themselves to black achievement, race relations and...
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Toxic Schools Worsening Toxic Stress: The Destructive Reign of Universal Standards, Pathology, Medication and Behaviorism
This post is the first chapter of a book. The names HAVE NOT been changed, as each individual profoundly impacted the author's growth and development. She wants their identities to remain intact. I did not realize that my first years in public education would profoundly shape my trauma-informed journey and what I would do nearly twenty years later. But I clearly remember the late fall of 2001. I was completing my second year in a master’s program for school counseling at the University of...
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Trauma-Informed Classrooms: Choices
One thing that is common among many traumatic events is a complete lack of choices. When a person feels like they do not have a choice or control, it can be triggering and cause the negative emotions that the person ties to the original trauma. While you can do a lot relationally with how you interact with your students, you can also set up your physical space with choices in mind. As you think about choices in your classroom, here are a couple of options you may want to consider. First of...
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Tuition or Dinner? Nearly Half of College Students Surveyed in a New Report Are Going Hungry (nytimes.com)
In the coming weeks, thousands of college students will walk across a stage and proudly accept their diplomas. Many of them will be hungry. A survey released this week by Temple University’s Hope Center for College, Community and Justice indicated that 45 percent of student respondents from over 100 institutions said they had been food insecure in the past 30 days. In New York, the nonprofit found that among City University of New York (CUNY) students, 48 percent had been food insecure in...
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Two Community Colleges Show How Students Can Succeed Without Remedial Math Courses [edsource.org]
By Ashley A. Smith, EdSource, November 15, 2019 A San Diego area community college that moved early to eliminate remedial math courses is drawing lots of attention across the state for success in teaching math. Not only are students at Cuyamaca Community College taking math classes that can transfer to four-year colleges, but Latino students are bucking a national trend by outperforming their white counterparts. Cuyamaca, along with College of the Siskiyous in Northern California, were two...
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U to host conversation on adverse childhood experiences among MN students [Twin-Cities.UMN.edu]
The impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs)— childhood experiences of abuse, neglect and family dysfunction—on the health and wellbeing of college students nationwide is relatively unknown. And yet, approximately two-thirds of University of Minnesota students experience at least one adverse childhood experience before entering college. On Friday, Dec. 2, the U of M will host a one-day conference that brings together college administrators, educators, students, public health...
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University students seeking counseling learn about their ACEs
Dr. Diane Suffridge, a clinical psychologist and director of the University Counseling Services at Dominican University in San Rafael, Calif., has been interested in trauma for many years. But last summer that interest took a sudden and interesting turn. A student counselor she advised had written a research paper on the link between adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) health and mental health outcomes in foster youth, and it gave the student a new view of the patients she counseled at the...
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Using the Truncated Nominal Group Process As a Trauma Informed Research Example in an Introductory Sociology Class.
Dennis Haffron MS Social research techniques are taught in all introductory sociology classes. The technique that I have been using in my classes is a truncated version of the nominal group process. I have recently found that this technique works very well as a trauma sensitive research technique. (I believe that it is another example of ACEs hard science supporting a best practice.) The nominal group process encourages participation, reduces conflict, increases involvement of all...
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Victims of Teacher Misconduct Say Schools Should Go Beyond Checking Boxes [voiceofsandiego.org]
By Ashly McGlone, Voice of San Diego, November 4, 2019 “Just so you know, no one else has ever made a complaint,” a Chula Vista High graduate recalls being told by school officials before she complained her show choir teacher was sexually harassing her and groped her repeatedly. “I feel like every adult who was an administrator in my life at the time failed me,” a former Bonita Vista High student sexually abused by his band teacher said. “I had a counselor talk to me for 10 minutes and then...
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We Now Know A Lot More About Students Who Receive Federal College Grants [npr.org]
There's been a lot of attention lately on low-income students on campus — mostly on how to recruit them and how to make them feel welcome. For good reason: Pell Grant recipients make up about a third of the undergraduate student population in the U.S., according to the College Board . And often, their experiences in college are very different than their wealthy classmates. Two recent reports offer a good snapshot as to what's happening for these students when it comes to college. One is from...
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What It Really Feels Like To Have A Mental Health Problem At University (cosmopolitanme.com)
Research released earlier this month found that students at some universities were waiting as long as 84 days for mental health support, and the most up-to-date research from YouGov found that one in four students suffers with a mental health problem. The same research found that while many universities spend upwards of Dhs 4.6 million on mental health services, others have less than half of that budgeted for student well-being. Some could not even provide a number for how much they spent on...
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What Success Looks Like: On-Campus Resources and Support for Foster Youth (socialjusticesolutions.org)
After identifying a statewide need for support services for foster youth, the Foster Youth Success Initiative (FYSI) was created in 2006 through a collaboration between the California Community College Chancellor’s Office (CCCCO), the Foundation for California Community Colleges and numerous partners and stakeholders. According to Jessica Smith, the statewide liaison for FYSI, the “network of support” provided by FYSI includes assistance with academic needs, financial aid, physical and...
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Wilmington University Offers Trauma-Informed Approaches Certificate Program
Trauma-Informed Approaches (TIA) recognize the impact of trauma on the human experience. Everyone experiences trauma differently, and our experiences create a lens through which we view, and process, stressors. Training in TIA not only enhances professionals’ abilities to recognize and accommodate people in crisis to ensure their success. If applied habitually, these principles allow us to help all students (or clients, or patients), and not just those about whose trauma we are already aware.
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5 Tips for Supporting College Age Students' Mental Health [blogs.psychcentral.com]
By Andrea Schneider, PsychCentral, February 7, 2020 Did you know that the second leading cause of death in people ages 15-22 is suicide (ACHA, 2020)? Those are some sobering statistics. After a recent move from S CA to N Ca, I am currently serving in a new role in which I am the Lead Counselor on a college campus for this age range. Unfortunately, those statistics don’t lie. I am deeply involved in creating new programs, strategies, and direct clinical support for the students my campus...
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A new solution to the student housing crisis: retiree roommates? (calmatters.org)
College students have been hit hard by California’s housing crisis, struggling to find affordable digs near campuses that in many cases are located in the state’s priciest markets. Interest in intergenerational living is percolating on a number of campuses nationwide. At rural Humboldt State, thriving cannabis and vacation rental industries have put pressure on already limited housing stock. Campus staff have collaborated with a local senior agency to host community events where seniors and...
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A new way of helping students pay for college: Give them corporate jobs (hechingerreport.org)
These aren’t typical call center employees, however. They’re among about 300 University of Utah students who have side jobs here arranged by a nonprofit called Education at Work. Founded by a call center executive, EAW sets up partnerships between universities and large employers to provide jobs like Kalapala’s. The employers get reliable employees and prospective hires while the universities can offer students a novel way to work for tuition and keep their loan debt low. The students also...
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A push for mental health care at colleges: Depression and anxiety ‘really eat up our kids’ (calmatters.org)
When student leaders from 23 California State University campuses came together last fall to set priorities for the academic year, improving campus mental health services received more nominations than any other issue. It beat out even that perennial concern, tuition costs. Cal State Student Association president Maggie White said she’s not surprised. “We’re seeing wait times at counseling centers that are exceeding two or three weeks, people turned away after a few appointments because...
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A Social-Justice Agenda for Community College [TheAtlantic.com]
Eloy Oakley isn’t shy about his plans to be much more “proactive” than previous chancellors when he takes over California’s mammoth community-college system in December. “We’re going to take on a much more aggressive agenda with a clear lens on social justice and equity,” Oakley, who is in his final weeks as head of the Long Beach Community College District, told me during an interview at his office on the Long Beach City College campus. Oakley, who is himself a product of the system and a...
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ACEs in Higher Education: A Social Justice Approach
Hello. I am sharing a recent brief publication discussing how the principles of community psychology relate to ACEs in higher education, particularly the need to take a social justice approach to ACEs with non-traditional, adult, often minority students. It was posted in a community psychology bulletin, but would apply to anyone interested in ACEs in higher education.
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ACEs in Higher Education: Lived realities, academic insights and raising awareness
Universities can play an important role in opening up difficult conversations, connecting personal stories and academic insights. The two blog posts below come out of a sustained conversation between Juleus Ghunta, a Jamaican Chevening scholar who used his MA dissertation to deepen his understanding of the impact of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) on his life, and Dr Ute Kelly, a lecturer in Peace Studies who supervised his dissertation.
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America’s colleges struggle to envision the future of diversity on campus [hechingerreport.org]
NEW ORLEANS —“Diversity” was top of mind when Angel Carter was applying to schools. Raised in an African-American enclave in Atlanta, she said, “I would have loved to go to an HBCU,” the acronym for historically black colleges and universities. But college should stretch you, she felt, so Carter chose Tulane, where the student body is 75 percent white. “I hadn’t had many interactions with white people,” said Carter, now a senior majoring in anthropology and cell biology. “I wanted to work on...
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An Underappreciated Key to College Success: Sleep [nytimes.com]
Attention all you happy high school graduates about to go off to college, as well as the many others returning for another year of higher education. Grandsons Stefan and Tomas, that includes you. Whatever you may think can get in the way of a successful college experience, chances are you won’t think of one of the most important factors: how long and how well you sleep. And not just on weekends, but every day, Monday through Sunday. Studies have shown that sleep quantity and sleep quality...
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An Unusual Idea for Fixing School Segregation [theatlantic.com]
Many proposals for addressing school segregation seem pretty small, especially when compared to the scale and severity of the problem. Without the power of a court-ordered desegregation mandate, progress can feel extremely far off, if not altogether impossible. Some even believe—understandably though mistakenly —that no meaningful steps can be taken to integrate schools unless housing segregation is resolved. But a new theory from Thomas Scott-Railton, a recent graduate of Yale Law School,...
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At Cal State, student homelessness has been hidden until now [LATimes.com]
Racing from her last class of the day at Cal State Long Beach, Shellv Candler had about an hour to get to Wilmington. Her mother was trying to save her a bed at the Doors of Hope Women’s Shelter, but curfew was 6:45 sharp. The college student’s commute by bus and train was stressful. But she and her mother had been through worse. The foreclosure of the family home. Evictions. Relatives who could give them shelter for only so long. Some nights, with nowhere to go, they’d ridden the bus until...
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Being homeless during coronavirus adds hardship for California college student [edsource.org]
By Marisa Martinez, EdSource, April 17, 2020 Mornings for student Cristina Zetino at California State University, Los Angeles are as normal as they can be. Before she packs up her things, she checks in with the family that offers her an occasional place to lay her head for the night. The self-described “couch surfer” alternates between three different homes throughout the week while juggling work and classes. Always in her possession are three bags: “One bag for school, one for clothes and a...
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Big data for social good: Tri-county initiative will benefit K-12 students (news.ucsc.edu)
As a professor of education, Rod Ogawa spent 30 years studying public schools, trying to figure out how to improve student performance. In retirement, Ogawa is getting high marks for a new approach. The answer lies in sharing information among educators and social service agencies, said Ogawa, now a research professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and the higher-education leader of a major new data-sharing initiative called the Silicon Valley Regional Data Trust (SVRDT). The...
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Bill Would Boost Mental Health Counselors At CSUs (capradio.org)
Mental health advocates say anxiety is up among college students dealing with things like debt and the cost of living. That's prompted a push for more counselors at California State University campuses. CSU campuses would be required to have at least one full time mental health counselor for every 1,000 students, under legislation passed by the Senate Education Committee. Few campuses meet that standard now. Jared Giarrusso is with the California State Student Association. He says students...
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Black men make up only 2% of teachers in the US. A group named 'Call Me MISTER' wants to change that (edition.cnn.com)
Black men make up 2% of teachers in the US, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. The same goes for Hispanic male teachers. Meanwhile, the student population is far more diverse and getting more so. White enrollment in public schools fell from 61% in 2000 to 49% in 2015, according to the US Department of Education. Research shows that for minority children, having at least one teacher that looks likes them is a key to their success, said Roy Jones, a professor at Clemson...
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California Indian Nations College opens, establishes degree program in partnership with local colleges (Indian Country Today)
California Indian Nations College established through a philanthropic $3 million gift from the Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians; partners include College of the Desert, University of California Riverside, and Cal State San Bernardino . “Our mission is to focus on encouraging higher education for Native Americans and non-Native students,” said Darrell Mike, Twenty-Nine Palms Band of Mission Indians chairman. “Native American enrollment in higher education has dropped over the years;...
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California's Higher Ed Diversity Problem [npr.org]
In 1996, right after voters in California banned affirmative action in employment and college admissions, minority student enrollment at two and four-year institutions plummeted. What has happened since though, is pretty remarkable. Of the 2.8 million students attending college in California today, two out of three come from racially and ethnically diverse populations. The most eye-popping increase in enrollment has been among Latinos. They now make up 43 percent of all college students in...
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California students, first in their families to attend college, mentor each other to succeed [edsource.org]
Beyond the usual confusions and questions of freshmen year, low-income students who are the first in their families to attend college may arrive on campus with personal fears that they just don’t belong and will never fit in. However, slightly older students from the same background can ease that uncertainty with advice and friendship, helping those freshmen stay on track in school and eventually graduate, experts say. That is the philosophy of an unusual and growing mentorship program...
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College Board Drops Its 'Adversity Score' For Each Student After Backlash [npr.org]
By Bobby Allyn, National Public Radio, August 27, 2019 The College Board is dropping its plan to give SAT-takers a single score that captures a student's economic hardship. The change comes after blowback from university officials and parents of those taking the college admissions exam. Announced in May, the "adversity score" was intended to assess the kind of neighborhood the student came from, including factors such as the portion of students receiving free or reduced lunch, the level of...
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College students are forming mental-health clubs — and they’re making a difference [washingtonpost.com]
Mental-health problems among college students have been climbing since the 1990s, according to the American Psychological Association. And with services increasingly stretched at campus health centers, students have been taking action themselves through peer-run mental-health clubs and organizations. The approach appears to be paying off, a new study finds. In what they describe as the largest study of its kind, researchers found that across 12 California colleges, such student-run efforts...
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College students are increasingly forgoing summers off to save money, stay on track [hechingerreport.org]
By Charlotte West, The Hechinger Report, July 19, 2019. SILVER SPRING, Md. — Towson University student Christelle Etienne isn’t whiling away these long, lazy days of summer lounging by the pool or hanging out with friends from high school. Instead, she’s sitting in a classroom at Montgomery College taking classes in anatomy and physiology. A pre-nursing and foreign language major with a double minor, Etienne is hoping the extra work will keep her on schedule to earn her bachelor’s degree.
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College Students, Seniors and Immigrants Miss Out on Food Stamps. Here's Why. [calmatters.org]
By Jackie Botts and Felicia Mello, Cal Matters, November 6, 2019 A college student in Fresno who struggles with hunger has applied for food stamps three times. Another student, who is homeless in Sacramento, has applied twice. Each time, they were denied. A 61-year-old in-home caretaker in Oakland was cut off from food stamps last year when her paperwork got lost. Out of work, she can’t afford groceries. While picking up a monthly box of free food, a 62-year-old senior in San Diego told...
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Re: Higher Education: What Do We Mean?
Hi, Suzette. Welcome to the community! Do you mind sharing information about where you're at and what your team is doing?
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Re: Higher Education: What Do We Mean?
Thanks for creating this blog. My team and I are trying to work on ACEs in higher ed. For us, the place we are meant to be is not so different than a community college. We are a university and I actually run our only PhD program, but our student body is non-traditional and often under prepared. I think this is the future of higher education. I think access to a broader population is necessary for our success as a nation and it requires us to re-think how we engage a student body with larger...
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Re: The First Graduate-Level Resilience Course in the Country
This is fantastic, Brandy. Does the course include a dive into ACEs science?
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Re: Millions of College Students Are Going Hungry [theatlantic.com]
We have had a food pantry for food insecure students for our 3rd year at Brescia University. At first the student affairs staff would get together with SGA to buy food. Then our Residence Life director had the brilliant idea that instead of monetary fines for resident infractions, the guilty student would have to buy that amount of food for pantry. He gives them a shopping list that is mostly heat & eat food. If they buy something stupid, like 20 cans of turkey gravy, he will not accept...
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Re: Resilient College Students
Wanda, a wonderful presentation - thanks so for sharing. Was there a specific instrument you used when surveying the students about their level of RESILIENCE? We are in the midst of attempting to integrate information about ACEs and Resilience to our students in an RN to BSN program at UWT. Thanks again, Jane
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Re: Resilient College Students
I'm so glad to see these positive movements in higher ed. Thanks for sharing.
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Re: Resilient College Students
HI Wanda- thank you for posting! So great to see this (esp as a parent of a college freshman in CA - hoping that other schools will do this as well!) I shared your blog post on ACEs in Higher Education community here at ACEs Connection. Please continue sharing your efforts with us! gail
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Re: Resilient College Students
Wanda, when I looked at this Survey - it goes up to 18 yo - did you use this with college age folks? jane
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Re: Food, Housing Insecurity May Be Keeping College Students From Graduating [npr.org]
A recent poll at our campus indicates that 56% of our students are food insecure. I know many community colleges, state colleges and universities are doing all kinds of great things to partner with local food banks, pantries, etc. Food insecurity, housing insecurity---fundamental obstacles to student ability to be present and learning. At least these media spotlights on issues around higher ed represent the actual, holistic conversation through which we inquire into challenges and potential...
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Re: Financial literacy can hold key to college success [edsource.org]
At Portland State University, our student-facing financial services office reoriented as the Financial Wellness Center about two years ago. They are an exemplar of this growing concern and awareness around the need for institutions of higher education to proactively prepare and educate students in financial literacy going beyond the collections approach to recognize the ways in which the cost of a degree can have lifetime impacts. The FWC is one of several offices that provide SNAP...
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Re: What is your ACEs in Higher Education Connection?
Hello Andrew and Dennis. I am happy to see others in Illinois doing this work. I presume you are part of the IL ACEs collaborative? Dennis, I could copy and paste your post, but change "Sociology" to "Community Psychology" and it would be a fairly accurate description of my work. I find it ironic that the field of community psychology does so little in this area. I recently sent out a post to our listserv asking for anyone who is doing work related to ACEs and found few people. What I did...
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Re: What is your ACEs in Higher Education Connection?
I have worked as faculty in higher education for over 20 years. I have been teaching a class on trauma to MFT students for about 20 years. I currently participate in training Title IX staff and others on trauma informed interviewing sexual assault complainants and other misconduct complainants on college campuses. Many of the colleges and universities want to know more about the impact of trauma on their students academic achievement and what can student services do to assist in...