“Each year we cut down on Christmas and birthday presents. We can’t give gifts to our other family and friends. I swap kids’ clothes with people in our town because we can’t afford new, and I utilize QCC food pantry so that I can get help with food costs. I do not know how to stress how every dollar counts for our family and how deeply I am affected by the small increases in our pay in relationship to the increasing cost of living in Massachusetts.”
My name is Aaron, and I am a full-time staff member at STCC. I have been working here for almost 3 years now, and have seen my department staffing be cut in half. Within my first 6 months, I watched one colleague go away on parental leave, another move to a different office, and our coordinator retire. I was left to oversee the center for an entire semester with no additional compensation, unless I worked extra hours for comp time. My colleague has recently gone on parental leave again, and while we were more prepared this time around, we are not putting our best foot forward and our students are suffering. As a success coach and community outreach counselor, I primarily work with students who are on Academic Warning and Suspension, to help them improve their academic skills and transition back to classes. My caseload of students this semester is 345 students, plus an additional 129 while my colleague is away, bringing us to a total of 535. I’m unable to answer students’ messages in a timely manner, not able to spend as long working with them, or not able to meet with them as often as needed to ensure their success. On top of this, I have other responsibilities with the Success Center and making sure our daily operations are running smoothly.
To share some examples, I recently had many students who I met with after midterm grades were released. I have to book these students out for 1-2 weeks at time, as they need help with things such as organizing their assignments, understanding their professor’s expectations, catching up on missed work, and managing their time. By the time I meet with them, their assignments are overdue and they are more overwhelmed than ever. It becomes that much more difficult to help them get back on track, especially when their academic standing and financial aid is at risk.
We have seen a massive influx of students returning to school with the implementation of the Mass Reconnect and Mass Educate programs. With only myself and our coordinator working in the center, we simply do not have the time or resources to work with the number of students who need support. Our salaries and campus resources have not gone up with this drastic increase in students and work. This is not a middle management issue, but a matter of budgets, resources, and staffing. I drive an hour from across the state in Connecticut because I cannot afford to live here in Massachusetts. I rely on my telework days in order to save money on gas and be able to afford other bills. My personal situation impedes my ability to be flexible with students or with my schedule, and I’m not able to allow for more evening appointments. I know there are students I am not reaching, as many students do not answer our messages or calls after finding out how hard it is to get in to see us.