1.
Successfully Navigating Community College 1
Successfully Navigating Community College
Gina Peace
Bucks County Community College

2.
Successfully Navigating Community College 2
Abstract
The purpose of this campaign was to identify, if you are a full time student at Bucks County
Community College, should you stay to receive your associate’s degree. This campaign also
details if you do attend Bucks County Community College should you advise before registering
for your classes. In addition, it explains how advising can help a student have greater success
within the college. After researching this information, it is clear that students who do advise have
a better experience then students who don’t. Community College is a big time of uncertainty for
a lot of students and they need guidance in order to follow through on their course of action. In
order for the experience to be a successful one, advisors and students need to work hand in hand
in ensuring that the needs of the student can be met. When this occurs students and advisors have
a more successful advising experience.

3.
Successfully Navigating Community College 3
Introduction
The target audience for this campaign would be first and second year college students.
The purpose of this campaign is to persuade current full-time students to meet with an advisor
and to remain at Buck’s County Community College to complete their associate’s degree. The
demographics are going to range over race, age, and income. There is going to be multiple
different demographics because there is a large variability of people from all different
backgrounds. However, all of them have the same common goal of trying to successfully seek
higher education.
There is all different people who have different incomes. The students who attend Buck’s
would fit into lower class, middle class, and upper class. Lower class students would attend
Bucks because they can easily gain grants from the state and it’s affordable and convenient for
them. Middle class students are sometimes forced to go to community college for affordability as
well, some time there is more than one child that has to be sent to college. Upper class students
may attend Bucks because of their lack of ambition, parents may send them without their
wanting.
Age is greatly ranged in community colleges. There is sometimes older people who
attend classes just to further their knowledge. Also not only do students attend college courses
after high school, some students are taking college courses while still in high school. Community
College is also a very multicultural place to attend. People from all different ethnic and religious
backgrounds attend Buck’s. Being that the target audience is so broad, their values would vary
as well. However, again their attitudes all possess the same attitude; to seek a higher education.

4.
Successfully Navigating Community College 4
According to Sandoval-Lucero et al., “Almost half of all students of color and forty
percent of under resourced students are enrolled in community colleges.” (2) Many minorities
and people who have lower-incomes frequent community colleges in hopes of having a positive
experience that will lead them further in their journey. Sandoval-Lucero et al argue that,
“Community colleges have the potential to significantly impact the higher
education outcomes for the students that they serve. Community colleges offer a
significant option for students among the wide array of choices offered with the
U.S. system of higher education, as they promote dearly held democratic values
of access, equality and opportunity.” (3)
In addition, to making college affordable and accessible to many that it may not have been
before, community college also opens doors for many people so that they can experience higher
education without cultural restraints.

5.
Successfully Navigating Community College 5
(Allen et al 3)
Data and Evidence
In order for each student’s needs to be met, so that they feel they are being successfully
advised there are steps that need to be taken, and there are specific things that need to be
recognized. According to the article, “What Kinds of Advising Are Important to Community
College Pre- and Posttransfer Students?”, it explains how college should go about fulfilling the
needs of its students, by focusing on different aspects of communication in regards to advising.
The study states the following:
“C.L. Smith and Allen identified 12 advising functions in five domains essential
to quality academic advising: integration, referral, information, individuation, and
shared responsibility. Curricular integration functions involve holistic advising
that helps students connect their curricular and cocurricular choices to academic

6.
Successfully Navigating Community College 6
career and life goals. Referral functions assist students in accessing campus
resources to address academic problems (e.g., math or science tutoring) as well as
non-academic problems (e.g., childcare, mental health counseling), that if left
unresolved are likely to interfere with students achieving their educational goals.
Through information functions, advisors provide students with accurate
information about degree requirements and help students understand how things
work at their institution (i.e., understanding timelines, policies, and procedures
with regard to registration, financial aid, grading, graduation, petition and appeals,
etc.). Individuation functions include knowing students as individuals and taking
into consideration their unique skills, interests, and abilities. Finally, shared
responsibility involves helping students develop planning, problem solving, and
decision making capabilities so that they come to assume greater responsibility
for their education.” (2)
The first step to making sure the student’s needs are being met is to tailor advising to each’s
student’s needs. This may be a hard task, but it can be done as many colleges employ these
methods successfully.
The second step to making sure that each student’s needs can be met we must also make
sure that our advisors are being proactive. Allen et al. claim,
“This finding suggests that advisors at community colleges and 4-year institutions
need to be prepared to advise on a comprehensive set of advising functions. In
light of their high mean importance ratings and low variability in both groups of
students, however, some kinds of advising should be given priority. Information
functions are paramount; advisors must give all students accurate information

7.
Successfully Navigating Community College 7
about degree requirements and help them understand how things work at their
institution with regards to timelines, policies, and procedures to successfully
navigate the educational landscape. Some integration functions are also highly
important to students before and after transferring. In particular, students want
advisors to assist them in connecting their academic, career, and life goals to each
other and to choices in their major or program of study.” (5)
It’s obvious that an advisor can’t be immersed in each students life, but they should make sure
that each student feels like their advisor makes it an appoint to attend to their personal needs.
Due to the ranging demographic of students that attend Buck’s, there are many different
situations that advisors will have to attend to. Personalizing their efforts will make it easier to
deal with the student at hand. In turn students will feel more at ease as far as their academic
journey is concerned.
The third step to making sure that each student’s needs can be met is by ensuring that the
advisors are properly educating their student’s, in regards to the many help options they have
available at the college. The advisors should educate the student regarding what classes to take in
order to achieve their associates. They also need to educate them on what the proper steps to
what the next step is after Buck’s as well. The advisor should also explain to the student what the
effects of not completing your associates or bachelors can have. According to Allen et al., “In
any case, accessing resources to address academic and nonacademic problems it’s crucial for the
successful advancement of pretransfer students to the upper division level.” (6) It’s important
that both students and advisors realize that without advising many people can end up taking the
wrong course unknowingly.

8.
Successfully Navigating Community College 8
(Allen et al. 4)

9.
Successfully Navigating Community College 9
Furthermore, transfer counseling is also an important aspect of advising that many
students are concerned with. Many of the students that attend Bucks are interested in continuing
education after receiving their associates. They seek to move on to another college in order to
receive their bachelor’s degree. Sandoval-Lucero et al explains,
“However, a more recent study indicated that the majority of community college
transfer students do complete their degrees within six years of transferring to
baccalaureate degree- granting institution. In addition, there are many benefits to
attending a community college in terms of selection of programs, career and
academic pathways, and increased earning potential. The latter is especially true
for students of color, women, and immigrants. Community college attendants also
benefit the community in terms of partnerships with employees, retaining of
displaced workers, higher retention rates at baccalaureate institutions, lower crime
rates and lower utilization of public assistance. In fact, the latest research supports
the importance of the community college sector of higher education in
contributing to the achievement of the national college completion goals.” (3)
It’s obvious that success at a community college can have a major positive effect on ones futures
endeavors. If a student receives top quality advising, they will excel within our community
college as well as outside of it, with what the advisor has instilled within them.
Challenges: Data and Evidence
Advisors are going to face a multitude of issues when it comes to advising students. One
issue is how to approach advising a student who is not as academically successful as some other

10.
Successfully Navigating Community College 10
students may be. The advisor must make the student feel as if they are able to achieve whatever
goals they set forth. Bahr’s findings state,
“…that White and Asian remedial math students in community colleges
experienced a small, but significant, increase in the likelihood of successful
remediation associated with receiving advising. Among Hispanics, this beneficial
effect of advising was significantly less than that for Whites and Asians, but the
effect remained positive. However, Black students who received advising were
slightly less likely to remediate successfully than were Black students who did not
receive advising. One interpretation of this finding, is that some aspects of the
advising process tends, on average, to discourage unprepared Black students from
the pursuit of college level math skills perhaps in a fashion akin to the cooling out
processes described by Clark.” (705)
Cooling out is what happens between an advisor and a student when the advisor gives the student
less than top notch advice when it comes to making decisions for their future. Due to this
occurrence many students may be deterred from advising because they feel as though the advisor
doesn’t have their best interest in mind.
The next challenge that advisors are going to face is deciding whether to use a traditional
advising approach or a developmental advising approach. A traditional approach includes,
“…advisors limit their activities to providing information about courses,
explaining registration procedures, and ensuring enroll in appropriate courses.
Crookston describes it as perspective: the relationship is based on authority and
provides little opportunity for the student to exercise control. This results in a

11.
Successfully Navigating Community College 11
relationship which is highly convenient and desirable to some advisors, allowing
them to control yet remain relatively uninvolved in the relationship. In essence,
much of the traditional advising system moves little beyond an administrative
function, concentration on short-term rather than longer-term goals, and does not
involve either party in active participation in developing student career goals.”
(Broadbridge para 16)
On the other hand we have the developmental approach as well. The developmental approach is
characterized by,
“Moving beyond a unidirectional traditional activity, involving both parties, in a
goal-related two-way integrative activity. Interaction must be meaningful and
productive for both student and advisor; mere contact is insufficient. Both parties
must share responsibilities and undertake an active part in the scheme is the
relationship is to be effective.” (Broadbridge para 17)
The approach that has the most positive result is the developmental approach. Students find this
approach most satisfying because they feel they have more control over their future, they have an
active advisor who is concerned with their need, and they are made completely aware of the
options that are put before them.
Strategic Persuasive Goals
As mentioned before there are certain steps that need to be taken in order to properly
advise someone. According to Elizabeth D. Phillips, in the article, “Improvising Advising Using
Technology and Data Analytics”,

12.
Successfully Navigating Community College 12
“Academic advising conferences must be available to students each academic
term; academic advisors should offer conferences in a format that is convenient to
the student; academic advising caseloads must be consistent with the time
required for the effective performance of this activity; the academic status of the
student being advised should be taken into consideration when determining
caseloads.” (48)
As well as it is the responsibility of the student to seek the advisors guidance it also the
responsibility of the advisor to make sure that the student is staying on the right course in order
to succeed. This may be a difficult task for some advisors, as they may have to advise a large
group of students. How can an advisor navigate this while making sure that each student is
completely taken care of?
Bucks County Community College has tried to implement technology into advising in
order to better assess its students, but also to give students more access to their advisors. The
recent upgrades in WebAdvisor have made advising somewhat easier. However, there are even
more ways that we can improve web advisor in order to make the experience better for advisors
and students. Phillips states,
“For example, a student who has nursing as a major struggles to earn a “C” in
anatomy and physiology or an aspiring engineer does badly in calculus,
chemistry, or physics, the system will flag that individual for additional academic
support and offer advice on choosing a different program.” (51)

13.
Successfully Navigating Community College 13
Unlike WebAdvisor, this tool will help students who have made a few missteps in their courses
stay on track. It will also eliminate the incident of the student who gives up at the end, because
they are unaware of these mishaps.
One concept that I will incorporate into the campaign is Langer’s theory about language
use. Langer’s views on concepts and conceptions were that everyone has their own views on
what symbols mean to them individually and there are universal symbols that everyone shares
the same views about. According to Langer, “All human communication and hence all
persuasion relies on concepts and conceptions. So naturally, there is the possibility of
misunderstanding.” (Larson 128) The concept that this campaign entails is to persuade current
full-time students to receive their associate’s degree at Buck’s and to properly advise.
One aspect of Langer’s concept is signification. In the book Langer states, “Signification
means a sign that accompanies the thing being considered.” (Larson 128) There are many
symbols that accompany our school’s campaign. For example, they use “think smart” as their tag
line for their campaign. In my campaign I will incorporate signification by wearing the school’s
logo. Another aspect of Langer’s concept is denotation. In the book Langer explains that,
“Denotation refers to the common and shared meaning we all have for any concept.” (Larson
128) When people look at the logo or the slogan and think that they could possibly go to Buck’s
to achieve higher learning is an example of denotation. In the campaign it will be implemented
on its own. The effect that the student gets from watching the video will be a part of denotation.
Next, Langer describes how connotation is used in language. Langer explains that,
“connotation refers to private, metaphorical, emotional (and perhaps propagandistic).” (Larson
129) I plan to incorporate this into the campaign by having students give testimonials regarding
their experiences with advising. The positive ones will show the good connotation while the

14.
Successfully Navigating Community College 14
negative ones will show the bad connotations. Finally, Langer introduces discursive symbols.
According to the book, “discursive symbols are usually made up of sequential, smaller bits of
meaning that unfold across time to yield ultimate meaning.” (Larson 129) In the campaign, an
example of discursive symbols will be the opening statement of the video that details a specific
statistic which grabs the attention of the audience.
Another focus of the campaign will be using nonverbal messages. The first aspect of
nonverbal messages will pertain to the media that is necessary in order for this campaign to be
successful. It is obvious that we are going to have to disperse ads in order to attract attention.
Social media outlets like Facebook and Instagram are great mediums for banner ads and short
video commercial clips. An ad regarding the Buck’s County Community College App to aid this
campaign in educating the students on alternatives. There is also an interactive ad that plays in
between songs on Pandora radio. The presence of television ads regarding registering and
advising will also increase the success of the campaign. Finally the most obvious of them all is
the presences of physical ads like posters hanging around the school, directing students to advise
or to do transfer counseling.
In reference from what we learned from our textbook there are different ways to
incorporate nonverbal messages into the commercial. I plan to use Kinesics, which is physical
movements, along with bodily communication. I also plan to use physical appearance, I will
wear something with a Bucks logo and then switch it up. I will also include artifacts within the
video. The presence of certain facial expressions and eye behavior will be incorporated as well.
In regards to the campaign I want to use the theory of reasoned action/planned behavior
in order to help us succeed in persuading our audience. We know what our audience’s behavioral
intentions are. Most likely they are planning to come to Buck’s to pursue their associates degree

15.
Successfully Navigating Community College 15
and transfer. Since our goal is to persuade them to participate in advising in order to have a
successful experience, we must stress the importance of how letting others change their behavior
will lead them off course. Within our campaign we must highlight the behavior which lead to the
most positive outcome. We may also highlight the negative behavior so that the student will be
aware of it and hopefully intend to avoid that behavior at all costs.
Discussion
My campaign proposal is the best course of action to take because most importantly my research
proves it to be effective. It also doesn’t take away from the experience that Buck’s students are
currently offered. The comfortability they have now will still exist. The new plan only expands
on old ideas in order to better implement them into the student’s success. It not only allows the
advisor to better assist the student but also lightens their load.
Conclusion
In conclusion, we found that a more hands on advising experience was more effective for
most students. When students felt like they were being assessed with their best interests in mind,
they had more success. Also when students have more access to their advisors they feel as
though the institution really cares about their needs. Finally, the incorporation of electronic
advising and other alternative sources made advising become a more flexible experience for the
students. All in all, when students feel they’re best interest is being taken in consideration they
make better choices and are successful in their academic endeavors.

16.
Successfully Navigating Community College 16
Bibliography
Allen, J. M., Smith, C. L., & Muehleck, J. K. (2013). What Kinds of Advising Are Important to
Community College Pre- and Posttransfer Students?. Community College Review, 41(4),
330-345. doi:10.1177/0091552113505320
Bahr, P. (2008). Cooling Out in the Community College: What is the Effect of Academic
Advising on Students’ Chances of Success?. Research In Higher Education, 49(8), 704-
732. doi:10.1007/s11162-008-9100-0
Broadbridge, A. (1996). Academic advising--traditional or developmental approaches?: Student
perspectives. British Journal Of Guidance & Counselling, 24(1), 97.
Phillips, E. D. (2013). Improving Advising Using Technology and Data Analytics. Change,
45(1), 48-55. doi:10.1080/00091383.2013.749151
SANDOVAL-LUCERO, E., MAES, J. B., & KLINGSMITH, L. (2014). AFRICAN
AMERICAN AND LATINA(O) COMMUNITY COLLEGE STUDENTS' SOCIAL
CAPITAL AND STUDENT SUCCESS. College Student Journal, 48(3), 522-533.