Serving Students Beyond the 9-5

As campuses reopened after pandemic shutdowns, student services department leaders had to make decisions about employee scheduling and whether to continue with remote, hybrid or fully in-person work arrangements.

At some institutions, student feedback indicated the need for offices to be open outside of the traditional Monday-to-Friday, nine-to-five hours. And in a 2021 Student Voice survey of 2,000 undergrads from Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse about pandemic practices students would like to see continue post-COVID, 20 percent of respondents said they would like to see expanded hours of student services offices.

Andy Brantley, president and CEO of CUPA-HR, the association for college and university professionals in human resources, isn’t surprised by the trend.

“Why wouldn’t we be doing this … in our efforts to help support students, but also in our efforts to help students attain their degrees and recruit and retain?” Brantley says.

Driving the trend: Higher education has undergone a shift toward a more customer-service–focused model due to a variety of factors.

For one, traditional-age students are used to having on-demand services, when resources can be reached 24-7, 365 days a year. The model of providing student services in person Monday through Friday between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. “is not sustainable from a recruitment and retention standpoint,” Brantley says.

Students are also juggling competing priorities, including part-time or full-time work, family responsibilities and extracurriculars on top of their academics. “Only giving these students access to certain resources and services creates a barrier to degree attainment,” Brantley says.

On the other hand, the trend could be driven by a changing workforce. Rather than burdening underresourced staff with additional responsibilities, hiring staff to accommodate nontraditional hours or allowing for flexible hours can offer students a different service model that doesn’t exploit personnel.

“My hope is that institutional leaders are using this as an opportunity to provide more flexibility and remote work opportunities,” Brantley says.

A September 2022 Student Voice survey by Inside Higher Ed and College Pulse found that students didn’t have a strong preference for various service offices on campus being open for in-person assistance. Among 12 offices listed in a question, none was selected by more than 56 percent of students as needing to be available live. And 12 percent of students did not think any of the offices needed an in-person presence.

Meeting students where they are: St. Ambrose University in Iowa is one university implementing a new kind of service model. The university has prioritized flexibility in staff schedules, including remote work, to create additional opportunities for students to receive counseling or tutoring, says Christopher Waugh, vice president of student engagement and dean of students.

Leaders at Weber State University in Utah learned from student surveys that the hours of operation for student services were too limiting, and, in turn, students weren’t able to get the help they needed, says Jessica Oyler, vice president for student access and success.

To remove the barrier, Weber State University will hire additional staff to work later or weekend hours, Oyler says.

“It’s important that every type of institution considers their service model, and before making changes, asking, ‘How do we meet our students where they are?’” Brantley says.

Food for thought: For institutional and department leaders who may want to adapt their service model for increased access, Brantley offered some considerations:

• Identify student needs. Before making changes, determine what is driving the need for extended access and evaluate activities during current hours. For some offices, it could be beneficial to extend hours later on weekdays, but others might benefit more from weekend services.  
• Bring in tech. Leadership should question what services are being provided and how technology can be leveraged to remove barriers or silos. Processes that previously required face-to-face support should be re-evaluated to prioritize student needs.
• Consider the student population. Nontraditional learners are more likely to need support outside of traditional working hours.
• Lean on staff expertise. Institutional leaders should solicit employee feedback to learn which processes they believe could be automated or completed virtually to better support students.  

Get more content like this directly to your inbox every weekday morning. Subscribe here.