All students at LaGuardia Community College benefit from a comprehensive college-wide system of developmental academic advising and counseling. Through academic advisement, students connect their educational and career goals.

Students work with academic advisors to discuss their current academic progress, review their degree requirements, and decide on courses to select for the next semester. While the ultimate responsibility for decision-making rests with the student, academic advisors are a valuable support for students’ effective educational and career planning.

Advisement is mandatory at LaGuardia for students with less than 30 earned credits. These students cannot proceed to registration unless they have signed advisement forms. However, students of any credit range who need assistance can receive advisement.

Students in special programs and selected majors must always obtain advisement, regardless of the number of credits earned. These students include College Discovery students, COPE students and Students with Disabilities, all of whom are advised by counselors in those respective offices.

Students majoring in the following select majors — Commercial Foodservice Management, Dietetic Technician, International Studies, Nursing, Occupational Therapy Assistant, School Foodservice Management, Physical Therapist Assistant, and Veterinary Technology — must be advised each semester regardless of their credit range.

Advisement is offered during the semester prior to registration, during the registration period, and during the change of program period.


LaGuardia Advisement Phases

Advising in Three Phases: Developmental advisement is delivered at LaGuardia Community College in three broad phases.

The Pre-Enrollment phase, Getting Ready for College – Pre-enrollment Advisement, occurs from students’ first contact with the College through their initial orientation and registration as incoming students.

The First Year phase, Becoming a Student- First Year Academy Advisement, is defined as the first two semesters at the College, when students are enrolled in the First Year Academies.

The Second Year phase, Staying the Course – Second Year Advisement, begins in the third semester, when students are engaged in their majors and developmental advisement is delivered by faculty members in the academic departments.


Getting Ready for College – Pre-enrollment Advisement

Entering students are advised at New Student Orientation/Advising/Registration by Academy Coordinators and Educational Planners (ESL students are advised by the ESL faculty at New Student Orientation/Advising/Registration).

New students receive an individualized Personal Educational Plan (PEP) at orientation. The PEP is a personalized advisement document listing the required developmental skills courses, as well as suggested introductory courses applicable to their major course of study.

Educational Planners provide students with pre-enrollment programs and services designed to assist in the transition into the College. As part of the orientation process, incoming students receive an overview of the college; the advisement and registration process; and information describing the enhanced semester, developmental skills, tuition, full-time status, documents needed for registration, financial aid, the student newsletter, and the College Preparatory Initiative.


Becoming a Student- First Year Academy Advisement

First semester students are advised into their next semester’s courses as part of the curriculum of New Student Seminar. Students are encouraged to meet with counselors throughout the academic year regarding issues of academic advisement and educational planning. The Counseling Department also offers college-wide general advisement during designated periods throughout the academic year.

Every student is a member of a First-Year Academy, based on her/his choice of major–Allied Health/Science; Liberal Arts; or Business/Technology. Each Academy has a Coordinator dedicated to that Academy (academycoordinator@lagcc.cuny.edu). The Coordinator provides academic advising and, facilitates cocurricular activities and events. The Coordinator also assists the student in her or his transition to advising by the faculty in the major field. In addition, students have access to a series of developmental advising workshops and services offered by the Academy Coordinators.

Educational Planning Services focuses on increasing student success by helping students develop meaningful educational plans that are compatible with their educational, career and life goals. Workshops offered by Educational Planning Services are designed to engage and connect students to the College and encourage their success.

An Educational Planner serves as a major campus resource for students. An Educational Planner offers informed advice about a student’s program and the LaGuardia community, and s/he refers students to appropriate campus support services and programs. Educational Planners also help students develop decision-making skills by encouraging them to formulate short, medium, and long-term educational plans consistent with their evolving career goals.


Staying the Course: Second-Year Advising in the Major

Developmental advisement in the second year centers on the academic departments, building upon and strengthening students’ experiences in the First- Year Academy.

Department-based faculty help students to clarify objectives and refine their career and educational decisions that lead to the realization of their life and career goals. The departments collaborate with college services areas such as Student Development, Transfer Services, and the Career Placement Office to offer
workshops, co-curricular activities, and developmental advising events.

Students meet with academic advisors (counselors, faculty, academy coordinators, and/or the educational planners) for a comprehensive academic progress review and assistance with course selection. Each academic department has an established mechanism to refer students requiring further assistance, such as personal counseling, to the relevant department or other college service area.


Advisement Tools

Continuing students’ advisement materials consist of: the next semester’s schedule of classes , an advisement schedule for their major (see department office), an advisement form, and their DegreeWorks degree audit. Students should also refer to the college catalog to understand their degree requirements.

DegreeWorks - DegreeWorks is a web-based academic progress reporting system that displays, in checklist format, the student’s graduation requirements based on the Course Catalog of the year the student entered LaGuardia.

The academic history of the student including coursework, placement tests and activities (e.g., co-operative education internships), are listed next to the requirements they satisfy. For each student this mapping of fulfilled and remaining requirements along with other key information such as grades, GPA, and credits is called a “degree audit.”

This on-line degree audit provides an easy to read comprehensive snapshot for the student to review throughout their academic career at LaGuardia. With DegreeWorks, students and their advisors can assure that courses being taken satisfy degree requirements and that students meet their goals without any unnecessary delay. The Enrollment Management Center (C-107) offers workshops on using DegreeWorks.