| Abstract: | The objectives of this study were to determine the percentage of students who felt they were weak in an academic skill and who took a college assistance program designed to correct that deficiency and to identify the reasons given by students weak in an academic skill for not using a college support service from which they could benefit. Analyses of survey data obtained from 268 instructors and 6,428 of their students enrolled in a cross section of courses in a large multicampus urban community college district showed the following: (1) of those students who did not feel confident in a skill, less than 30% took advantage of a support program designed to assist them in that skill; (2) more than 40% of the faculty felt that the primary reason students did not take advantage of a needed support service was that they were not willing to devote the extra time or effort required to avail themselves of the service; and (3) the main reasons most academically underprepared students gave for not using a support service were that they did not feel a need for the service or had no time for the service. Implications of these findings for educational policy are discussed. |
