The Quantitative Learning Center and Writing Center are trying to keep the quality of services available to students despite budget cuts made to the university.
There was a 3 percent budget cut made in all units on campus for the '08 -'09 academic school year, Writing Center Director Tom Deans said in an e-mail interview. "We tried our best to avoid having the cuts directly affect the tutoring we offer."
Tom Roby, director of the Q Center, has also been trying to accommodate students' needs despite cuts within the math department. According to Roby, the math department has been forced to reconfigure, turning small classes into larger ones.
Since there is less interaction between students and teachers, the number of people coming into the Q Center spiked dramatically, Roby said. Last fall, there were 7,000 visits to the Q Center, this past fall there were 9,279. A total of 1,950 students visited, coming approximately four-and-a-half times.
The Writing Center also noted an increase of students this past fall, Deans said. As a result, the Writing Center filled up most of the available tutoring slots and were unable to accommodate many walk-ins, especially during finals week. This past fall, graduate students were limited to one tutorial per week, in order to save money and allow more undergraduates to tutor.
Carolyn Morway, an 8th-semester English and French double major, has been a tutor at the Writing Center since her sophomore year. According to Morway, the Writing Center has seen significantly more visitors this year than last, but the tutors have been able to keep up with the increase.
"It's nice that people come in and are willing to be helped," Morway said.
Morway believes the increase is due to two changes made in the system. First, the Writing Center started a program with First Year Experience classes. Second, tutors have started helping students with papers in other fields than English, such as science and economics. There are monthly meetings to discuss how to edit papers in fields that some tutors are less familiar with.
According to Morway, students can request a tutor that specializes in a specific field, but all of the tutors are qualified to help.
Unlike the Writing Center, the Q Center does not ask students to make appointments in advance. A coordinator signs a student in and then helps them find an appropriate tutor. There are specialists in math, statistics, chemistry and physics.
"The Q Center is much like an E.R. People come in the night before an exam or a homework assignment is due ... It feels like triage," Roby said.
The Q Center surveys returning students to rate their level of satisfaction. Roby notes that, since the budget cuts, satisfaction ratings have decreased because there are more students with the same amount of resources.
Despite difficulties, the Q center has not cut hours. The Center is open 58 hours a week from 1 p.m. - 11 p.m. Sundays. 11 a.m. - 11 p.m. Monday-Thursday.
The Writing Center is open in CLAS 159 Monday - Thurs day 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Library hours are Monday - Thursday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m., 7 p.m. - 10 p.m. Friday 10 a.m. - 4 p.m. Sunday 2 p.m. - 10 p.m.
Both directors are optimistic about providing students with the best tutoring possible despite the increase in visitors and the cuts made in other departments.
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