Administration halts transfer orientation budget increase

The Seattle University executive team rejected a proposal this quarter for an increase in funding for transfer student orientation, according to director of Commuter and Transfer Students Diane Schmitz.

Schmitz, who has worked in the department since 1999, designed the proposal as a solution to significant differences in orientation services for non-traditional students and new transfers compared to orientation services for incoming freshmen.

Freshmen currently attend a two-day orientation while fall transfers receive a three-hour seminar. Students entering Seattle University for the winter and spring quarters are invited to a one and a half hour session.

The $24,200 proposal would fund a full one-day orientation each quarter for new transfers, provide compensation for a graduate assistant to join the Department of Commuter and Transfer students and finance peer mentoring services for incoming students. The department, which also manages the collegia program, has a current operating budget of roughly $6,500.

According to Schmitz, this practice of increasing the transfer orientation budget is common at other Jesuit universities, where the orientation process is considered an integral part of introducing students to their Jesuit education.

However, with departments asked to cut 5 percent from base budgets, extra funding is difficult to come by.

"We very clearly state in many places, in our mission statement and beyond, that we want to care for all students," Schmitz said. "We want an equitable Jesuit education for all students, and so how do we hold ourselves accountable to that?"

According to Schmitz, a common argument against greater funding for transfer orientation has been that transfer students have already been acclimated to university life. However, this can mean that transfers are never properly introduced to the culture of Seattle U.

While the university faced concerns about the size of this year's freshman class, with traditional enrollment falling 7 percent short of goals, transfers increased dramatically last quarter, more than compensating for this decline.

Transfer students currently make up 29 percent of the university's student population, with more total transfer students enrolled each year than incoming freshmen.

"I have noticed an increased interest in how many transfer students we're going to have this fall," Schmitz said. "At the same time, I've noticed some concern about how many freshmen are going to come."

The request was adopted by Student Development and garnered the support of the ASSU, which signed a resolution this month backing the proposal.

"As a transfer student myself, there seemed to be a lack of actual time spent in the orientation. It always seems rushed," said Matt Mauer, ASSU transfer representative. "Transfer students make up almost 30 percent of the population, and they're getting shafted."

Mauer, who enrolled at Seattle U this fall, got involved with ASSU after realizing the size of the transfer student population at the university and has made greater funding for orientation a priority in his work there.

"Every single transfer student that I've heard from told me they were not satisfied with their level of orientation," Mauer said. "I just hope that even though they didn't approve the funding now, that [the administration] realize that there is an issue, and that they don't just let it go by the wayside."

However, by the time the ASSU resolution was adopted, the proposal had already been rejected due to budgetary constraints, Schmitz explained. As a result, the proposals will not be included in the budget for the fiscal year 2011. If the proposal is reintroduced, the director said, the next step will be to submit it again in the fall.

In the meantime, Schmitz hopes to foster a greater dialogue about how the university can prepare itself to accommodate transfer students and cope with issues that exclude transfers from the university community. The dialogue, however, must operate within the current economic crunch.

"We need to perhaps have an authentic conversation asking ourselves why it is that transfer students feel this way on our campus, or why our resources are not equitably distributed," Schmitz said. "It's without blame or shame, but let's have the dialogue."

Seamus may be reached at smckeon@su-spectator.com