u/khawk30

I work as an academic advisor at an online university. I have around 350 students on my roster. I’m wondering if you guys think these duties are appropriate for advisors, or if you think it’s too much? I’m feeling very overwhelmed, especially since every time another department complains about their workload, our institution’s response is to place some of their tasks on us in advising. It seems to me that each department should be handling what their job duty states, and if that’s too much, they need to hire more people.

I also don’t know how to approach this with leadership without sounding like a complainer. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Here are our current duties:
-Daily attendance
-Responding to 50+ emails daily
-Returning student phone calls
-Tracking enrollment verifications, background checks, transcripts, etc.
-Answering questions about financial aid, including questions pertaining to the Big Beautiful Bill
-Setting up self-directed assessments for our students as well as for incoming students
-Setting up and sending out appeal forms for current and re-enter students
-Tracking/outreaching students with high account balances
-Graduation liaisons (answer questions relating to graduation ceremonies)
-Training new advisors
-Completing schedules and schedule revision requests
-Creating and frequently updating a list of students we expect to drop by end of quarter
-Rescheduling failed grades

I work in advising and we just had a training on the new DOE financial aid disbursement protocols. With all these new changes, our institution basically told us that any student question relating to financial aid will need to be addressed by us, the advisors, since our financial aid team will be too busy. As of right now, it sounds like we are supposed to hand calculate aid for students who fall below the 36 credit per year threshold. I’m worried that this will result in a lot of mistakes, especially since we have 58297483 other daily tasks (and counting).

Does anyone know if there’s a calculator tool that can be used to calculate aid for students below the 36 credit/year threshold?

Hello! I posted yesterday about a baby bunny who was picked up by some crows. Just wanted to post an update!

Quick recap: I noticed 2 giant crows swooping down in our yard, then realized they were going after a baby bunny. Mama bunny was fighting them off (or trying to), and poor baby was snatched and then dropped probably 15-20 feet by one of the crows. Baby landed on his back and stayed in that position while occasionally kicking his legs in the air. I ran out to help and figured baby was a goner. I sat down right next to him and he wouldn’t move. Just laid on his back. I did what you’re not supposed to do and picked him up bare handed and moved him under the shed so the crows wouldn’t continue torturing him. I then called our wildlife rescue center and was advised to bring the bunny in. So, I packed up a box, walked outside to get the little guy, and he was gone!

A few hours later, I saw mama. She came up to our sliding window, almost as though she was thanking me. Not long after, baby bun came zooming by. I know it was him because of the cute little colic on his head.

I have appropriately named baby bunny “Lucky”.

Just wanted to post this update in hopes that it helps others who witness similar events (apparently it’s super common).

Hello all! Hoping to get an honest opinion on something.

I was on a call for work when I noticed two giant crows trying to pick up something in the yard. At first I thought it was a piece of paper, but then I realized it was a baby rabbit on its back.

I quickly ran outside and scared away the crows, then went to check on baby. It was still alive but on its back, and it kept kicking its feet in the air like it was trying to get upright but couldn’t. I also noticed some unusual looking rabbit poops nearby so not sure if he was sick and that’s why he was an easy target for the birds, or if the poop is unrelated. No blood or gruesome injuries from what I could tell.

Anyways, I picked up the bunny and moved him under our shed, which is where most of our bunnies like to hang out. I figured this was the best way to keep him out of harms way.

I called our wildlife rehab center and was told to bring him in. I stuffed a box with some towels and went out to grab him, but he was gone!

I know it’s hard to say for sure, but is it possible that the rabbit went into shock when I first found him and is now recovered? Has this happened to anyone else before? Any insight to put my mind at ease would be greatly appreciated!