If a UOSA proposal is approved, students may have more one-on-one meetings with advisers and receive less online advising.

Matt Deeg, UOSA director of academics, is creating a four-part proposal to improve the quality and availability of advising in all of OU’s colleges.

Different colleges have different procedures for advising, but Deeg, social sciences and organizational studies senior, said his proposal would help ensure that advising in all colleges meets a certain standard.

The proposal calls on the university to decrease the number of students each adviser is responsible for, move away from e-mail-based advising, requires students in the Price College of Business to be advised in person and promotes the use of faculty advisers.

In most colleges, advisers are responsible for an average of 228 students per semester, Deeg said.

One goal of the proposal is to hire more advisers, which would most benefit University College, the Gaylord College of Journalism and Mass Communication and the Price College of Business, he said. Advisers in these colleges are typically responsible for 300 to 400 students.

“If every student goes to see that adviser, that’s four weeks of nonstop advisement,” Deeg said. “That’s just overwhelming.”

The UOSA proposal will also discourage colleges from treating online or e-mail based advisement as a preferred method of advising.

The Gaylord College, the College of Earth and Energy and the College of Liberal Studies all do most of their advising online, but Deeg thinks students would be more successful if face-to-face contact with advisers was always part of the advising process.

Diane Mayes, director of academic advising for University College, said one-on-one conversations between students and advisers allows advisers to understand students’ issues and makes students’ choices less stressful.

But online advising is sometimes the most convenient method, said Jessica Shadid, advertising junior.

“I think it’s a good thing for some students,” she said. “Personally, I like the face-to-face [advising], and I always have a lot of questions.”

UOSA also wants to make advisement a requirement in every college. The business college does not currently require it, he said.

Danny Wieland, marketing and management senior, said he has always been able to enroll in the business college without getting advised. He said he thinks an advising requirement would be a good idea.

“[Advising] is always good if you have questions,” he said. “It’s their job to be experts.”

The proposal will also encourage the university to use more faculty members as advisers. Deeg said faculty members know more about relevant degrees, classes and careers than some professional advisers, giving students who have faculty advisers the benefit of their professors’ expertise.

“Academic advising is probably one of the most important things, because it’s going to determine your career path,” Deeg said. “A good advisement will help you graduate in your four years.”

Faculty advisement also decreases the burden on professional advisers, Deeg said.

Deeg began working on the proposal at the request of OU President David L. Boren and Provost Nancy Mergler, who asked UOSA to propose a new standard because of recent complaints that advising is more substantial in some colleges than others, Deeg said.

The proposal will be reviewed by UOSA President Amanda Holloway and Vice President Vince Winston and then submitted to Mergler within the next few weeks. Deeg said Boren will decide when, or if, the new standards will take effect.