Advising

5.22.24 - Update that the $10 student attendance fee for in-person Corvallis-based START sessions is waived.

As you’re likely aware, START Orientation primarily relies on fees collected from participating families, with only a small portion, around 10% of our total budget, coming from E&G funds annually. Despite our ongoing efforts to enhance our START program, pursue cost savings throughout, and align with student wage recommendations from ASOSU, we have encountered challenges in maintaining this funding approach without a substantial revision.  We benchmarked our fees against U of O, Portland State, Washington State, U of W, and Colorado State to ensure we were moving forward with a reasonable ask of students.  While we are steadfastly committed to accessibility and affordability, we have found it necessary to introduce a very modest fee of $10 per student starting in 2024. 

In-Person START

Students - FY and TR - $0 per student

• 5.22.24 update - This cost is waived for 2024.
• This cost subsidizes the cost of their catering and meals, building reservation costs, printed materials, and staff wages
• This also helps to build buy-in and right-size the START budget

FY Parents & Families – (guests over age 10) - $80 per person

• This covers the cost of their catering and meals, defrays our building reservation costs, and pays for their printed materials (including the parent and family calendar)
• Subsidizes student costs of printing, meals, and building reservations
• Automatically signs this person up for a year of newsletters and communications from our office.

TR Parents & Families – (guests over age 10) - $65 per person

• This covers the cost of their catering and meals, defrays our building reservation costs, and pays for their printed materials (including the parent and family calendar)
• Subsidizes student costs of printing, meals, and building reservations
• Automatically signs this person up for a year of newsletters and communications from our office
• Costs are less than FY families due to one day event v. two for FY families

Siblings under age 10 - Free of charge to encourage families to attend if they have younger children at home

Housing - (students and families) - $60 per student; $75 per family member

• Cost is all-inclusive of their room, linens, dinner, social activities in the evening, and breakfast the next morning.
• Students will be placed together in double rooms in a traditional "bathroom down the hall" residence hall.
• Families will be placed together in suites with the "shared bathroom in a suite", with only one family per suite where possible.

Virtual START

Students- $0

• There is no charge for virtual START to students.  Many hours will go into the content set-up and staffing of panels and meetings for students, but we are committed to maintaining at least one pathway through START that is at no additional cost to students.

Virtual Parents & Families - $0

• There is no charge for virtual and families.
• Automatically signs this person up for a year of newsletters and communications from our office.
• They will be invited to a series of panels and events that they can choose to attend virtually throughout the summer.

Off-site START

Students - $150

• This covers the cost of their catering and meals, defrays our building reservation costs, and pays for their printed materials
• Subsidizes the costs of staff and advisors traveling to meet with students, as well as shipping materials

Parents & Families – (adults) - $75 per person

• This covers the cost of their catering and meals, defrays our building reservation costs, and pays for their printed materials (including the parent and family calendar and handbook)
• Minimally subsidizes student costs of printing, meals, and building reservations
• Automatically signs this person up for a year of newsletters and communications from our office.

Siblings under age 10 - Free of charge to encourage families to attend if they have younger children at home

• No housing is offered for off-site START. 
• If a student and their two guests attends Hawai'i START, the charge of $300 is lower than the average price of a roundtrip flight from Honolulu to Portland ($400).

Yes!  All students will be encouraged to add on a residence hall stay for the night between their START day and advising day! Parents and families will be able to choose to stay as well.  We've teamed up with UHDS to offer a low-cost option for families that is all-inclusive of their room, linens, dinner, social activities in the evening, and breakfast the next morning.

• Students will be placed together in double rooms in a traditional "bathroom down the hall" residence hall. The cost is $60 per student.
• Families will be placed together in suites with the "shared bathroom in a suite", with only one family per suite where possible. The cost is $75 per person.

Additionally, we'll offer limited overnight residence hall stay options for both students and families for the night before their START date.  We have to limit the number of students and families who choose this option, so we'll work to make this available to those coming from furthest away.

Small groups with a START Leader are a way for us to engage all three of our goals of START: academic, social, and culture of OSU orientations.  The group is structured as 45 minutes to build off of the previous session discussing campus resources, share START Leader stories of their favorite spots and successes, and introduce new students to the culture of OSU.  The agenda aims to introduce and normalize nervousness, prioritize important resources for new students, and support connection and belonging among incoming students.

The goals of START are:

1. We empower students to succeed in their academic and social environments at Oregon State. 
2. We prepare families to support their students in their first year at Oregon State.
3. We work to foster connections with new students to initiate their social and institutional belonging at Oregon State.  
4. We introduce the culture of Oregon State University to incoming students.

We think of START as a three-legged stool, balancing equally on academic orientation, social orientation, and the culture of OSU orientation.  Supporting parents and families through their own transition helps us achieve all three of these goals holistically.

No.  In February 2020, the Academic Advising Council approved a policy that governs recruitment for majors and course enrollment during START.  The full scope and procedures can be read via clicking the link above, and generally colleges should reference the document for other options for sharing their new courses, as well as sharing information about their available majors and programs.

Check back as we update the FAQs!

Yes!  Both of these sessions have the same content as any other START session, but they are supported by faculty and staff across the university and aim to help students find belonging during their orientation process. 

• We are pleased to present Bilingüe again this summer, our START session where content is presented in both English and Spanish for families.  This will be held on Sunday June 30 and Monday July 1, in conjunction with First-Year Session #2.
• Additionally, we are partnering with the Dr. Lawrence Griggs Office of Black & Indigenous Student Success to host a START session aimed and supporting our black and indigenous new students.  This will be held on Sunday July 14 and Monday July 15 as a stand alone session.

College Query:

• https://discover.oregonstate.edu/manage/query/query?id=4bfdf045-69ad-402...

Student/Guest count query:

• https://discover.oregonstate.edu/manage/query/query?id=88247e92-5e8c-47a...

New for 2023, students who are classified as "High Need" by Financial Aid will see a question on their START sign-up at the very bottom that says "We have a small pool of funding to partially offset the cost of START fees for high-financial need families. This funding is limited and we unfortunately will not be able to meet the needs of all families looking for START fee financial assistance. Would you like to be considered for a START partial fee waiver?"  These funds are provided by the Parent & Family Foundation fund operated by the Office of the Dean of Students.

The first students in each session who check this box will be notified that up to $100 will be waived from their cost of START attendance.  The number of waivers is different for each session and is listed below.

• FY1 and FY2 - 10 waivers are available per session
• Bilingüe (FY3) and Black & Indigenous START (FY9) - 16 waivers are available per session
• All other in-person START sessions - 13 waivers are available per session

*Additionally, OSO has a long-standing practice of not charging CAMP students and families for START attendance and housing and this practice will continue, in addition to this waiver process.

Students will be encouraged to stay for their advising appointment in person, if possible.  If they are not able to stay, remote options are available.  OSO will host a "help desk" during this day to support students finding their way around campus.

You can find more details in the Guide for Colleges document, created by the Advising at START workgroup.

Firstly, because we have a LOT of students! 

In summer 2022, OSU returned to hosting START in person as covid-related restrictions were still in place.  We hosted 20 total sessions (16 FY and 4 TR) in order to host smaller sessions of approximately 225 students per session all summer, as well as due to LaSells Auditorium not being available.  Finally, admissions instituted a new policy of closing admissions, but since this was the first year, this resulted in a large influx of students after the May 1 deadline and resulted in adding sessions later in the summer.

In summer 2023, while LaSells is still closed to us, we are capping sessions at 325 students and using LINC 100 to host the largest sessions we're able to.  We will host 12 First-year and 3 Transfer sessions this summer.

For context, the pre-pandemic model in 2019 capped sessions at 350-365 and they hosted 10 first-year and 4 transfer sessions.

If a student does not attend START but does attend their advising appointment in person, we will:

1. In general unless dire circumstances are present, redirect the student to register for a new START session.  It is important for every student to get the pre-advising content before they register for classes.
2. Walk the student to the OSO help table to help them get signed up for a new START session, including the next virtual session.

Notes for this process to work are:

1. This will only impact colleges that are doing pre-scheduling before START.
2. All colleges agree to take attendance at their college session to ensure that their records match the morning's START attendance records in Slate.  This will ensure that if they attended another college's session, they'll still be able to be listed at attended.
3. If colleges notice any discrepancies, they'll contact OSO as soon as possible.

If a student does not attend their in person advising appointment but does attend in person START, we will:

1. Colleges will outreach to student and redirect them to sign up for a slot in virtual advising days.
2. Connect in other advisors who may be looking for the student, including if they are Honors, EOP, TRiO, Athletes, etc.

Hosting Hawai'i START is an all-hands-on-deck endeavor!  You can find all of the materials about Hawaii START in our Box folder.

Hawai'i START team 2023

The following advisors have stepped up and agreed to travel with OSO to advise students in person in Hawai'i. 

• Sarah Kyllo from College of Engineering
• Julia Rosenzweig from College of Engineering
• Ashlei Edgemon from College of Liberal Arts
• Kris Gage from College of Science
• Chris Wheeler from College of Business
• Raina Martinez from Educational Opportunities Program

Additionally, the following folks are traveling to help host and present to students and their families.

• Ben Medeiros from University Housing and Dining Services
• Laura Mondragon from Office of Financial Aid
• Rick DeBellis from Office of Admissions will be advising DPP students
• Annie Tarter from Office of Student Orientation
• Melissa Morgan from Office of Student Orientation
• Heather Wofford from Office of Admissions
• Christy Jones - Griggs Center Coordinator for Indigenous students

Finally, this group is guided and supported by the following staff and students.

• Kameron Kadooka - faculty advisor of Hui O Hawai'i club
• Irie Cheng - President of Hui O Hawai'i club
• Rachel Polisher from Office of Student Orientation

For 2023, students admitted to OSU for summer 2023 should have received a direct email from Slate/Beaver Basecamp inviting them to attend one of the summer START sessions, hopefully earlier in the summer.  While they need not attend START or meet with an advisor to register for summer classes, they will need to attend START to meet with an advisor for fall term.  Office of Student Orientation highly encourages summer admit students to meet with an advisor as soon as possible, as well as to attend START earlier in the summer. Advisors with access can view their population in this Slate query.

YES!  New for 2023, students can choose to BOTH wait list a preferred session and sign up for a back-up session.  When signing up for START, students can choose to wait list a session that they'd prefer and Slate will automatically add them to that session and remove them from their back-up session.  There are separate email communications sent when students and guests are added to the wait list, as well as when they're moved from the wait list to registered status.  You can review this guide to see this from the student perspective.

There are three ways that we assess START formally.

1. At the end of the START day, we have a quick snapshot survey that we ask students to complete.
2. 10 day after START we ask students to complete a longer program assessment.
3. During the term after first enrollment, Erin Bird's office puts out a transition survey to all new students, which includes some START questions.

We also ask families and guests to complete an assessment of their time with us, in a similar format to how we assess the student experience.

1. Family quick snapshot survey
2. Family longer program assessment

Finally, Hawai'i START has just one assessment, which has some questions tailored for that experience.

1. Student Hawaii assessment
2. Family Hawaii assessment

DPP students can visit the table at the resource fair from 8-9:15am, attend the informational session from 4-4:30pm in MU 104, or visit the drop in session during advising day from 9am-4pm in Austin Hall.  Additionally, LBCC staff have put together a list of resources which you can acces at this link.

DPP LBCC Resources