Hello. I'm Amy Giaculli, Coordinator of Student Services at SUNY Empire State College. As an online student, it is important to be aware of the numerous resources that are available to help you be successful in your studies. These resources are not always academic in nature, and often include things such as, career resources, counseling services, and opportunities to engage with other learners, both virtually and in person. These services fall under an umbrella known as student services. Let's take a look at a student services website, to get an idea of the types of services that are available to online students. First thing my eyes are drawn to as we access the page, is Talk One-2-One. Talk One-2-One is a counseling service that is available to students 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The counseling service will offer support for any number of problems that may be challenging a student's health or well-being. It is common for colleges to offer some sort of counseling service to their students as part of their tuition. Next we see disability services. The mission of the disability services office, is to provide all students with disabilities and equal opportunity for success in their college experience. Students that have a disability, no matter what kind of disability it is, are encouraged to declare the disability with the college. All students that declare disability become eligible for reasonable accommodations. The next link that we see on the page brings us to the college policies and procedures. It is always important to familiarize yourself with college policies, as it is an expectation that students adhere to them. Some important policies to familiarize yourself with include student conduct and academic integrity. Under health and wellness, we see a series of links that have to do with health and wellness related services. When we click on the health and wellness link, we see a listing of all the services that are provided to our students, that fall under the health and wellness category. These services include Student Health 101, which is a monthly online health magazine for students. The student wellness assistance program, Talk One-2-One, which is the counseling service that we talked about earlier in this video, we also see information about supplemental benefits, health insurance programs, and health and wellness programming. Next is student engagement. Student engagement has become an important topic in the world of eLearning. Even online colleges provide their students with opportunities to engage with each other and with the college community. These activities, events, student clubs and competitions, like the student art competition, for example, are designed in such a way that students can participate both in person, and online. Another service that most colleges provide to their students, is a student-run publication or newsletter. At SUNY Empire State College, we have the Student Connection. The Student Connection is comprised of a student editor and student writers. The newsletter contains current news, a creative corner where students can publish their poetry and other creative works. And a social corner that contains information about events and activities that are going on around the college. Most online colleges also offer a number of career resources. Career resources are important for students as they work to reach their educational and career goals. Common career resources available to students include, resources to help students develop their resume, resources to help students prepare for a job interview, portfolio and e-portfolio resources, and an online alumni community where students can interact with alumni about career-related issues. It's also common to find student consumer information under the student services umbrella. Student consumer information typically provides information about the college to students, in accordance with federal regulations. This information includes cost and financial aid information, campus security, institutional accreditation, disability services and graduation rate. All of this information is important for a student to know as they research their options for higher education in America.
