Academic Support is ready for another semester of helping students achieve their best in school.
Students often face certain academic and financial challenges that prevent them from achieving their academic goals. Sometimes, students are not aware of their rights in fighting back.
The Student Association’s (SA) Academic Support Program is designed to help students better understand their rights and stand up for themselves.
Diana Cortes, coordinator of Academic Support said, “We are a student support program aimed at assisting students in accessing quality education and more importantly, education rights.”
The program’s primary objective is to empower students to advocate for their rights and resolve academic issues and barriers.
Academic Support does so by guiding students with information regarding college policies and resources and supporting students in challenging unfair academic decisions.
“When a student thinks that they have received an unfair grade or when unforeseen circumstances prevent them from performing their best in academics, they would want to make a grade appeal,” Cortes said, “We receive the request from these students and provide information regarding college policies depending on the case and guide them step by step through the procedure.”
Student enquiries differ according to times in the semester. Cortes shared that towards the end of the semester, they usually receive enquiries about grade appeal.
“Another situation that they often come to us seeking support for is financial issues. Especially International students who may not have enough finances to pay for additional courses that they need to take if they fail a class,” Cortes shared.
In such cases, Academic Support refers students to the department or individuals that can help them such as financial aid office or the international student advisors.
“We also provide information regarding accommodations, Accessible Learning Services, Tutoring and Learning Services and the other programs and services that the college has that could support students to improve their overall academic performance,” Cortes said.
Students can reach Academic Support through their contact form on the SA website, their email academicsupport@sagbc.ca, or by calling 416-415-5000 Ext. 6320.
Following initial contact, students can choose to meet online or in person for their services.
In the upcoming semesters, the Academic Support program continues to operate as before, although the program team intends to have a more active presence in person, within all Campuses.
“I think it is important to let students know that they’re not alone. We truly believe that it’s important to consider all the intersections that could prevent that a student from performing well in academics and we aim to provide our support in a non-judgmental manner,” Cortes said.
