College should not just be about rules and deadlines, but should provide the best support and resources students need to succeed, without educational obstacles or leaving them confused and directionless feeling like they don’t ‘BeLong’ at LBCC as they navigate their education journey.
Higher education should be about exploring the world of interests and career ideas,not outdated schedules, unanswered emails, unclear availability and slow responses are all too common, and the school makes it unnecessarily difficult for students to reach real humans who can help.
This is more than a minor inconvenience. It affects first-generation students, overwhelmed students and anyone navigating college bureaucracy.
LBCC’s lack of clear communication and timely responses is not just frustrating it’s a structural failure that makes navigating college harder, especially for students who rely on staff guidance for accurate information, such as deadlines, where to retrieve certain forms, loans and grants that often get miscommunicated loosely, resulting in delayed funds for tuition and housing.
While LBCC expects students to meet deadlines, attend appointments, and be accountable, many departments fail to meet the same standard when responding to student needs that go beyond a simple phone call being transferred to an unavailable line.
Students often cannot access reliable staff, accurate information, updated office hours, or clear instructions for scheduling appointments, all of which wastes valuable time and energy.
The impact is significant: working students, students on financial aid, homeless students, formerly incarcerated students, transfers, major changers, students living alone, those struggling with mental health, and especially first-generation students all face unnecessary barriers.
There are severe consequences, like delayed graduations, loss of financial aid and mismanaged academic planning can leave students misguided and unequipped with the proper information.
The deeper issue is that colleges assume students can manage complex systems on their own, overlooking that many are only just beginning to navigate higher education.
Students need years of experience to become familiar with how the school system works, and it is normal not to know what to do or where to go.
Guaranteed response times, updated office hours and accurate contact information are practical solutions that could make a huge difference and would help students plan their schedules, especially those balancing work or other responsibilities.
In support of staff efficiency, LBCC could include a centralized live chat or student support hotline to ensure students always have access to the guidance they need without solely relying on confusing paperwork that institutions expect students to know how to navigate in their first year after high school.
Students need other humans and tangible access to help without the barriers of staff and faculty who decide not to work outside of their pay grades.
Ultimately, departments should be held accountable when students’ needs are ignored.
With more effective training and the use of a ‘best practices’ approach, both administration and staff need to ensure students can access help, making sure they’re confident with the right guidance and resources, rather than being shut out or sent away, uncertain and unsupported.
