For incoming students, finding the help they need may be just around the corner.

Several help services exist on campus that offer a wide variety of assistance to those who need it.

From counseling to academic help, students are likely to find a solution to any problem.

Student Counseling Service

From relationship issues to determining the correct career path to coping with anxiety or depression, the Student Counseling Service covers it all.

Located on the third floor of the Student Services building, the Student Counseling Service offers two major services to students: career counseling and personal counseling.

“We’re kind of like a one-stop shop,” said Jeff Ellens, staff psychologist and outreach coordinator.

Career counseling may involve counselors helping students choose their major or what the student wants to do for a living after college.

Personal counseling may involve discussion about relationship problems or concerns, anxiety, depression and adjustment to college life.

Counseling may be done either one-on-one or in a group of up to seven or eight students.

“If somebody has a sense for, ‘Hey, I was in a group before and I really benefitted from it,’ then we certainly want them to tell us what their preference is,” Ellens said.

“Usually that’s a conversation we have with the students when they first come in about what’s best for them.”

All the services offered through the Student Counseling Service are free to ISU students.

“If anyone’s in a crisis situation, if they’re feeling like they’re a danger to themselves, if they’ve just experienced a major trauma … we can always see people for crisis appointments like those on the same day,” Ellens said.

Academic Success Center

The Academic Success Center strives to help students achieve in the classroom.

Offering both course-based and skill-based services, the Academic Success Center provides students with the tools they need to succeed.

“I think, particularly for freshmen, it provides them with the tools to help them make that transition from high school and high school expectations to college expectations,” said Susan Rhoades, assistant director of the Academic Success Center.

One of the services offered through the center is tutoring.

Led by ISU students who are familiar with the subject, tutoring is either conducted in groups or one-on-one.

“Group tutoring is a really efficient way of learning because they not only learn from the tutor, but they also learn from their peers,” Rhoades said.

Students will usually meet with their tutors either once or twice a week.

A fee is charged for tutoring services to help compensate the tutors for their time.

Group tutoring is $4 per hour and individual tutoring is $7 an hour.

Supplemental instruction is another service offered by the Academic Success Center.

The sessions are course-specific and led by a student who has taken the course before.

The supplemental instruction leader sits in on the class so he or she knows what the professor is teaching.

“They know what’s being discussed in the class and then they formulate session plans to augment and to help students learn how to learn as well as what’s being taught in that session,” Rhoades said.

No fee is charged for supplemental instruction sessions.

Rhoades said research has shown that students who attend supplemental instruction sessions on a regular basis will typically raise their grade in the course by at least a half a grade.

The Academic Success Center also offers academic coaching to students.

Students who take advantage of this free service meet one-on-one with academic consultants to discuss any challenges they may be facing in their classes.

Students will often meet with an academic consultant several times throughout the semester in order to help them become accustomed to college.

“If students avail themselves of that, they will improve their learning, improve their education and hopefully make their whole experience just a little bit less stressful here because transitioning is, as a freshman, that’s a big chunk to undertake,” Rhoades said.