The ISU Writing Center has bounced back from a bout with budget cuts and has returned to offering a full range of services for students.

After last year’s Department of English budget cuts, the ISU Writing Center was forced to reduce its services to critiquing only English papers. This year, the center has reinstated their program and is waiting for students to take advantage of their services.

The writing center staff is equipped to assist students with papers from any major, said Sheryl McGough, writing center coordinator. “Most students at the university still believe they can’t come here for help unless they’re working on an English paper,” she said. “It’s very important for us to let people know that we want to see students from outside our own department. We know there are student writers struggling in other classes and not getting the help from us they could be getting.”

Irene Faass, writing center consultant, sees 25 students each week at the center. Of those students, around three bring in non-English papers to work on, she said.

Still, Faass, graduate student in English, said she is encouraged to see the students who choose to use the center are benefiting from it.

“I think they know there was a possibility of the center not existing [because of budget cuts] and students are more invested in getting what they can out of it now,” she said.

McGough said last year’s budget cuts forced the English department to “take staff out of the center and put them back in classrooms.” Since this year’s freshman class is smaller, more money was available to put back into the writing center, she said.

McGough said in the past the writing center has typically served between 750 and 800 students each semester. Budget cuts forced that number down to 500 during spring semester last year.

McGough said the center has served nearly 500 students so far this year and expects numbers close to 600 for the semester.

More funding allows for increased staff availability, which provides writing center clients with continuity, she said. “If a student can work with one tutor over and over, it makes for a more effective situation,” McGough said.

Though most students who use the writing center are freshmen, McGough said juniors and seniors who have forgotten how to write a research paper or correctly cite sources often find themselves back at the Writing Center before graduating from Iowa State. And students can make appointments with the center.

“If they know they have problems with grammar or punctuation, we’re not just going to take their paper, fix the mistakes and send them out the door,” she said. “They can create appointments with us for every paper they turn in and we can work on the fundamental problems they’re having.”

Brad Baer, freshman in pre-architecture, said he uses the writing center every two to three weeks for his English 105 papers.

Baer said since he began using the writing center, he has received the highest grade on many papers in his English class.

“The staff and I work on positioning where I want things to be, how I want them to transition and how to be the most descriptive to my audience without being too wordy,” he said.