MORE GUIDANCE, BETTER RESULTS?

meet with their counselor a minimum of twice, once shortly before or early in the semester, andthen again in mid-semester. These meetings triggered the payment of the Opening Doorsstipend, as described below.As was intended by the program’s designers, the program coordinator at Lorain stronglyencouraged the counselors to contact students much more frequently than twice a semester.This message became increasingly strong as the program matured. MDRC’s field researchsuggests that the message that counselors should try to meet with students frequently was not asstrong at Owens. In addition, since the Opening Doors counselors at Owens had larger caseloadsthan the counselors at Lorain, maintaining frequent contact was more challenging atOwens. Although the Opening Doors counselors strongly encouraged students to participate inthe program, there were no sanctions for students who did not meet with their counselor (otherthan not receiving the stipend).One of the counselors at Lorain typically worked at least one evening a week, and oneof the counselors at Owens typically worked on Saturdays. As was true during regular hours,students could make appointments or just drop in.In the counseling sessions that MDRC observed, staff and students talked about a rangeof issues, including course scheduling, registration, financial aid and other financial issues,tutoring, work-based learning efforts, juggling school and work, career aspirations, and personalissues. The Opening Doors counselors provided one-on-one counseling themselves, andreferred students to other services on and off campus. Because the Opening Doors counselorswere not trained as therapists, they did not delve into psychological issues with students. One ofthe part-time counselors at Lorain had expertise as a career development specialist, and she metwith many of the participating students to help them explore career options and align theiracademic efforts with their employment goals. For the most part, based on the observedcounseling sessions, the Opening Doors counselors seemed to have developed comfortable,trusting relationships with students.MDRC field research suggested that the program started up more slowly at Owens thanat Lorain, and that services were less intensive. As a result, MDRC provided more technicalassistance to the program staff at Owens. MDRC provided advising guides to the counselors tohelp structure the two expected meetings with students. The guides focused the conversationson anticipating and overcoming challenges to completing courses, and on students’ short- andlong-term goals. At the first counseling session, students were given a resource binder, preparedfor Opening Doors, which provided information about Owens’s academics, financial aid,tutoring, and other campus services, as well as services available in the community.To facilitate the enhanced counseling in Opening Doors, the colleges created a databaseto record key information about participating students and their contacts with staff. The coun-29