Wrap Around Services with Dean St. James

Transcript

Earlier this week I was able to meet up with someone who has worked at CT State for over 17 years. Dean Timothy St. James is the dean of faculty and students. In his role, he assists in providing students with key resources that take the pressure off of things like transportation, and wellness, which allows students to focus more on their education. Let’s take a look. Tim, thank you so much for having us on campus. This has been a lot of fun. So one of the words we keep hearing over and over is wraparound services. Can you describe what that is?

– Sure, yeah, in simple terms, wraparound services are those supports that we put in place to try to make sure students are gonna succeed while they’re here. So you think about things like cost, transportation, childcare, mental health, you know, food insecurity. But we wanna be able to address those and take the the doubts and the “I can’t” out of students’ vocabulary. We consider ourselves to be barrier busters.

– I love that term.

– Yeah. So if it’s a barrier that’s going to, you know, keep you from succeeding, we want to be able to address that.

– Yeah, how great is that? So of all those barriers, I mean, cost has to be one of the biggest ones, right?

– Yeah, of course, who’s not concerned about cost, but let me throw this at you. How does free college sound?

– Yeah, I mean that doesn’t seem real at all.

– Well, it is, and the way it is is we have a free college program and as long as you’re a Connecticut resident, you’ve graduated from high school and you are registered at least part-time, six credits, you can qualify. Whatever’s remaining after applying for financial aid, whatever that gap is, it will be covered by our free college program.

– Well, that seems like the best deal in higher education.

– Yeah, yeah, well, you know what? It is.

– Yeah.

– Right, so another good thing is we do everything in one spot. Right here, if you’re ever, you know, wondering where do I have to go to apply for financial aid, or where do I have to go to fill out an application, we do it all right here in our OneStop enrollment services hallway.

– Make it super simple for the students, right?

– Absolutely. And I wanna also show you another place, so follow me. We’re gonna talk about childcare.

– Okay.

– Hey Alex, now here we are in our early childhood center. It’s actually a lab school and what that means is not only can our students come here to bring their kids, but it’s also a place where our students that are in our early childhood program can get real world practical experience.

– Yeah, I mean it’s like a win-win for everyone. Childcare can get expensive.

– And this is very affordable. I got another place I gotta show you.

– Okay.

– So come on with me.

– All right, let’s do it. Facilities here are amazing.

– They are amazing, but again, at CT State it’s all about the students, so that’s why those wraparound services are there. Whether you need, you know, free tutoring or whether you need help with our disability and accessibility services, they’re here to help you succeed.

– Well, on behalf of the college tour, I mean the whole state of Connecticut, the country, it’s incredible what you’re doing.

– Yeah.

– And thanks for spending some time.

– Thanks for being here. This has been great having you.

– Yeah. It is amazing to hear about what CT State Community College offers students to allow them to thrive not only in the classroom but in the community. We can’t believe all the opportunities that CT State has for their students. Thanks for spending time with us on the college tour, Dean St. James. That was incredible.