With application deadlines approaching for California State, University of California and private universities, students can use newly accessible online tools through their MyVCCCD homepage to check current progress in their education plans. 

Students have filled the appointment schedules for the counselors in order to ensure that they have all the information that they need in order to achieve their goals at Moorpark College, and now Moorpark College is taking an initiative to make that process even easier.

According to Anitra Evans, the department chair at the counseling office, counselors have visited classrooms to assist any student that might be struggling. Some have even participated in workshops that have been set up by various programs, including journalism, EATM, and nursing.

Evans encourages students to spread the word about how talking to a counselor is crucial to their success.

“It’s very important for students to come see us,” said Evans. “It can be hard for students to figure all this out themselves, so we’re always here to help.”

DegreeWorks is an online tool that is currently available to all students. DegreeWorks shows students what courses they have completed and what courses they still need to take tin order to complete their goals at Moorpark College. In order to ensure that classes are available to students who wish to obtain an associate degree or transfer to a university, priority registration will be given to students who have created an education plan with their counselors in Fall 2014.

According to a recent email that was sent out via MyVCCCD Portal, students with verified education plans that are in good academic standing and have not exceeded 75 degree-applicable units will receive priority registration over students that haven’t.

“We don’t know all the details yet [on the priority registration], but the idea is fantastic,” said Evans.

In order for students to have an education plan, they have to work with counselors. Using forms like the Transfer Admissions Guarantee (TAG) or the Intersegmental General Education Transfer Curriculum (IGETC), counselors can help map out the classes and programs that students will need to complete in order to achieve their goal. This interaction between students and their counselors qualifies as a verified education plan.

DegreeWorks can be found at the top right of the MyVCCCD student homepage. The system takes into account the student’s current education goals and applies them to their records to show what they need to do in order to reach their goals.

Evans claims that DegreeWorks is still a new system, so its capabilities are limited and sometimes inaccurate.

“DegreeWorks is fine for your first semester when you’re figuring everything out, but we encourage students to come see us so that we can help them with it,” said Evans.

According to Counselor Denice Avila, progress shown on DegreeWorks will correspond with the associate degree, but not necessarily for transfer degrees.

“Students that are looking to transfer have to be careful, or else they may end up taking the wrong classes,” Avila said.

Avila also says that DegreeWorks does not have the capacity to recognize classes that were taken at any colleges outside of the Ventura County Community Colleges District.

“Unless you took all of your classes at Ventura, Oxnard, or here at Moorpark, then what will be shown will not be a full evaluation [of what you’ve accomplished],” said Avila.

Along with these software issues, the layout and organization of the system has caused some frustration among students. Cheryl Shepard, 28, history major, found the system to be confusing and claims that physical visits were a lot more beneficial for her. 

“[My counselor] made the process a lot more straightforward for me and was just awesome.” said Shepard. “DegreeWorks wasn’t too clear on how to work it.”

It’s unclear whether or not these issues will soon be fixed within the system, but students are encouraged to check with their counselors before making any important decisions via DegreeWorks.The counseling office is located in the Administration Building. For more information, refer to the counseling office homepage here.

Students waiting in line to receive counseling assistance (Ethan Persico)