This post was written by Hatchet reporter Eva Palmer

The Columbian College of Arts and Sciences will ditch its drop-in advising hours this spring, allowing students to meet only with their own adviser during designated office hours or through appointments.

Scrapping the weekly “express advising” sessions is the college’s latest effort to help students build stronger ties with their advisers, Michelle Steiner, the college’s director of undergraduate advising, said.

“Since express advising lends itself to short bursts of information from any one of a number of advisers, we believe our students can be better served through a sustained dialogue with someone who knows the student,” Steiner, who started her position last summer, said.

Advisers will use the extra time to add more office hours and make room for more appointments, she said. Walk-in appointments must now be during each student’s assigned adviser’s office hours.

Columbian College has poured money into improving its advising system, committing $700,000 in 2010 to double the size of its staff and help roll out the online degree auditing system DegreeMAP.

Students in Columbian College, and across the University, have been dissatisfied with advising, according to 2012 data from the Office of Academic Planning and Assessment.

More than 50 percent of Columbian College 2012 graduates said they were dissatisfied or very dissatisfied with first-year faculty advisers.

Jack Linnehan, a freshman studying political communication, said the change may make it more difficult for students to get information.

“It takes away the easy access to the advisers, so it might not be the best idea,” Linnehan said.