Re: Percentage of students using writing centers

[Sara Kimball <skimball@uts.cc.utexas.edu>]

Don, hi.  I think this figure depends in part on what kind of an
institution you're in and what kinds of populations you serve.  At UT
Austin, we're a huge, research-oriented statue university, and our writing
center is funded only to serve undergraduates.  Our writing center just
completed its fifth year, and for the past two years, we've seen
approximately 10% of the undrgraduate student body (35,0000 total; so
we've seen somewhere over 3,000 students each year). I suspect a writing
center in a smaller more heterogeneous place might expect to see a larger
percentage of its potential clientele earlier in its history, simply
because it's easier to spread the word.  I don't know how serving graduate
students, for example, would change percentages.

The really important thing to remember, is that you don't accelerate from
0 to 60 in the course of one year, and you shouldn't let The Powers That
Be judge your success by unrealistic expectations. 


Sara Kimball
UT Austin

On Thu, 3 Sep 1998, Don Perkins wrote:

> Writing Center Folks,
> 
> I'm trying to get a handle on what percentage of our student body I 
> can reasonably expect to use our (somewhat new) writing center.  From 
> my point of view, any usage short of, say, 99% can be improved.  But 
> I'd like to know what others who've compiled figures on percentage of 
> usage have found.
> 
> Don Perkins
> Cottey College Writing Center
> dperkins@cottey.edu
> 
>