Select an option from the list below to view information about Student Success Center resources.
Academic advisers aim to help students make informed decisions and shape meaningful educational opportunities, enabling their success while at Penn State.
Drop-in tutoring is available through the Center. Tutoring is handled primarily by professional tutors or by instructors from the discipline. Peer tutoring is also available for certain subjects. Peer tutors are students who have aced the class you seek help with and have received tutor training.
Penn State Altoona’s Writing Commons, located in room 127 of the Eiche Library, helps students in all disciplines become more effective, more confident writers. Supportive, trained undergraduate peer Writing Consultants will work one-on-one with students at all levels, in all disciplines, and at any stage in the writing process.
LEARN ABOUT THE WRITING COMMONS BOOK A WRITING CONSULTATION ON STARFISH
The Student Disability Resources office provides students with disability accommodations to improve access to learning and minimize the effects of any functional limitations. Accommodations are based on individual needs and can include but are not limited to extended testing time, a reduced-distraction environment for testing, and the ability to record audio lectures.
Internships are vitally important for today’s college students. Nine out of ten employers indicate that they are more likely to hire a recent college graduate if they have had a successful internship; more than 40 percent of new college hires come directly from an employer’s internship pool.
Practically and legally, internships differ from employment by emphasizing student learning. An academic internship is a partnership between the college and an employer (or “host site”) that ensures that the internship is guided by the employer’s expectation of productive work and by the college’s expectation of meaningful, applied learning. Through this partnership arrangement, the college promotes and protects the student’s interests as a student while facilitating professional work experience.
The Office of Study Away at Penn State Altoona supports all interested students, regardless of major, who want to spend a spring break, a semester, or a full academic year away from campus on an academic program in a different part of the country or world.
The Study Away office assists students in selecting appropriate study away programs, understanding the financial implications of studying away, and explaining the credit process. Students interested in studying away for spring break, a semester, or a year may choose from Penn State Altoona-sponsored programs or from over three hundred Penn State Global Programs.
Lion Guidez is a peer mentoring program that trains student leaders to help students navigate their experience at Penn State Altoona. Lion Guidez connect with incoming students before the start of the semester during the Welcome Week programming and on the Connect newsfeed. During the academic year, you can find them staffing the Student Success Center Welcome Desk, offering general advice for college best practices, encouragement, and resources. Visit us at the Student Success Center.
Explore the topics in our Help Tool to find information and answers to frequently asked questions.
In addition to the resources listed here, the Student Success Center connects students with other offices to provide support and opportunities, including the following: