I would like to respond to the article "Students send message to improve advising" on Monday, April 20. The academic advising situation is a larger problem than the Penn State administration would like to believe, especially since any extra semesters spent here is more expensive tuition money for the University. The survey was redundant, this is a problem that has been prominent and obvious, a more worthwhile survey would have been "How many student's academic careers have been lengthened due to negligent or faulty advising?" With tuition already at an all-time high and Penn State's 25th consecutive tuition hike, it is imperative that every student have an equal opportunity to complete college education as quickly and effeciently as possible.

There are good advisers out there, but definitely not enough. Perhaps the University would be willing to allocate a small amount of that research money to the true purpose of a University, the education of its students and the restructuring of the advising department. Many students who must stay an extra year due to pseudo-advising often are already in debt with loans and financial aid.

It is a true disgrace that the length of a student's academic career is determined randomly on whether or not they have a competent adviser. I make a plea to the new supposed "action oriented" Undergraduate Student Government President Rob Kampia and to Penn State administrators to realize, not trivialize, the magnitude of the problem and begin reform.