Academic advising exists to help students make sound decisions. Regrettably, every semester a number of students neglect to consult their professional or faculty advisor, instead choosing to self-advise or take the advice of peers. Consequently, many of these students flounder and the resulting cost (in terms of academic progress, degree attainment, pride in accomplishment, employability, and contribution to society) to the students, their families, the institution, and society is devastating. For example, a study by American Institutes for Research (2011) estimated an economic impact of $4.5 billion in lost income and federal and state income taxes.

Institutions of higher learning routinely mandate that students visit with their academic advisor; nevertheless, when students are dissatisfied with the interaction, they often ignore their advisor’s recommendations, make their own choices, and register for courses they believe they need. On the other hand, when students are satisfied with the interaction, they not only visit with their advisor more frequently, but they listen, follow the advice, and consequently advance or accelerate their academic progress.

Since “[t]he faculty-advisor is the one professor who has interactions with students from admission to graduation” (Choate and Granello, 2006, p. 117), the purpose of this research is to identify factors involved in the student-faculty advisor interaction and determine the significance of each factor’s impact on student satisfaction.