“Advising is an essential element of student success,” (Sayles & Shelton, 2005, p. 99). There seems to be a correlation between quality academic advising and student retention among schools that purposely pursue high quality in advising their students (Bahr, P. R., 2008; Fields & Barrett, 1996; Sayles & Shields, 2005). Though there are existing forms of academic advising within colleges and universities, the structures and goals for each strategy seem to differ. For example, local nursing schools were seeking to improve the quality of nursing education and retention through their advisory programs (Sayles & Shelton, 2005). In this article, the schools are advised to access individuals’ learning styles prior to setting any form of advisory per student. Once the student is placed into the advisory program, he or she is encouraged to get to know his or her advisor and participate in the Learner Academic Action Plan, a devised plan which encourages students to spend at least three hours studying per week. The action plan also assesses the student’s life using two components: FRED (Fun, Rest, Exercise, and Diet) and PAL (Praise, Advice, and Listening). Component FRED (2005) encourages students to pursue fun and pleasure at least four hours out of the week, which seems rather shocking to the experimenter because she hadn’t read any material accessing the importance of leisure time in regards to academic advising or academic success prior to reading this article
