Caitlyn Hughes is a graduating senior and, like many of her classmates, plans to attend graduate school next year. But first she must figure out the complex application process and how she will pay tuition.

Hughes, who is applying for ecology and conservation biology graduate programs, is faced with many decisions, dilemmas and deadlines. It is quite a balancing act, one that often influences the course of a life.

"Finding the information is something you have to go out of your way for," she says.

But thanks to a new campus effort, Hughes and other seniors may find the helping hand they so often seek on these life decisions. The Senior Year Experience Committee, formed earlier this year, will try to make resources more accessible to students about to graduate. The 13-member committee represents numerous campus units, from Advising Services to the Women's Resources and Research Center.

The group will address senior issues like academic and work commitments, the transition to graduate school or the working world, family expectations and emotional health.

Committee members share Hughes' concern — while the campus may have most of the resources a senior might need, the process of getting that information out could be more efficient.

"There are wonderful opportunities for students," says committee member Erlinda Gonzalez, Equal Opportunity program coordinator for the Agricultural and Environmental Sciences department, "but if they don't know about them, we're missing the boat."

Committee co-chair Kristee Haggins, training director for Counseling and Psychological Services, believes that seniors do not get the attention that younger students do.

"We do a lot for incoming students, with orientations and so forth," she says. "We're less well coordinated in helping them get out of here."

The idea behind the Senior Year Experience Committee originated from conversations between Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Janet Gong and then-Alumni Relations director Babs Sandeen. The two were trying to coordinate senior activities between their units, but, Gong says, "it became apparent that a number of issues beyond celebration needed attention."

Gong selected co-chairs Haggins and acting executive director of Alumni Relations Jennifer Barber as well as the other committee members based on their backgrounds and skills. Gong says she singled out units "that were areas we thought were important, and we wanted people integrally involved in those areas, as well as people with leadership and task accomplishment skills."

Gong says the committee will focus on promoting existing resources, encouraging collaboration between units and, to a lesser extent, experimenting with new ventures.

The group has met twice so far, once in late August and once in October. Another meeting is scheduled for November. So far, the group has been working to compile a list of resources available to seniors in their own departments, in other units on campus and at other universities.

Barber says the committee will continue doing research for the next couple of months and begin taking action next quarter. She says a priority for the committee is making a Web site where information for seniors could be collected in one place.

Such a site would help Hughes, who has had to wait weeks for an appointment with a graduate school advisor and has struggled to find current information about undergraduate research opportunities, paying for graduate school and taking the Graduate Record Examinations.

For example, Hughes recently took the subject GRE in biology only to discover after the fact that the test was based almost solely on the Biology 1 series — which she took early in her undergraduate career.

"If I'd known to take the test earlier, it would have saved me a lot of studying time," she says.

Committee members are optimistic their efforts will make a difference on issues like this.

WRRC assistant director Adrienne Wonhof hopes departments will be able to better collaborate their efforts as a result of the meetings. The WRRC holds an annual workshop to prepare women for life after college called "Women on the Verge." She hopes other units build on their concept.

"This committee is creating awareness of what's available to others on campus," Wonhof says, "and I hope that awareness leads to action in the form of workshops in other units."