A Human Capital Approach to Academic Advising

Abstract

Human capital, defined as any characteristic of a worker that contributes to that worker's productivity, is presented in this article as a unifying theme for academic advising in higher education. Five categories of human capital—formal education, adult education, on-the-job-training, health, and geographic mobility—and academic advising issues related to developing students' human capital in each category are presented. Students' vocational interests are identified with developing their human capital, and the principle of maximizing human capital is introduced as a basis for students' choices of academic curricula and particular courses and programs.