Many universities offer students legal counsel at their institutions, but it is not nearly as common at community colleges; City College breaks that mold.

Robin Unander is a practicing attorney at law and also works as an advising attorney for students. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, she works as a student advising attorney for UCSB as a free resource offered by the university. On Tuesdays, however, she advises at City College from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Office of Student Life.

“It’s really just an invaluable resource to have,” said Chase Markytan, who met with Unander last semester about issues with his landlord.

Access to the legal center at City College is free to any student who wishes to make an appointment or drop-in; that is, if they can get one. For the past two weeks Unander’s appointments have been booked solid and appointments for the next two Tuesdays have already been filled. There has been a significant amount of no-shows, so she encourages drop-ins.

The purpose of offering a legal service for students is for student retention, said Unander.

“Even if it’s a minor legal issue, they don’t know it’s minor, it’s consuming,” she said. “And so they end up dropping classes, or having to altogether withdraw because they can’t deal with it.”

City College began offering a student legal service in the spring semester of 2008, but there have been some breaks where there was no service offered. The service stopped altogether in the fall of 2013 and did not return until the summer of 2015.

City College came to the unique position of offering a student legal adviser because of the dynamic with UCSB and Isla Vista. Many City College students began going to Unander’s student legal center located in Isla Vista.

“That sort of service is exclusively for UCSB students because they pay for the service through their own student fees,” Unander said. “So when I had City College students actually calling to schedule appointments I thought, ‘we need to talk to City College about doing something over there.’”

When the program began, it became clear that it was a great resource for City College students.

“They saw how many students were utilizing the service, and so they decided to go ahead and keep it,” Unander said.

The percentage of community colleges that offer a student legal service is very low, according to Unander.

“It’s a privilege for City College students to be able to have this service,” said Amy Collins, adviser of student programs. “Because I am not aware of any other community colleges that offer their students legal service like this, so the fact that SBCC offers it to it’s students is pretty awesome.”

The most common problems brought to Unander are about criminal offenses, landlords, tenants or roommate issues. Some of the problems are similar to that of UCSB students, but Unander said, “there are more serious issues with the City College students.” City College students are a different demographic of students, sometimes with more life experience, she said.

A typical meeting with Unander is a half hour of rushed conversation filled with information. From 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. students will come in and fill each half-hour block. It’s not enough time to go over everything, Unander said, but she can at least point students in the direction they need to go.

“She just referred me to a bunch of resources that were available already that I had no clue about,” Markytan said.

She makes students aware of their rights and helps them understand the entire situation. Sometimes showing the students a little support helps them go a long way, said Unander.

“I felt like I had somebody on my side, and she really just clarified the whole situation for me,” Markytan said. “She kind of just helped me help myself.”

Students can make appointments by contacting Amy Collins and reserving a half-hour on a Tuesday.

“The primary, underlying goal of all these services is that we help to support the students, so they can focus on what they need to do,” Unander said.