The Furness College tutorial system provides welfare support for Furness undergraduate students at Lancaster. On entry to the university, each undergraduate is allocated a College Tutor who normally acts as their personal tutor until they graduate. The university's policy is to provide in-depth support for undergraduates. The College Office and the Senior Tutor provide advice and back up for College Tutors and university institutions such as the Student Support and Counselling services provide specialist advice and support.

The most basic task of the College Tutor is to make contact with each tutee and establish a relationship in which the tutee understands the purpose of the Tutorial System and their Tutor's role within it.

The College Tutorial System is explicitly responsible for undergraduates' welfare in Part I. This responsibility is shared with undergraduates' academic departments in Part II. College Tutors therefore normally concentrate their efforts on Part I students as this is the crucial time to make contact and pick up problems concerned with tutees adjustment to University.

The College Tutor is not expected to handle every welfare problem. Your tutees could come to you with a range of problems affecting their academic, physical or mental well being. There is no question of tutors being specialists in each and every area of potential difficulty! You are not expected to know everything! In the majority of cases, a sympathetic ear from the tutor will be sufficient to calm a student's fears and provide the necessary re-assurance. When it is obvious that the problem is more deep-seated, however, tutors should not hesitate to refer the case (in discussion with and with the consent of the student) to the most appropriate source of support, this could be the Senior Tutor, or a health professional, counsellor etc (see the list of contacts at the end of this handbook).

Perhaps your most important role may be to send a letter on your Tutee’s behalf to his or her Department alerting them to the fact that they are facing personal difficulties and that you are closely involved in helping them to overcome these difficulties. This may also require you to appeal to the department on your tutees’ behalf for essay extensions or for resubmission of work on grounds of extenuating circumstances.

Departments are normally more sympathetic to a student who is behind on their work when they have a College tutor’s support than not.