Category — Understanding The World of College

The more that college parents know and understand about the college experience, the less we worry and the better we will be able to help our students to succeed and thrive throughout their college career.  However, there is an overwhelming amount of information out there on the web.   We’d like to help you find some of the information that might be most interesting and useful to you as a college parent.

In News and Views we share recent college related news and sources we’ve found as we do our research.  We hope that this feature will help to introduce you to new ideas and to help you keep up with some of the current issues that may affect your college student – and you.

We invite you to read some of the articles suggested below – and to let us know what you think of some of the ideas included here.

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The more that college parents know and understand about the college experience, the less we worry and the better we will be able to help our students to succeed and thrive throughout their college career.  However, there is an overwhelming amount of information out there on the web.   We’d like to help you find some of the information that might be most interesting and useful to you as a college parent.

In News and Views we share recent college related news and sources we’ve found as we do our research.  We hope that this feature will help to introduce you to new ideas and to help you keep up with some of the current issues that may affect your college student – and you.

We invite you to read some of the articles suggested below – and to let us know what you think of some of the ideas included here.

[Read more →]

The more that college parents know and understand about the college experience, the less we worry and the better we will be able to help our students to succeed and thrive throughout their college career.  However, there is an overwhelming amount of information out there on the web.   We’d like to help you find some of the information that might be most interesting and useful to you as a college parent.

In News and Views we share recent college related news and sources we’ve found as we do our research.  We hope that this feature will help to introduce you to new ideas and to help you keep up with some of the current issues that may affect your college student – and you.

We invite you to read some of the articles suggested below – and to let us know what you think of some of the ideas included here.

[Read more →]

In our last post, we suggested that one question that your student should ask every semester is “Am I on track to graduate in four years?”  If your student is not definitively able to answer this question for himself, he should find someone who can help him find the information that he needs to be able to evaluate whether he is on track.  As a college parent, it is important that you encourage your student to ask the question and find the answer, but it is not your job to answer the question.  With your encouragement, or perhaps insistence, your student needs to take ownership of his college career.

Asking the question, “Am I on track . . .” at least once each semester will help your student know how he is progressing.  He’ll need to consider his progress in accomplishing required credits, completing all college requirements, completing requirements for his major, maintaining a satisfactory GPA, and completing any additional curricular or extracurricular college requirements.

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Hopefully, your college student has a good working relationship with her class professors. The relationship between a college student and her professors, in addition to the formal teaching done in the classroom, is often an important mentoring opportunity.   Of course, having a good relationship doesn’t necessarily mean that each professor will be on your student’s list of favorite people, but hopefully, she has at least found how to make each course work.

But what does your student do if things go wrong with his professor?  What if he has a serious problem that seems to be getting in the way of his success in a course?  What does he do then? Perhaps he picks up the phone and calls home.  This would be a good time to provide that important listening ear, and perhaps some sympathy, but it is definitely not the time to pick up the phone and call anyone at school.  This is an important time to help your student think through the situation, consider his alternatives, and create a plan of action.

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The more that college parents know and understand about the college experience, the less we worry and the better we will be able to help our students to succeed and thrive throughout their college career.  However, there is an overwhelming amount of information out there on the web.   We’d like to help you find some of the information that might be most interesting and useful to you as a college parent.

In News and Views we share recent college related news and sources we’ve found as we do our research.  We hope that this feature will help to introduce you to new ideas and to help you keep up with some of the current issues that may affect your college student – and you.

We invite you to read some of the articles suggested below – and to let us know what you think of some of the ideas included here.

[Read more →]

College is a time of learning – both in and outside of the classroom.  College students will make mistakes and most will learn from those mistakes.  Wise students and their parents recognize that mistakes are part of the learning curve, and they respect and tolerate those mistakes.  As college parents, however, we hope that our students will not make mistakes that will have a negative impact on their college career.

As a parent, you may want to anticipate and watch for these nine potential decisions and talk to your student about his choices.  Remember, however, that although you may alert your student to these pitfalls, he will ultimately need to make his own decisions – and live with the consequences – but that he will learn from experience.

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College Parent Central is pleased to introduce a new feature.  We continue to believe that the more that college parents know and understand about the college experience, the less we worry and the better we will be able to help our students to succeed and thrive throughout their college career.  We try to provide information and suggestions to help parents navigate the often mysterious and sometimes overwhelming role of college parent.

There is a lot of information out there on the web.   We’d like to help you find some of the information that might be most interesting and useful to you as a college parent.

We plan to do an occasional post gathering useful links to articles we think college parents might find helpful.  We’ll share news and sources we’ve found as we do our research.  We hope that it will help to introduce you to new ideas and to help you keep up with some of the current issues that may affect your college student – and you.

We invite you to read some of the articles suggested below – and to let us know if you find this new feature helpful.

[Read more →]

As you send your high school student off for her freshman year of college and you worry about how she will manage, it is almost impossible to imagine the college senior that you will have in four years.  It may help to remind yourself of the child who began high school four years earlier.  Could you have imagined then, what she would be like four years later as she graduated from high school?

Students mature during their college years, not only because times passes, but because they experience many different influences and demands.  We’ve discussed in many posts about the importance of helping your college student learn to advocate for himself and take responsibility for his actions and decisions.  It is not always an easy thing for us, as parents, to remember the important long-term goals over the immediate impulse to “fix” any problems.

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There is a lot of work that happens, for both you and your college student, as he transitions into college during the first year.  Both you and your student have a lot to learn about the school, and you need to work on new ways of relating to each other as well.  When your student is a senior, there is a lot of work that happens as your student gets ready for the transition out of college into the world of work or graduate school.  There may be work for you as well, if your student may be moving back home again.

Sometimes lost in all of the transitional work as students enter or prepare to leave college may be the sophomore and junior years when so much of the middlework of college happens. The major transition to college is over and the stress of senior year has not yet begun.  Although at times this period may seem somewhat awkward, these years represent half of your college student’s career, and they represent much of the foundation of your student’s education.  It is during these years that your student continues her exploration of herself, chooses or confirms a major, and begins to solidify her experiences.  As college parents, it is important that we remember that although these may sometimes feel like “quiet” years compared to the turmoil of beginnings and endings, important things are happening during this time.

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