Category — Transition To College

You assume that by the time that your student graduates from high school he is ready to head to college and succeed.  For both students and their parents, a great deal of time, energy, anxiety, and often money is spent on the admissions process and getting in to just the right college. Less focus has been given to whether students are ready to succeed in college once they get there.

According to David Conley, founder and CEO of the Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) “High schools are designed to get students to graduate . . . They are not necessarily designed to enable students to succeed in college . . . The time has come to think past admission to academic success.” Certainly, high schools need to do their part, but can parents help?  What can parents do to help their students be ready for college?  How do parents know whether their student is ready for college?

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Your high school student has his sights set on college. You and your student are focused on finding just the right school, getting accepted, and figuring out how to make it all financially possible.  But are you assuming that your student is prepared to succeed in college once he gets there?  Getting into college only opens the door.  How will your student do once he gets to college?

College readiness is a complex characteristic and is not easily defined.  Simplistically, it refers to being prepared to succeed in college.  More intricately, however, readiness includes not only academic mastery of key content and academic behaviors, but also key cognitive strategies and skills.  In this post, we’ll look at some important things that you and your student can do to increase his academic readiness for college level work.  In our next post, we’ll look at some of the “softer” skills that will help your student be prepared.

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College is a time of transition.  There is much discussion about the student’s transition to freshman year and to college in general.  But in many ways, college is a time of continual transition.  Your student moves into college, into and out of dorms and apartments, into (and sometimes out of) majors, and move on up the ladder of college class rank.  For some students the transition includes moving on to different colleges or to alternative paths.  Finally, students begin the transition out of college and into career.

Recognizing that this is a time of continual transition and change will help you support and encourage your student as he navigates his way through college.  We’ve included here some information about some of the transitions your student – and you – may face.

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As you drop your student off for college, and then return to your empty nest, you may be thinking mostly about how much you’ll miss him.  You may be worrying about how quiet the house will seem without him.  You may or may not be worried about how well he will succeed at school, –  but you’re also thinking about the hole that remains in your family.

You’ll certainly miss your student.  And, although you may not believe it as you return to your empty (or at least emptier) house, you will get used to having your student away.  What you may or may not have thought about are some of the advantages of moving your college student out of the house and away at school.

We’d like to offer a slightly light-hearted reminder that there is an upside to sending your student away to college.

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As college students headed back to school this fall, Merriam Webster  announced that “helicopter parent” was now an entry in their dictionary. Helicopter Parents are an important topic.  Those same parents may now be dealing with the Empty Nest Syndrome.

I was privileged to be a guest this fall on Wisconsin Public Radio’s Joy Cardin show as together we explored the topics of helicopter parents and empty nests.  For those of us sending our students off to college, there’s lots of food for thought during this interview.

Listen to the Wisconsin Public Radio interview and then let us know your thoughts.  Have you just sent someone off to college?  Do you consider yourself a helicopter parent?  How are you coping with your empty nest?

College today is expensive.  There is no way around it.  Parents and students both are working to finance the cost of college tuition and fees, piecing together financial aid through scholarships, grants and loans.  Many students, and their parents, may be dismayed to think about the additional costs of outfitting the ideal college dorm room.

Your college student will need to make some purchases to furnish her dorm room.  Decorating that first “home away from home” is part of the college experience.  However, there are some ways in which your student can pare down the costs of the decorating process.  Here are a few suggestions to discuss with your student as you both prepare for Move-in Day.

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You have a new college student headed to school for the first time in late August or September.  You may be feeling relieved that the college search and application process is over, but also a bit anxious about what may lie ahead.  Your student is busily connecting with new friends on Facebook and saying goodbye to old friends at home.  In between, your student may be shopping for cool dorm room furnishings and possibly even reading an assigned summer book.

You may wonder what you should or could be doing this summer to stay involved, while letting your student take the lead for the college process.  Here is a short list to get you started.  Spend some time this summer getting familiar with your student’s school, and also having some important conversations with your student.  Let your student take the lead, but be armed with some information and ideas just in case you’re needed.

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This is the third of three posts about decisions new college students may face during the summer before freshman year. As a college parent, you can help your student consider some of these important issues.(Read the post about academic decisions here, and the post about student life decisions here.) This post looks at some financial decisions students may face.

Your student has been accepted to college and made the choice of which college to attend.  You’ve paid the deposit and your student is now happily, if somewhat nervously, connecting with new friends on Facebook as she prepares to head off to college at the end of the summer.  You may be feeling relief that the decisions are over and you can all settle in for the ride.

It may not be that easy.  The summer before freshman year of college is still a time of many decisions for both you and your soon-to-be college student.  Some of the decisions will be easy, some may have been discussed previously, and some may take you by surprise.

It is natural for both you and your student to feel somewhat overwhelmed by the number of things that you need to think about and prepare during this busy summer. But starting now, and making some decisions early, will help both you and your student feel more in control of this transition process. We hope that you and your student will think about some of these issues – and follow the links for further reading.

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This is the second of three posts about decisions new college students may face during the summer before freshman year.  As a college parent, you can help your student consider some of these important issues.(Read the post about academic decisions here.)  This post looks at some student life decisions students may face.  The final post will discuss student financial decisions.

Your student’s been accepted to college and made the choice of which college to attend.  You’ve paid the deposit and your student is now happily, if somewhat nervously, connecting with new friends on Facebook as she prepares to head off to college at the end of the summer.  You may be feeling relief that the decisions are over and you can all settle in for the ride.

It may not be that easy.  The summer before freshman year of college is still a time of many decisions for both you and your soon-to-be college student.  Some of the decisions will be easy, some may have been discussed previously, and some may take you by surprise.  Being prepared for making some of these decisions will help both you and your student anticipate some issues that might arise. 

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This is the first of three posts about decisions new college students may face during the summer before freshman year.  As a college parent, you can help your student consider some of these important issues.  This post looks at some academic decisions students may face.  The next two posts will discuss student life decisions and financial decisions.

Your student has been accepted to college and made the choice of which college to attend.  You’ve paid the deposit and your student is now happily, if somewhat nervously, connecting with new friends on Facebook as she prepares to head off to college at the end of the summer.  You may be feeling relief that the decisions are over and you can all settle in for the ride.

It may not be that easy.  The summer before freshman year of college is still a time of many decisions for both you and your soon-to-be college student.  Some of the decisions will be easy, some may have been discussed previously, and some may take you by surprise.  Being prepared for making some of these decisions will help both you and your student anticipate some of the issues that might arise.

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