So You’re a New College Parent . . .

Congratulations!  You’ve survived the college admissions process and the acceptance letters have begun to arrive.  You are excited for your student, but you may be beginning to be a bit nervous.  Now that your son or daughter is almost a college student, you’re almost a college parent!  You may have been involved in helping your student through the admissions process — but now you wonder what you should be doing and exactly what your new role will be.

If you’re a new college parent, and you’re here at College Parent Central, you’ve found the right place to get started.  Parents of college students are often told to ”let go”, but we believe it’s all about knowing how your role changes and finding the ways that you can be productively involved to help your student throughout his college career.

Read more


What is College Block Scheduling?

Each college creates a course schedule to serve its needs.  Whatever the individual college’s schedule looks like, your student’s college schedule will certainly look very different from his high school schedule.  Students spend much less time in class in college and are expected to spend much more time outside of class reading and preparing.  The general rule of thumb is for students to spend two hours outside of class for each hour spent in class.  Students often spend 2 – 4 hours per week, per course, in class.

Most colleges and universities have a mix of class meeting times.  Some classes might meet for shorter periods of time three times per week, others might meet twice per week, and still others might meet for a longer period once per week.  Students often mix and match a combination of classes.

There is, however, one radically different approach used by approximately a dozen or so colleges in the United States called ”Block Scheduling” or ”One Course At A Time (OCAAT) Scheduling.”  It is a unique approach.

Read more


What Does College “Open Admission” Mean?

College admission is a major concern for many high school students and their parents.  The entire admission process may feel overwhelming, time consuming, and expensive.  As part of the exploration process, you may come across schools that list their admission policy as ”Open Admission,” ”Open Enrollment,” or ”Inclusive Admission.”  What exactly does this mean?

Open Admission generally means that the admission process is unselective and non-competitive; the only criteria for admission is that the student have a high school diploma or GED certificate.  Most colleges with Open Admission are community colleges or colleges which grant Associate degrees.  There are a few, but not many, four year colleges with this type of admission policy.

Open Enrollment or Open Admission policies were instituted during the 1960’s and 1970’s to reduce barriers to higher education for some groups of students, including those from lower income or underprivileged backgrounds.  The policy of increasing accessibility was intended to provide a college education to all who desire it.  It allows students with a wide range of potential to attend college.

Read more


What’s In a Name? The Value of Name-calling

We all grew up being taught that name-calling is bad.  We probably taught our children the same thing.  We’re not suggesting that we change our basic principles.  Name-calling, labeling, is almost always based on a generalization and stereotype and we need to value and respect people as individuals — and so should our children.

However, some of the labels that are sometimes given to groups of people often have a grain of truth in them.  While we don’t necessarily want to totally accept and believe them, or perpetuate them, holding the mirror up and questioning whether there is truth in them may be helpful.

Consider some of the labels below that have been given to us as parents, and to our generation of children — the current college student generation.  While we admit that some are extreme, the label comes from somewhere.  Understanding the label and confronting it may be the first step toward addressing an issue — and defining a new identity for us and for our students.

Read more


Log In

or

Log In to Favorite articles and Post listings

Enter College Name to See Local Results

Log In

Contact Us

Forgot your password?

Your new password has been sent to your email!

Logout Successful!

Find Your School

You just missed it! This listing has been filled.

Post your own housing listing on Uloop and have students reach out to you!

Upload An Image

Please select an image to upload
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
OR
Provide URL where image can be downloaded
Note: must be in .png, .gif or .jpg format
Please enter First Name Please enter Last Name Please enter Phone
Please enter Email
Please enter Message

By clicking this button,
you agree to the terms of use

Please enter Email

By clicking "Create Alert" I agree to the Uloop Terms of Use.

Image not available.

Success, your registration has been submitted

An email has been sent to you with a link to verify your registration
Image not available.
By clicking Get Started or Sign In you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service