College Parent News and Views

November 1, 2018October 31, 2018 by Vicki Nelson

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.

When Your College Student’s Class Isn’t Going Well

September 10, 2019October 8, 2018 by Vicki Nelson

There are many reasons why your student may struggle in a class. It may be something that your student is, or isn’t doing. It may be the professor and/or teaching style. It may be the subject matter. It may be the transition to college, or to sophomore year, or to upper level classes.

But ultimately, it doesn’t matter what the reason is. If your student is struggling, or doing poorly in a class, you worry. You want to help. Perhaps they should come home more often so you can check progress and their academic planner. Perhaps you should call them every evening to make sure they are doing homework. Perhaps you should speak to the professor. Perhaps you should buy a duplicate set of textbooks so you can consult on the assignments to make sure they understand the material. (True story, it has happened!) Perhaps you should just pull them out of school.

Wait! It’s time to take a breath.

None of these options is the answer. You’ll still worry. There’s really no way to get around that, but your student needs to find their own solutions. This doesn’t mean that you can’t consult and help your student think through the options. That’s part of your coaching role. So here are some options to discuss with your student.