Getting to Know Your Emerging Adult College Student

January 1, 2022February 9, 2012 by Vicki Nelson

Kids today. Sometimes we love them. Sometimes we hate them. Most of the time we feel we don’t understand them. If you are the parent of a college student, you may wonder at times whether this person is still an adolescent or whether he is an adult. Your opinion may change from day to day or even hour to hour. You are not alone. Your student is likely entering, or solidly settled into, a phase of life now labeled Emerging Adulthood. The more you understand about this newly identified stage of life, the more you may feel that you begin to understand your college-age and post-college student.

Emerging Adulthood, as a distinct developmental phase, is most widely known through the work of psychologist Jeffrey Jensen Arnett. Arnett’s book, Emerging Adulthood: The Winding Road from the Late Teens through the Twenties, was first published in 2004 and has received much attention. We recommend it to college parents. According to Dr. Arnett, ”kids” today aren’t the ”kids” that we were. Parents need to work to understand how different today’s students are.

According to Dr. Arnett, Emerging Adulthood begins at about the age of 18 and often continues until the age of 25 or 27. This is much later than many of us might think. So as your student begins college, she may also be entering this developmental phase. As she graduates from college (and perhaps boomerangs back home) she is in the midst of this stage. She may remain in this stage for several more years. It is not simply an extended adolescence, but a distinct time of less parental control and more independent exploration.

Consider the following five characteristics of this age and think about your student. You may be surprised at how accurate the description is.

College Parents’ Role in the Job or Internship Hunt

March 14, 2019February 6, 2012 by Vicki Nelson

In these difficult economic times, most college parents are anxious about their students finding an appropriate internship or first job. As parents, we want to do all that we can to help support our student through the search process. Often, there may be a fine line between providing support and guidance and stepping too far across that line to inappropriate involvement.

Parents today are increasingly involved in all aspects of their children’s lives from birth through adulthood. As a generation, we are earning the title of ”helicopter parent” and schools, colleges and employers are all recognizing that our involvement has great influence on our children and young adults. CERI, the Collegiate Employment Research Institute sponsored by Michigan State University recently surveyed 725 employers regarding parental involvement with job applicants and employees. Their findings hold up a mirror to us as parents of college students and recent graduates. Unfortunately, the majority of employers see parents as a negative ”interference.”

Approximately 23% of employers see parents involved in the job search sometimes or very often. When involved, parental involvement breaks down in the following ways:

Moving In, Moving On, and Moving Out: Your College Student in Transition

November 17, 2011 by Vicki Nelson

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.

Encourage Your College Student to Join a Professional Association

May 12, 2020July 7, 2011 by Vicki Nelson

As you send your student off to college, or as your student is settling into the college routine in their first year or two, it is difficult to imagine that joining a professional organization or two could possibly matter. You and your college student may still be adjusting to college life and that professional career may seem a long way off.

It feels as though joining a professional association or organization related to your student’s chosen career may seem something that should be considered during your student’s senior year or as they are about to begin their professional career. However, there are many benefits of joining professional associations early. Although both you and your student may initially feel that adding the cost of membership to the already expensive college years may not be worth it, consider some of the following reasons why membership may be a good idea. Then, talk to your student about their goals, interests, and opportunities.

25 Gift Ideas for Your College Graduate

December 17, 2021April 18, 2011 by Vicki Nelson

Your college student is graduating. Congratulations! It’s possible that your student will move on to graduate school, or he may be beginning his career. Whichever direction he takes, he is now at a milestone and you want to mark the moment with an appropriate graduation gift. Your graduation gift may be large or small, practical or sentimental, but it may be time for some ”real life” tools.

Here are some suggestions to help you begin thinking about what you’d like to do for your graduate. Use these possibilities to start your own imagination working about what your graduate might like or need.

Eight Factors That Can Help Your Student Land a Job and Build a Career

June 1, 2023March 24, 2011 by Vicki Nelson

Students attend college for many reasons; and students gain many things from their college education. One of the primary goals for most students, however, is to find a job after graduation and to begin to build a career. Students today are graduating at one of the most difficult times in recent history for finding that beginning job. Some students will find themselves better prepared than others for the road to their ideal career.

We’d like to suggest eight factors that can help your student take charge and survive the difficult early career building stages. As your student nears graduation, or perhaps well before that, you might share some of these ideas with them. Help them begin to think about their attitude and approach and begin to see the proactive steps that they can take to move toward their ultimate goal.

Is Your College Student Preparing for the World of Work?

March 14, 2019February 25, 2011 by Vicki Nelson

For many students, college life is a wonderful time living an ideal existence. It is, in some ways, an escape from the real world. In spite of the stress that many students experience over various issues, real financial worries, occasional social drama, and worries about career decisions once they graduate, college life has some benefits. For many students, meals are prepared for them in a dining hall, someone cleans up after them in residence halls, someone else is responsible for shoveling, raking and mowing, their commute may consist of walking across the quad, friends live just down the hall and are available 24/7, and much entertainment is free on campus. College life for some students is an idyllic bubble that lasts for a few years.

However, most college students do graduate, and then they face the reality of the world of work. Is there anything in that idyllic life of college that prepares them for the expectations that will exist once they graduate? For students who give some thought to a work ethic and to their college experiences, there are many lessons they can take away. As a college parent, you may be able to help your student equate some of his college experiences to his future work life. Students who recognize these college experiences as preparation and practice for later work expectations will not only experience more success in college, but will be better prepared later.

Reading List: When Your College Student Graduates

December 17, 2021January 20, 2011 by Vicki Nelson

Congratulations! Your college student is about to graduate, or perhaps has graduated from college. He is ready to take on the world! But, as we all know, that doesn’t mean that your job is done. You’ve done your work as a college parent, but now a different, and in some ways even more delicate form of parenting begins. Your student may have a job and be out on his own. He may have moved on to graduate school. He may be returning to your nest for a while. Current research and theory suggest that students who graduate from college are part of that group now being identified as ”emerging adults” — certainly not children or adolescents, but yet not quite adults yet. As a parent of an emerging adult, you now have a new role.

This post includes a list of nine books which may be of interest to parents of college graduates. The list is not exhaustive, there are certainly even more resources available, but this list should give parents a good start on material to support them through this interesting time. All of the books have different styles and approaches, so it is important to find the books which resonate for you.

What Do Employers Want From Your College Student? A Liberal Education

March 18, 2017December 30, 2010 by Vicki Nelson

There are many opinions proposed, many surveys taken, much research done regarding what employers want and expect from college graduates. The answers may vary over the years, and may vary depending on profession or field of study. Some skills may be very specific and others more broad.

College students often do not consider the actual skills that employers want. Students may be thinking in terms of all-college requirements, requirements in their major, and possibly a minor, and what they need to do to graduate. They often miss the connections between what they are doing in college and what they will need to do once they graduate — especially regarding those courses outside of their major.

As a college parent, you may want to talk with your student about what he is learning. Ask him about the skills he is gaining in his classes. Ask him about internships and real world application of his learning. Help him explore connections between his learning and his goals. Help him explore the meaning of a Liberal Education. The more that your student, and you, understand and consider the meaning of his college education, the more easily he will be able to apply his learning to his life.