This is the first of three articles about college students asking for help. In this article we’ll consider why students sometimes have difficulty asking for help, in Part 2 we’ll look at who students might turn to for help and in Part 3 we’ll consider how students can most effectively seek help.
Many high school students planning to go to college spend a lot of their time reviewing vocabulary words for their SAT College Board exam. They learn big words, important words, roots of words, and definitions. But if your college student is going to succeed in college, there may be one important word that they need that never shows up on an entrance exam. It may be the most important word that your student can use in college. What is that word? ”Help.”
As a parent, helping your child understand early in their educational career that asking for help is important may be one of the best lessons that you can teach. This lesson might start in elementary school — or even at home earlier than that. As a college parent, it is important that you reinforce that message. As one college professor has stated, ”Asking for help is the new smart!“ Help your college student understand the importance and necessity of asking for help and practice the art of self-advocacy.
