By Daniel Sullivan, Ed.D.Director, First Year and Transitional ProgramsNova Southeastern UniversityFt. Lauderdale, Fla.
Newswise — With the current economic challenges facing parents of college-bound students, many families are looking to local colleges to avoid the additional expense of housing and meal plans. There are several things parents can do to ensure their live-at-home student gets the full college experience.
Encourage Your Student To:
1. View college as a “full time job.” If student commit to spending eight hours a day, five days a week in pursuit of their academic goal, they will have a more rewarding and memorable experience. Limit other employment to 20-25 hours per week. Working on campus is a great option.
2. Spread out their class schedule. Build breaks into their schedule between classes so that they have time on campus to complete homework, meet with study groups and make friends.
3. Get Involved. Students who invest the time into campus life through clubs, organizations, and other activities report that the experiences they gain are often as rewarding as their academic coursework.
4. Join a minimum of two clubs or organizations. Your academic transcript is not enough in these tough economic times. I encourage students to join a pre-professional organization and a “fun club” related to their personal interests.
5. Grow UP! Often students who remain at home view college as grade 13. Instead, this is a time for students to practice life skills as adults in their decision-making and time management. Let your student solve their problems -- if they were 250 miles away at another college, they would need to figure out what to do when they have a problem, get sick, or need to navigate the university administrative bureaucracy.
Don’t be a helicopter parent that swoops in at the first sign of trouble to fix a problem for your student. Yes, you have invested 18 years in their growth and development, but now is the time to see how well you have prepared your student to deal with life.
Have adult conversations with your student. It may be difficult to view your baby as an adult, but now is the time! Ask questions about their goals (grade point average, major, minors, involvement, service to the community). Discuss your expectations regarding when they are expected to be home and how to communicate any changes of plans at the last minute.
Remember, your ultimate goals for your children are for them to be happy, successful and independent, but most of all employed - so they can move out of the house and support you in your old age!
About the author: Daniel Sullivan, Ed.D., is the director of First Year and Transitional Programs at Nova Southeastern Universityin Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. He is also the father of two daughters in college.
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