Many of us receive that teary phone call from a son or daughter asking to come home. That strong and sassy child who wouldn’t even look back when you pulled away from their campus on opening day is ready to throw in the towel because things just don’t feel right to them. They tell you […]
Most students will take a course or two in college that really kicks their butts. I don’t mean they fail the course, though that may happen as well. I’m referring to cases when they end up with a grade that really disappoints them or when they withdraw from the course before they fail. Colleges offer
Repeating Courses: When to Get Back on That Horse Read More »
A few years ago, one of my students came to my office concerned about her performance in Calculus I. This student had been anxious during our Summer Bridge program, so much so that her mother told me the student’s family had been trying to leave the program for hours, but the student wasn’t having it.
Talking To College Faculty Members Read More »
You’re been supporting your student through thick and thin of the semester, then something happens. This something could be an injury,perhaps a crisis in the family, or some other event that takes your student completely away from college. Or, it doesn’t take them away physically, but it severely distracts them from their coursework. This is
Taking an Incomplete Read More »
Managing their time is one of the hardest things for new students to do. As much as they worked hard in high school (or think they did,) so much of their time was structured by other people. For example, their parents insisted on study time in the evenings, their coaches pushed student athletes to study
Taking Control of Their Time as College Students Read More »
Every college or university offers a wide variety of services for students. And a significant number of people who work in higher education are there for a single purpose: to help your student succeed. Yet too often, those people are in their offices ready to assist students with no one waiting to see them. This
Using Their Lifelines: Getting Students to Use Campus Services Read More »
By now, your student may have registered for classes for the following term. And I’m sure you may have been asking questions of them like: Have you started your major yet? When will you finish all your general requirements? Are you taking courses in any other area besides your major? These are only a few
Checking on Degree Progress Read More »
When I worked at a university in New Jersey we tried to improve our student service experience by developing what we called “decision trees,” essentially a software program that would allow us to ask students a short series of questions so we could refer them to services easily and quickly. We developed these decision trees
What Academic Advising Is Supposed To Mean Read More »
Ah, fall. The time when colleges and universities invite the parents and family members of their students back to campus for the first time since orientation. What’s a family to do when they receive that invitation? Do you head back to campus, or decide that it just isn’t worth the time? The answer is, it depends.
Parent and Family Weekend: Do You Go? Read More »
We all know about contracts, right? We sign them for car loans, insurance policies, applying for a credit card or getting reimbursed by our employers. And some contracts go into force even without a signature, such as when you download software (do you really read all those terms and conditions?) For the next four years,