December 2011 – College Parent Central

Eight New Year’s Connections for College Parents

March 25, 2017December 29, 2011 by Vicki Nelson

This is the second of two posts with thoughts about the New Year for you and your college student. Our previous post offered some suggestions for you to share with your student. This post offers something for parents.

This is the time of year for reflection, and it is often a hopeful time of year. The start of a new calendar year is often a doubly new start of college students (and their parents) as they think about a new semester.

Each year at this time we offer some thoughts and suggestions for New Year’s Resolutions for parents and their college or high school students. Check out our posts from previous years for some resolutions that may be valuable this year.

New Year’s Resolutions for College Parents — and Their College Students

New Year’s Rsolutions for High School Parents — and Their College Bound Students

New Year’s Resolutions for You and Your High School or College Student

We’d like to offer a slightly different way of thinking about your resolutions this year. We suggest just one resolution for parents this year — with eight different ways to carry it out.

Ten New Year’s Connections for Your College Student

March 17, 2017December 26, 2011 by Vicki Nelson

In our next two posts, we have some thoughts about New Year’s Resolutions for college parents and for college students. This post offers something for college parents to share with their college students. Our next post offers some resolution thinking for college parents.

This is the time of year for reflection. It is often a hopeful time of year. As the calendar year ends, many of us spend some time thinking about the past year and making some plans and resolutions for the new year. The start of a new calendar year is often also a doubly new start for college students who will start a new semester. This is an excellent time for parents and students together to think about how to make this next semester, and next year, even better than the past one.

What to Do If Your Student Receives a Deferral Admission Letter

June 22, 2022December 19, 2011 by Vicki Nelson

Students who apply to college for Early Action or Early Decision often find the early part of December an understandably stressful time. They hope to learn about their admission status before the holidays and be able to relax for the second half of their senior year. Students who applied for Early Decision know that their decision will be a binding one. Early Action students will have until May to make a final choice.

Although your Early Action or Early Decision applicant obviously hopes for a positive response from their chosen college, if they receive a denial they will know that they need to move on to other choices for the spring regular admissions pool. However, if your student receives a letter of deferred admission, they enter a state of limbo — their answer is not clear cut and is neither an acceptance nor a rejection. It is an uncomfortable place to be.

Book Review: Don’t Tell Me What to Do, Just Send Money

December 17, 2021December 15, 2011 by Vicki Nelson

From time to time, we like to review some of the books available for parents of college students. There is a wealth of literature available to help parents cope with the transition to college and the changes that occur throughout the college years. We’ve created lists of recommended reading, and there is something for everyone. Please check out our Resources and Tools page for suggestions.

Don’t Tell Me What to Do, Just Send Money
by Helen E. Johnson and Christine Schelhas-Miller lives up to its subtitle: The Essential Parenting Guide to the College Years. This book offers wonderful, helpful advice in an easy to read and entertaining fashion. The opening chapter, From Supervisor to Consultant, lays the foundation for the understanding that the parental role during the college years is a shift from what has come before. We especially like the emphasis and background on important communication skills that will help parents make the shift.

When Graduation Means a Move Back Home

September 22, 2018December 12, 2011 by Vicki Nelson

They’ve been called many things — the Millenial Generation, Generation Y, Echo Boomers, Digital Natives, Generation Next, Generation Me. Now they are earning the title of the Boomerang Generation. If you have a recent college graduate, or a college student due to graduate in the next few years, chances are that you should be getting that bedroom ready to welcome your student home again.

It may be reassuring to some parents with students moving back home, and to those students as well, to know that they are not alone. According to a survey conducted by the consulting firm Twentysomething, Inc., 85% of 2011 college graduates will be moving back home, at least for a while. The U.S. Census Bureau’s 2011 survey America’s Families and Living Arrangements, found that between 2005 and 2011 the percentage of individuals between 18 and 34 living at home has increased for all groups. In the age group 25-34, the percentage of males living at home has increased from 14% to 19%. The percentage of females in the same age group living at home has gone from 8% to 10%. In the 18-24 age bracket the percentage of males at home has gone from 53% to 59% and females from 46% to 50% (this includes students living in college dorms during the school year).

Soft Skills, Strong Success: Fifteen Skills for College Readiness

June 22, 2022December 8, 2011 by Vicki Nelson

You assume that by the time that your student graduates from high school he is ready to head to college and succeed. For both students and their parents, a great deal of time, energy, anxiety, and often money is spent on the admissions process and getting in to just the right college. Less focus has been given to whether students are ready to succeed in college once they get there.

According to David Conley, founder and CEO of the Educational Policy Improvement Center (EPIC) ”High schools are designed to get students to graduate . . . They are not necessarily designed to enable students to succeed in college . . . The time has come to think past admission to academic success.” Certainly, high schools need to do their part, but can parents help? What can parents do to help their students be ready for college? How do parents know whether their student is ready for college?

Ten Things You Can Do to Increase Your High School Student’s Academic College Readiness

June 22, 2022December 5, 2011 by Vicki Nelson

Your high school student has their sights set on college. You and your student are focused on finding just the right school, getting accepted, and figuring out how to make it all financially possible. But are you assuming that your student is prepared to succeed in college once they get there? Getting into college only opens the door. How will your student do once they get to college?

College readiness is a complex characteristic and is not easily defined. Simplistically, it refers to being prepared to succeed in college. More intricately, however, readiness includes not only academic mastery of key content and academic behaviors, but also key cognitive strategies and skills. There are some important things that you and your student can do to increase academic readiness for college level work. In our next article, we’ll look at some of the ”softer” skills that will help your student be prepared.

Semester’s End and Winter Break: 18 Helpful Posts for December

November 26, 2022December 1, 2011 by Vicki Nelson

Post-Thanksgiving break and the beginning of December always mark the home stretch for the fall semester for college students. Not only is the semester coming to a close, but the holiday season is upon us and students may lose some focus. This is a time of festivities, but the season is often overshadowed by the stress of the end-of-semester responsibilities. The more that parents can understand the rhythm of the academic year, the more we can help students as they navigate their way.

As the end of the semester approaches and the holiday season is in full force, students are busy — and probably feeling overwhelmed. There’s lots to do to get through these last few days or weeks before they can relax.

Here are a few posts that may be especially helpful to you, and to your student, as you wrap up this semester — and begin to look ahead to the next semester.

Read more

Eight New Year’s Connections for College Parents

Ten New Year’s Connections for Your College Student

What to Do If Your Student Receives a Deferral Admission Letter

Book Review: Don’t Tell Me What to Do, Just Send Money

When Graduation Means a Move Back Home

Soft Skills, Strong Success: Fifteen Skills for College Readiness

Ten Things You Can Do to Increase Your High School Student’s Academic College Readiness

Semester’s End and Winter Break: 18 Helpful Posts for December

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