Welcome to College Parent Central!

Being the parent of a college student isn’t easy.  Whether your child is just beginning the college admission process or is already in college, you may be in for a wild ride.  There are wonderful moments, there are trying times, there are unexpected twists and turns, and there can be great rewards.

But sometimes, you may feel overwhelmed — or just need a little reassurance.

This site is designed to give you information, and food for thought, about college and about parenting a college student. If you have a son or daughter currently attending college, or getting ready to go to college soon, we hope that you will find College Parent Central helpful.

Four basic principles drive all that we do here at College Parent Central:

• We believe that parents are partners in their child’s education from pre-school through college.
• We believe that our parental role changes as our child grows, but never ends.
• We believe that parents have a place in their child’s college experience.
• We believe that if parents understand their role in the college experience they will be able to support their student toward success and independence.

Our role as parent changes as we travel the journey from pre-school through college. The more we understand about what our child might need to succeed in college, the better able we’ll be to prepare them and the more comfortable we will be with allowing our student to navigate their own path.

Here at College Parent Central, we believe that information is empowering.

We’re glad that you’ve come to College Parent Central.  We hope that you will find here a place which will validate your role in your child’s college experience.  We hope that you will find information, support, and a celebration of the amazing experience of having a child in college.  It can be an incredible journey for your child — and for you.

We hope you’ll bookmark this site and return often — whenever you need us.

Want to know more about who’s behind College Parent Central?  Read a message from the founder here.

A note about language:

We recognize that the look and dynamics of today’s families are ever changing.  Many students continue to be supported primarily by their parents, while others are supported by an array of parents, guardians, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, and friends.  Yes, it takes a village . . .

Unfortunately, sometimes our attempts to use inclusive language become complicated and more complex than we’d like.  We have chosen, for the sake of simplicity, to use the term “parent” to represent all who serve in the role of supporting college students.  We hope that you will understand, and that you will feel included – whatever your role or title.

We have, in the past, chosen to alternately use “he/him/his” and “she/her/hers” within our articles.  We recognize that this language may be limiting to some, so we have begun to use the more gender-neutral “they/them/their.”    We are slowly working at updating all of our articles to reflect this change.  As you read, please insert whatever pronoun feels right for you.