We realize that sending your student to college is a time of tremendous transition for your family. All students go through an adjustment period and experience many ups and downs while living away from home. There are many resources here on campus available for your student to manage this transition successfully.
Here in Residence Life, our preference is to deal directly with the student. This enables us to establish a relationship with your student and helps to get to the crux of the issues more efficiently. We do welcome parent input and questions at any time. Our goal is to provide parents with the resources which they can pass on to their student to help them to help themselves.
It is important that students have support and encouragement from home while being allowed to mature through their own experiences. By all means be there for your student as a sounding board, but let him or her handle their own problems as much as possible. Your student's success is dependent upon his or her own ability to function independently.
You can expect us to:
1) Support your student by being available to them when they need help or information.
2) Offer educational and social events and leadership activities designed to enhance their academic and personal
development efforts... as well as to have fun!
3) Provide them opportunities to learn new interpersonal skills and apply problem-solving skills that will help them develop self-confidence, independence as well as the beneficial sense of interdependence that comes from being a part of a diverse community of fellow students.
4) Treat your student like an adult, capable of making responsible, informed decisions, asking questions and seeking help when needed.
5) Challenge your student to broaden their experience by learning about and from others and to demonstrate tolerance for differing points of view.
Within the parameters of our legal and philosophical responsibilities to student privacy and development, we hope to engage family members as partners in the on-campus experience. Please have conversations with your student before school begins so that there is a clear understanding about the level of communication that is anticipated. Depending on the issue there may be a need to have your student sign a waiver so that the University is in compliance with its legal responsibilities. We encourage you to contact us with any questions and look forward to working with you.