For the Parents - Office of Student Services (Undergraduate/ITC)

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For the Parents - Office of Student Services (Undergraduate/ITC)

How you can help your college student succeed

The relationship between parent and child changes considerably when your student begins college. It is a time of transition that presents a challenge to many parents who are accustomed to making decisions and coming to the rescue when your children encounter difficulty. It's a natural response, but the circumstances now call for a shift in how you help your college student.

The federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) or the Buckley Amendment of 1974, limits the information any university can provide a third party. We cannot provide you information on grades, student health, or finances — which may seem odd if you're paying the bills. Our direct contact will always be with students — so maintaining open communication with your child and asking questions is important if you want to stay in loop.

In the Mary Lou Fulton College of Education, we want to partner with parents to help our students succeed. There are many appropriate ways you can stay involved and provide the guidance they need to stay on track to graduate and develop as productive adults. We share the same goals - ensuring that our students meet with success!

Tips for parents

Be a coach not a rescuer. Encourage self-reliance and consider carefully before doing things for students that they can and should do for themselves. For example: they ought to register for their own classes—students must become responsible for their academic success - you will not help them do so if you take this on.
Encourage them to use academic resources. College work is far more difficult than high school and students often need a little extra help in learning the ropes. Encourage your student to meet with an advisor regularly, use the Learning Resource Center, talk to their professors during office hours, participate in co-curricular activities that the College coordinates i.e. Open Door Seminars.
Show support through listening. They will hit some bumps in the road as they acclimate to the university setting and may call you to ask for advice. Resist the temptation to solve their problems for them and encourage them to develop problem-solving skills to overcome issues or concerns i.e. disagreements with roommates or asking for clarification on assignments they don't understand. Faculty will only deal with students, so please do not contact professors directly to help your student resolve a problem.
Know that the development of identity, autonomy, and healthy relationships is as much a part of college as academic coursework. ASU and COE have developed co-curricular programming to augment classroom learning. Encourage your students to get involved in activities and explore opportunities — it helps them develop interpersonal communication and leadership skills that will serve them well throughout their lives. Involvement also helps overcome homesickness!
Communicate often. Students' lives become extremely busy so while they might not contact you as often as you'd like, you can stay in touch by sending email, care packages, and cards. They love hearing from home and as you know, communication strengthens your relationship. Especially when you want to know how they are doing academically!

When things don't go as planned

Sometimes, despite our best intentions, circumstances occur that get in the way of success. Students can feel overwhelmed by life circumstances or simply not put forth their best effort. It's often difficult for students to own up to earning poor grades and their parents can be the last to know. How can you help a student who has dug herself into a hole?

The situation may not be as bad as it seems, even if a student is on probation or has been disqualified. Encourage your student to seek help — from an advisor, a counselor, or a professor. If they use appropriate resources and use them diligently, students may be able to recover from a bad semester.

It is students' responsibility to find out how they are doing in their classes. They ought to ask instructors if they are passing and if there is anything they can do to improve their grades. Midterm grades and early warnings are given by most faculty (Note: Faculty are not required to utilize the Early Warning System but are highly encouraged to provide students with feedback).

Unfortunately, some students are tempted to take the “easy” route by downloading papers off the internet or “borrowing“ a classmate's work. Engaging in academic dishonesty is a choice that has serious consequences. As a result, students may fail a course or be suspended or removed from the College of Education. Actively encourage your student to avoid cheating — it's not worth the cost. A better option would be speak to instructors before a paper is due if there is a problem with completing an assignment on time.

OSS administration

Gia Garcia Taylor, Assistant Dean

Irma Arboleda, Manager, Academic Services

Erica Mitchell, Assistant Director, ITC Admissions

For assistance with difficult issues, please encourage your student to contact the Office of Student Services at 480.965.5555.

OFFICE OF STUDENT SERVICES (UNDERGRADUATE/ITC)

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