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College orientation programmes are emphasised more than ever to keep parents and children aware of many issues, writes Bonnie Miller Rubin
A generation ago, college orientation was a perfunctory affair, lasting little more than a day. The focus was on registering for classes and buying textbooks. If parents were needed at all, it was primarily for their wallets.
Now, universities are putting more emphasis on this annual ritual than ever before, hoping that time and energy expended during the summer will boost student success and avert problems during the school year.
At the University of Massachusetts Amherst, for example, orientation lasts two and half days and includes a separate programme for parents, increased from one day to two in 2006. DePaul University also has beefed up its sessions, with an overnight stay to help establish a sense of community right from the start. Two years ago, the University of Minnesota tacked on a ‘Welcome Week’ for freshmen on top of the traditional midsummer confab.
The expansion is needed, say administrators, to address a range of topics that didn’t exist or weren’t discussed much a decade ago: illegal downloads, sexting, plagiarism, credit card abuse — along with more concern about drinks, eating disorders and other mental health issues.
Rolling out the welcome mat also builds a relationship with mom and dad, who have been much more involved in their kids’ lives than previous generations.
“We recognise that the issues of transition are much greater than just academics,” said Jennifer Weed, DePaul’s associate director for new student programmes.
But all the front-end investment has a bottom-line payoff as well. Some schools lose as much as 40 per cent of incoming freshmen, said the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers. It’s more cost-effective to spend resources on retaining current students than on recruiting new ones.
“If you hurry through this, what happens when students have their first crisis? They quit ... they transfer,” said Dan Saracino, the University of Notre Dame’s recently retired admissions director. “To spend an extra day to improve the likelihood of staying is just good business.”
The University of Minnesota — with an enrolment of 51,000 — is seeing results. The retention rate for the class entering in fall 2005 was 86.2 per cent. After implementing Welcome Week in 2008, the number inched past 90 per cent — a first, according to admissions director Wayne Sigler, who attributes the uptick, in part, to the early hospitality.
Additionally, freshmen in the College of Biological Sciences are treated to their own three-day retreat about 220 miles north of the Twin Cities campus, where they get to hobnob not only with peers, but with faculty.
“This programme helps new students from day one get really excited about biology,” Sigler said. “It’s all about getting off to a great start academically and ... putting down roots.”
Alli Fischer, of Glen Ellyn, Illinois, didn’t know a soul at Minnesota but agreed that the outreach helped make a big school smaller. The Welcome Week ranged from serious subjects to “cheesy” ice-breaker games, such as introducing yourself using an adjective that starts with the same letter as your first name.
“To this day, when I see a guy on campus, I’ll say, ‘Hi, Crazy Chris.’ It’s like we have this little bond,” said Fischer, now a junior, who was so sold on the concept that she volunteered to be a leader the following summer.
Ever since the shootings at Virginia Tech and Northern Illinois Universities, personal safety has zoomed to the top of the list of parental concerns. Some 63 per cent of all schools now have psychiatrists on staff at least part time — a message every campus seems eager to deliver.
While young adults arrive on campus more well-travelled, they are less worldly, officials said. Since fewer share rooms anymore, more time is spent on conflict resolution. “This is something the university is focusing on much more than we would like,” said Weed, acknowledging DePaul’s proximity to clubs.
Also in a nod to the times, many institutions have fortified sessions on financial fitness (“You’d be surprised how many kids will sign up for a credit card just to get a free T-shirt,” one dean said) and file sharing — a practice that many students consider normal, but that the music business views as theft.
And the captive audience is a perfect opportunity for schools to build partnerships with parents, whether over life skills or curriculum (at Reed College in Portland, Oreland, elders can read The Odyssey” and then sample a freshman humanities course).
Given that baby boomers have been involved with their children’s education since pre-school, why pull back now?
Unlike earlier generations — who had more of a sink-or-swim approach — today’s parents are in frequent contact with their sons and daughters, according to the findings of a 2006 survey by College Parents of America. About 74 per cent of 900 respondents talk “at least two to three times a week, while 34 per cent communicate daily.”
Such engagement is why, in addition to bigger orientations, many institutions are providing links on their websites for mom and dad — who may be out $40,000 if their child flunks out.
“Today, schools are marketing as much to parents as to students — especially in a shaky economy,” said Katherine Cohen, CEO and founder of IvyWise, a college consulting company. “They know that it’s parents who are giving their hard-earned dollars ... and want to know what they are getting for their money.”
But others insist it’s less about consumerism than being proactive, said Barmak Nassirian, a spokesman for the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers.
“Schools aren’t keeping everyone longer for the hell of it,” he said. “It’s because there’s so much more ground to cover ... and you have to make a good-faith effort to give it to them before you hand over the key.”
MCT News Service
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