Kids And Moms And Dads Love Orientation For University Distance Learning Degree Programs
Student orientations are a part of the process of welcoming freshmen students to college. Through orientations on campus and through online college and university programs, students get to know about support systems, organizations and activities. Many of the orientation resources for students these days can even be viewed on YouTube.
It’s back to college for parents, as well. Many adults are returning to school as a means of keeping their jobs, as well as training for new occupations, reports show. Adult enrollments are part of the reason colleges and universities are experiencing record numbers of students.
Still other parents are spending time on college and university campuses as well. In some instances, they’re sleeping in dorms and eating in dining halls, as well as meeting with professors, a Fox News report noted. These parents are participating in parent orientations that a number of institutions throughout the country provide.
College and university orientations in some instances take place over the course of two to three days. At Northeastern University in Boston, Mass., a representative recently provided the Boston Globe with insight into the popularity of its orientation program. The parents of some 85 to 90 percent of Northeastern University students participate in these orientations, according to the Boston Globe.
Parents might have to pay fees for orientations, but they might also find that the experience, which includes seminars, is more worthwhile than they first realized. One particular seminar that’s been receiving recognition focuses on helping parents “let go” of their children. This might be particularly difficult in instances where the first-born leaves for college or the youngest leaves the nest. Parents in the latter situation might experience what’s known as “empty nest syndrome.”
Parents might have concerns about issues such as safety and alcohol use on campus – areas that, along with time management – many student orientations cover. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in August published an article that provided tips for parents who want to stay involved. Matthew Winston, assistant to the president at the University of Georgia, through this publication provided advice for students as well.
Technology offerings might also help ease the pain for parents who have a hard time distancing themselves from college-going sons and daughters. Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., and Cornell University’s Ithaca, NY, campus are among the institutions that feature live campus web cams that allow for seeing what’s happening on campus in real-time via the Internet. Communication programs, such as Skype, allow for video and voice calls, file transfers and more. Parents can also keep up, and in touch, with college and university students via social networking sites, such as Facebook.
Parent program orientations might help ease the pain for parents with college and university students on campuses far from where they reside. Technological offerings such as Skype and Facebook might help bridge the distance. There is a balance that students and parents might want to reach, however, in that students should to some extent be independent, an author quoted in an article in the Chicago Tribune suggested. Campus visits will also benefit course online program students. As for the parents? They may surprise their kids and themselves by taking advantage of scholarships for adults going back to school options to advance their own education!
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