By Sanette Tanaka
Freshman orientation teaches college students—and their parents—what to expect in the fall. But counting fees, travel and hotel rooms, these programs can come with a hefty price tag.Diana Attner of Melville, N.Y., says her husband and son spent $700 attending Juniata College’s two-day orientation program in Pennsylvania last year. “Seven-hundred dollars is pretty costly and not something I ever actually considered when they went,” she says.
Although many schools do not providing housing for families, some will put up parents in dorm rooms for a fee.
“We saved $50 and got to re-experience some of our college life,” says John Woerth of Glen Mills, Pa., who attended Loyola University Maryland’s two-day orientation with his wife and daughter.
FULL ARTICLE.
Um...maybe they should send Junior *THE ADULT* off to orientation alone?
ReplyDeleteIf they did that, they wouldn't be helicopter parents.
DeleteMy mom was so pissed at me (and crying) that I was hanging around with new people I had just met at orientation rather than her. She still brings it up as one of the things I did to deeply wound her. :(
DeleteAs Personal Journal reported on Wednesday, the orientation costs include programming directed specifically at parents—with sessions in which they’re told to stop hovering over their kids and let go.
ReplyDeleteUm, the best way to do that is not provide orientation for parents. Just tell them that (a) Junior will do fine in college and (b) FERPA does not allow us to discuss your snowflake with you.
Coming from the other side of that this year... the primary purpose of our trip is (a) to move all the kid's crap there and (b) to allow my S.O. the chance to see the school, which s/he hasn't yet visited.
If they're really unsure of whether Junior should be there without them, they should have decided this before Orientation.
ReplyDeleteOrientation for Parents should be mailed or emailed in advance on a DVD they can watch; No need for them to linger after dropping Junior off, unless they want to tour the campus and its surroundings while Junior is in Orientation.
My undergrad did something interesting - they oriented the parents during the campus tour. We prospective students got to sit through some presentations on student things. I think one was alcohol awareness? Parents got separated out and the admissions director told them to ease up, we'd be fine, and to not let us come home for at least the first month so we'd get the idea that we were now adults who shouldn't rely on mommy and daddy.
ReplyDeleteI like that admissions director. Didn't hurt that I had to deal with him on many occasions (he also doubled as head of veteran's affairs, so my GI Bill questions went to him). My mother also likes him, in part because he stressed letting us go forth and fuck up on our own during parent orientation.
A problem is that many schools are viewing parents as significant keys in the effort to boost retention & completion, combined with an interpretation of FERPA that does NOT preclude parents from being (actively) clued-in on what/how Junior is doing. In fact, the latter is viewed as a way to positively(!) impact the former...
ReplyDelete