What about the Parents

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What about the Parents?

• Doug Doser, Scott Thorpe, John CoughlinArizona
  State University
• Concurrent Session/646
• 2005 NACADA

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What About the Parents?
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Introductions

• Doug Doser, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
• Scott Thorpe, School of Interdisciplinary Studies
• John Coughlin, University College

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What do you expect from this session?
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Over-involved Parents/Why?

• Affluence
• Guilt
• Economic Investment
• Perception of career training
• Technology
• College/University Enabling
• Others?

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• What can we control?

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What is the Universitys relationship to parents?

• Generational Perspective (post GI Bill)
• Parenting ends where college begins.
• Parents removed from the college experience.
• College student as adult.
• FERPA (1974)

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Millennial Perspectives

• Parents of college students are out of control.
  (AZ Republic)
• Extension of adolescence
• Parents--Better students than students?
• What is advising in 2005?
• Advising vs. Supervising

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What is your schools relationship to parents?

• Audience perspective
• What is a typical parent/advisor interaction?
• Group/Orientation
• Individual
• Does your school have a common philosophical
  perspective in dealing with parents? Or, is it
  advisor specific?

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ASU University College Academic Advising Services

• Previous ASU approaches to parents
• Orientation
• Parent as student
• Mixed signals
• Individual Contact
• Too little
• Too late
• Too negative

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Redesigning our approach

• Put ourselves in the parents position.
• What would we (as college student parents) want
  to know about our students advisor and the
  advising process?
• What do parents NEED to know?

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What do parents want to know?

• What are your qualifications?
• How easy is it to get an appointment?
• Do you really care about my student?
• Will my student have an advisor?

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Parent Academic Information Session
University College Advising Services
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Whos advising my student?

• Qualifications
• Experience
• Student/Advisor Ratio
• Availability
• Assigned Advisor
• Knowledge of Campus Resources

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What well cover this afternoon

• University College Advising Values
• Beliefs about ASU
• Parent role(s)
• Student Advising Workshop

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UC Advising Philosophy/Values

• Advising is teaching (your student the process of
  higher education).
• Student defined success.
• Informed decision making.
• Student responsibility.
• Student planning.
• Balance of Challenge and Support.

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Beliefs about ASU

• All admitted students can graduate from ASU.
• Faculty and staff want students to succeed.
• College is an independent learning experience.
  (vs. No child left behind)
• ASU is not a party school, however

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Parent Roles

• Push/Pull
• Communicate and ask questions
• Use available resources at ASU
• University College Website
• Family Connection
• Let them be responsible

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Things to think about

• Will you financially support any major?
• Is support dependent on grades?
• Is support dependent on behavior?
• Is your student expected to get a job?
• Have you had clear conversations with your
  student regarding these issues?

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How can I help my student TODAY?

• Attend the sessions designed for you.
• Let us (Advisors/University staff) do our jobs.
• Let your student go through the whole learning
  process gathering info selecting/scheduling
  classes gaining new skills etc. as well as
  all the emotions of this process.
• Realize Anything that occurs today is not set in
  stone additional discussion/follow-up is
  encouraged.

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Agenda

• Student Schedule
• 145-300Student Advising Workshop
• 300-315Break
• 315 ? Course Selection and Registration.

• Parent Schedule
• 130-300Family Connection
• 300-315Break
• 315 500 Family Connection, cont.

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What to Expect at the Break (300pm)

• your student to have a list of classes (5-7)
  s/he may be interested in taking next fall.
• your student to have an idea of scheduling
  options i.e. Campus Match Learning
  Communities ala carte.
• DO NOT expect your student to have a complete
  fall schedule for you to approve or deny. (We
  will not be at that stage until your student is
  ready to register.)

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Questions?
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(No Transcript)
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Outtakes and B-sides

• The slides that didnt make it

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What About the Parents?

• We only admit orphans

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What were really saying

• At Orientation
• We gave you lunch, now shut up
• We want your student to be responsible, but weve
  seen their high school transcripts
• What happens at orientation, stays at
  orientation
• FERPA-schmerpa you got cash, I got grades
• FERPA-schmerpa just between you and me, an E
  does not mean excellent

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Shifting our paradigm

• What do we think the parents think we want them
  to know?
• How do we know the parents dont already know
  everything we want them to know?
• If, for example, the parents thought they knew
  what we were thinking, would we still think they
  need to know everything they think we think we
  know?

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What do parents want to know?

• What are your qualifications?
• How easy is it to get an appointment?
• Do you really care about my student?
• Will my student have an advisor?

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The End
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Really

• Thats the end.

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Well, okay, this is the end
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• You hang up first

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• No, you hang up first

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• Well hang up together, on three1,2,3

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• You didnt hang up