Janis Williams Elmhurst College

1
Janis WilliamsElmhurst College

• Keeping Todays Parents Happy Without Crossing
  the Line Advising in the Millennial Era
• Code 272
• 2006 NACADA Annual Conference
• janisw_at_elmhurst.edu

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Millennial Students

• What makes them tick?

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Special, Sheltered, Entitled

• Baby on Board
• Baby Gap
• Wanted, Watched, Child-proofed

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Pressured, stressed, high-achieving

• Extremely focused on grades
• Cool to be smart
• Busy with activities

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Conventionalcrave structure

• Accept authority
• Want secure, regulated environment
• Identify with parents

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Gravitate towardgroup activities

• Team-oriented
• Civic-minded
• Service-oriented

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Inclusive

• Ethnically diverse
• Majority female
• No child left behind

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Talented in technology

• Always connected
• More math science
• Less humanities

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Optimists, Confident

• Hopeful of the future

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Helicopter Parents

• Videotaped preschool graduations
• Applauded for every trophy, win or lose
• Shuttled from soccer practice, to clarinet
  lesson, to karate, to

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Helicopter Parents areHovering over college
campuses everywhere

• From preadmission
• To graduation
• To job placement

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Worlds longest umbilical cord

• Parents as personal trainers

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See institution as a product

• Parents and students are consumers
• Parents want investment protected
• College Parents of America

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Experience, Inc. (Jan. 24, 2006)

• 38 - parents called or met with academic
  advisors
• 31 - parents called professors to complain about
  a grade
• 65 - students still consult parents about
  academic and career paths

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Striking a balance

• Cant share specifics
• Can share processes
• Encourage good communication between students and
  parents
• Make parents our allies, not enemies

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At Elmhurst we

• Admission reaches out to parents
• Parent program Summer Adv/Reg
• Family activities during Move-In
• Parents Weekend
• Meet the Faculty program
• Continued research on how best to meet the needs
  of parents