The great divide
After the big move-in, then what? Starting September 8, the Office of Parent Services will be here to help.
It’s a September morning, and your kid is getting up for the first day of classes—at least you think so.
You’ve spent more than a year searching for a college, checking Web sites and viewbooks, visiting campuses, making calls, and asking a thousand questions to find the right school. You’ve hounded your student about financial aid applications and paid the fees and tuition. You’ve stuffed the minivan with electronics and dorm decor and made the exciting drive to campus. You’ve made the poignant trip back home. Now it’s time for you to learn, too—the process of letting go.
Kids entering college today—the “millennials” they’re called—are more involved with their parents and caregivers than any previous generation, says Mike Gargano, UMass Amherst vice chancellor of Student Affairs and Campus Life. And when they head off to college, it can be hard to know how to manage that changing relationship.
Your son is annoyed because his roommate keeps using his shampoo. Should you get involved? You’ve left a dozen messages and haven’t heard back from your daughter. What do you do? What does a particular charge on the tuition bill mean? How can you send your child a birthday cake?
This fall, UMass Amherst will open its new Office of Parent Services to help you figure it out. Part information desk, part counseling office, Parent Services will help you draw the dotted line of independence for you and your student. “We want parents to be part of their students’ success,” says Mike. “We want them to still be connected to their student, in the right way.”
The Office of Parent Services will give you the information you need: the date the tuition bill was sent to your student, how your child can arrange food allergy accommodations in the dining hall, what academic assistance is available at midterm and finals—just about everything, except your student’s grades.
You’ll be able to call the Office of Parent Services if you’d like to send a birthday cake, if you haven’t been able to reach your son or daughter and are getting concerned, if you’d like to come into the office and talk to Mike alone or with your student, or if you have any other question. When you call the Office of Parent Services, you’ll always get a person, never a recording. “We want parents to know we’re watching out for their kids, too,” says Mike.