by Richard Morrell, Ph.D.
University Registrar
In my career I have had plenty of interaction with parents of students. Having had five college-bound children of my own (4 of the 5 persisted to graduate) I can draw from my professional experiences (this is my 41st year working in higher education), my education (I have three ‘Education’ degrees and of course my experience as a parent.
Parents genuinely want to know how they can help in their student’s success. Here is what I tell them.
First, in order to be successful in college an individual student must have the ability and aptitude in his or her chosen academic endeavor. In other words, they must be able to do the coursework associated with a chosen major and they have to want to do the said coursework.
Don’t push your child to be an engineer if she or he doesn’t like math. Similarly, don’t encourage your student to be a pharmacist if they don’t like or don’t do well in science classes. Rather, be supportive of their genuine academic interests which most likely will be where they have had their most success in the classroom.
Second, a student must have adequate financial resources and fiscal responsibility to persist to graduation. Talk to your student about financial matters. Both parent and student should be engaged in a budget planning process before the student ever leaves home for college. Both should know what tuition and fees are going to be. Both should know the fiscal plan and the limits of the family budget. Furthermore, both parties should know what (and be realistic) it will cost for books, rent, clothes, recreation, socialization, etc.
Parents should be clued into what financial aid may be available to their student, what the FASFA is and its associated deadlines. I was a first generation student, but my only high school graduate, farmer, mother had the college FASFA deadline circled in bold red on our calendar at home and it was always submitted on time.
Third, your student must be actively involved in his or her education. I can’t tell you the number of students I have seen and known who come from well-to-do families, who had great test scores and decent high school grades; fail in college and drop out because they are not significantly involved in their own college experience.
In the ‘higher education business’ we call this ‘student engagement’. Student engagement begins with being involved in the lifeline of the institution; academics. The time-tested-true axiom is that for every hour in class, a student should spend two hours outside of class to be adequately, academically engaged.
I tell students to think in terms of being a full-time student as a full-time job. Most degree programs at Nebraska require 120 credit hours to graduate. Doing the math, to graduate in four years/ eight semesters one has to average passing at minimum 15 hours per semester.
Further math will reveal that if your student is enrolled in 15 credit hours, he or she will likely be in class about 15 hours per week. Double the outside of class engagement and your student is ‘working’ a 45 hour week – a full-time job!
So, what could one do with those 30 hours outside of class. Most students will tell you that it doesn’t take that long to read the assignments and complete the other assignments announced by the instructor. Well, here are a list of suggestions for your students to productively work those 30-some hours outside the classroom. He or she might consider talking to instructors during their office hours, going to the writing lab, going to the computer lab, forming and attending study groups, meeting with their academic advisor, visiting the career services offices, visiting the library, reading from the bibliography section of the syllabus, or spending time with tutors for especially difficult subjects. There are countless productive ways in which to use those 30 academically-oriented hours per week.
The final form of student engagement is social engagement. It is true that all work and no play makes Johnny a dull boy! Back to the math – I tell students by the time they go to class about 15 hours a week, do outside of the class academic work for 30 hours per week, sleep, eat, exercise/recreate, clean and attend to their faith needs; they realistically have about 15-20 hours left in a 168 hour week,
Fortunately, the University of Nebraska has a plethora of ways your student can become socially involved in the campus scene. There are special interest clubs, recreational opportunities, part-time campus jobs, volunteer groups by the dozens and many other ways to become involved in the university and give great, healthy diversions from the stress of the academic challenges that your student will undoubtedly encounter. And, a vast majority of successful students will tell you that the social aspects of their college experiences were many of the most meaningful and kept them going when times get really tough.
My final piece of advice is for you the parent to stay engaged with your student. Come to campus to visit him or her often, but not too often, and not too long. J Keep the conversation going with your student. Ask him or her how they spend that 30 academic hours outside the classroom, ask how that most difficult class is going; are they talking to instructors and advisors, etc.
But most of all, encourage your student to remain engaged with the University of Nebraska and with you as their parents. That is the recipe for success!