As teens grow into young adults, their horizons begin to expand. They begin to explore their interests more, make new friends, and think about leaving the nest. As they head to college, there are skills they will need even if they live in a dorm. If they live off campus, these skills will be even more valuable. It’s important to prepare your teen for independent living.
Here are five ways you can help your prepare your teen for living away from home.
It’s something that we hear so much, that we need to “follow our dreams.” But as parents, we may have fought hard for our children to get scholarships and have started on their college journey, but if they have turned to a different path, this could be a big shock to us. If they choose to change their major it could shock you.
But this may warrant a more important discussion. Do we encourage our children to follow their passions when they’ve worked so hard towards one path in college and suddenly changes paths?
Most of us have experienced summer camp at one point in our life. We sang Kumbayah around the campfire, went on nature hikes, and played pranks on other campers. At the end of camp we went home with plenty of dirty laundry, arts and craft projects, and some new friends. Back in those days, the thought of going to summer camp to prepare for college was the last thing on our minds, or our parents’ minds for that matter. They shipped us off to camp to keep us occupied and enjoy some well-deserved time to themselves.
Times have certainly changed. Parents have recognized the need for college preparation; and they are now able to combine that preparation with a camp. That’s right–summer camp can now be more than dirty laundry and arts and crafts.
The acceptance letters have arrived and your student is ready to make his final college decision and then move forward to graduation. Check the box–going to college! It’s a tremendous accomplishment for both students and their parents.
It’s not just your student who is graduating–you are too! You planned for years for your student to go to college and now he has been accepted. After years of planning it’s time to start a new chapter in your life as well.
First things first–do some celebrating. You’ve earned it. It was a difficult task to raise a successful high school graduate and soon-to-be college student. Allow yourself some time to bask in the accomplishment. This is also time to flood him with showers of praise and words of encouragement. He’s worked hard for this and he needs to hear that you are proud of him.
Once the celebration dust settles, to help you head into the next phase, we have some suggestions to assist with the transition.
When parents and students enter the college-bound process, issues arise. It’s the inevitable clash of what parents think is best for their kids, and what the kids want. Over the past 18 years the clashes have been over such things as food, friends and entertainment choices. As college approaches, the parent-student conflict intensifies.
Following are five areas that typically cause parent – student conflict along with some advice on how to handle it and work toward a compromise.
Debt from college tuition has skyrocketed over the last several years. Parents and students are weighing their ROI (return on investment) before making their college choices. As college costs have shot up, so has student debt. How can you pay for college without incurring debt?
According to the latest Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit, outstanding student loan debt stood at $1.58 trillion in the fourth quarter of 2021, an $8 billion decline from the third quarter. About 5 percent of aggregate student debt was 90+ days delinquent or in default in the fourth quarter; the lower level of student debt delinquency reflects a Department of Education decision to report current status on loans eligible for CARES Act forbearances.
That’s the bad news. But if you’re a savvy consumer and research the costs before signing on the dotted line, you should be able to go to college without incurring debt. Zac Bissonnette, author of DebtFree U, is proof that it can be done. He graduated from college with zero debt.
Believe it or not, you may be able to graduate without debt if you use these 10 ways to pay for college:
For seniors who applied regular decision, March brings those long-awaited college decisions: deferred, accepted, rejected, and waitlisted. One knowledgeable college counselor once told me, “I don’t like to call these letters of acceptance. I use the term—offers of admission.” As a parent, I like that distinction. This alternative wording makes it easier to stomach those not-so-pleasant responses and help your college-bound teen work through the gamut of emotions that come when decisions arrive.
Your student may be the one receiving these communications from the colleges, but you feel every emotion they do from failure to excitement and everything in between. But unless you understand what each term means, it’s hard to know how to help your student (and yourself) with appropriate responses and proper action.
Your college student is a unique creature. They are at once old enough to be considered adults but still young and inexperienced enough to make some pretty big mistakes. They are also incredibly idealistic, which can lead to them making even more mistakes as they try to pursue their dreams.
For all of these reasons, it is important for the people in their lives to offer them support. Here are six ways you can support your college student:
Senioritis is a disease contracted by most high school seniors. Its onset might be hard to recognize because it starts innocently. But once the disease has taken hold it can have a devastating effect on your senior’s future college aspirations. As with any disease, knowing the symptoms is the key to an early diagnosis and treatment.
All kidding aside, however, senioritis is a very real problem for most students, especially if they have already been accepted early decision or early action. They are coming into the home stretch and it’s only natural for them to try to rest on their laurels, so to speak. But every parent needs to be vigilant and act to stop it before it’s too late.
In honor of International Women’s Day, here’s an extensive list of websites linking to listings of scholarships for women and girls. Once you check these out, do your own Google search and go past the 1st and 2nd pages of Google. You’ll find specific scholarships that might not be listed on these sites that have compiled a list.
And don’t forget to celebrate the women and girls in your life–while teaching your sons to value and treasure them!
