Put First Things First during Parent Orientation

Madison, Wis.—July 20--Until campuses address parents’ most pressing concerns—finances and safety—parents cannot concentrate on the finer points of helping students transition into independent adulthood.

That’s what assessment and evaluation of parent orientation at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities has shown, said Beth Lingren, UM’s director of orientation and first-year programs. Lingren and Marjorie Savage, UM’s parent program director, discussed orientation and other parent services during Magna Publications’ July 19 Web seminar “Planning Parent Services that Support Student Development.”

In earlier years’ orientations, “parents received strong messages about their changing relationship with their students, encouraging independence, and the new family dynamics,” “While these messages are of utmost importance, our parents were unable to receive them when they were worried about things like, ‘How are we going to afford this?’”

As a result, UM’s orientation has been redesigned to take care of parents’ primary concerns first, similar to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. At the base of the parental needs hierarchy, according to UM surveys of its parents, are financial concerns. As a result, parent orientation begins with an optional one-on-one meeting with a financial aid counselor and a new “How to Pay Your Bill” session.

If you missed the live 90-minute seminar, you can order the full-length CD for $249 by visiting http://www.magnapubs.com/catalog/cds/598632-1.html.

Magna Publications (www.magnapubs.com) is a leading publisher of newsletters and other information products in the higher education segment. Magna also manages onsite and online conferences on topics of interest to higher education.

For more information please contact David Burns, Publisher, Magna Publications, Inc., at 608-227-8109, or dburns@magnapubs.com.