Your student’s first year of college is a transition for the entire family. Parents and family members are a critical part of the support network for students. At Penn State, we use the First-Year Learning Outcomes to guide our work to support new students in this transition. New Student Orientation will introduce you and your student to the tools and resources that will help to set them up for success.

 

Understanding the First Year

Students are experiencing college life for the first time. They are excited to explore many opportunities and are trying to make connections with other students, staff, and faculty. Students may be:

  • Excited, yet apprehensive
  • Exploring new freedoms
  • Learning to manage new responsibilities
  • Solving problems on their own
  • Feeling homesick and lonely
  • Trying to find their place socially
  • Anxious about new academic challenges

Classes are in full swing. Early assignments and exams have been returned, and students may be surprised (either pleasantly or unpleasantly) by their grades. Students start to realize that friends from the first few weeks may or may not stick around. The roommate honeymoon may end. Students may be:

  • Questioning academic abilities and choices
  • Adjusting study habits, learning styles, and time management skills
  • Wondering if they fit in socially
  • Seeking additional opportunities to become involved
  • Dealing with the consequences of poor decision-making
  • Selecting appropriate courses for next semester
  • Thinking about living arrangements and roommates for the next year

Students are sorting out how to approach their first final exam period as the first semester winds down. The realization that academic work in college is much harder than high school has set in for many. For those who have procrastinated or stumbled in the early months, the pressure is now a reality. Students who are working or have joined various student organizations may have increased end-of-semester commitments. Students may be:

  • Anxious about preparing for final exams
  • Finding it difficult to get along with their roommate
  • Overwhelmed by their commitments
  • Questioning their decision to attend college
  • Excited or apprehensive to head home for break

Most students (and families) welcome the first long break, and they are usually eager to return home. They look forward to the comforts of home, privacy, reconnecting with friends, and some much-needed rest. Tensions over curfews and family expectations can happen at this time. Communicating expectations in advance and keeping a sense of humor can help families enjoy this longer visit home.

While a new semester is a fresh start, the experience students have is heavily influenced by their first semester. Some students will enjoy being home and reconnecting with their families and friends, which may make it harder to return, while others experience challenges at home that make them excited about being back on campus. Other elements, like first semester grades and confidence in the friendships they established the last term, also influence their excitement or apprehension about the start of the new semester. During their second semester students may be:

  • Feeling a renewed interest in opportunities to make friends
  • Getting more involved in cocurricular activities
  • Finding a better balance between academic, cocurricular, and social commitments
  • Contemplating their academic interests, strengths, and choice of major
  • Exploring internships and opportunities for summer break

Partnering with Penn State

At Penn State, we expect our students to:

  • Become increasingly responsible for their actions including their academic and social decisions
  • Take the lead in solving their problems
  • Abide by community standards in the Code of Conduct [PG1]
  • Explore the educational opportunities available, select a major in which they will succeed and enjoy, and put forth their best efforts in the classroom
  • Take advantage of the tremendous array of opportunities outside of class by choosing meaningful ways to become active citizens on campus and in the broader community
  • Embrace opportunities to experience, interact with, and learn from the broad diversity of people in the Penn State community

Penn State aims to:

  • Be a student-centered research university
  • Have faculty, staff, and administrators that strive to support our students both in and out of class
  • Provide the necessary resources and support services to enhance student success
  • Provide a safe, healthy community for students to live, learn, and grow academically and socially
  • Take an active role in meeting this goal through outreach and communication to our parents and family members

Many incoming college students see their family members as trusted coaches and sources of support, which is not likely to change when they begin their Penn State career. Students need you to support their growth, development, independence, and to also be a stable force in their ever-changing world.

  • Support Student Autonomy

Young adulthood is a time when your relationship changes from an adult-child relationship to an adult-adult relationship. Support your student’s autonomy by actively redefining your relationship, relinquishing unnecessary control, encouraging personal responsibility and problem-solving, and supporting decisions made by your student. When a problem arises, “move like your feet are in molasses” and allow your student time to learn how to fix their problems.

  • Stay Connected

Expect that your student will not respond to all your contacts whether by phone/text, email, or even “snail” mail, but know that they appreciate hearing from you. Visit, but not too often and not too soon.

  • Embrace Exploration

Your student is experiencing new viewpoints and perspectives that may challenge prior belief systems. Allow them to explore ideas without being judgmental. Understand that changes in students’ viewpoints, behavior, dress, eating and sleeping habits, and relationships with family members are all to be expected. However, if you suspect that some of these changes may be signs of bigger problems, trust your instincts. Your student may need you to refer them to the appropriate resources described in this guide for help.

  • Be Knowledgeable about Campus Resources

Explore the resources available in this guide, the Parents Program website, and email newsletters. By acting as a referral source for your student, you can demonstrate that you are interested in your student’s life at the University, and at the same time, empower your student to explore resources and solve their problems.

  • Continue Difficult Conversations

You still have an important influence on your student’s behavior. In college, your student will have to make their own decisions about what time to get up in the morning, when to study, when to exercise, which organizations to join, what to eat, whether to drink alcohol, and whether to engage in romantic relationships. Although you cannot force your student to behave as you would want them to, you can create an atmosphere of open communication by listening and sharing family expectations.

  • Recognize the Challenges

The first year of college can be full of indecision, insecurities, disappointments, and, most of all, mistakes. It is also full of discovery, inspiration, good times, and exciting people. The reality is that there are times in college when your student might experience all the above, which is normal and to be expected.

  • Welcome Change

Your student will change, and so will you. College and the experiences associated with it can affect changes in social, vocational, and personal behavior. These changes are natural and inevitable. They can also be inspiring or challenging. You cannot stop change, and you may never understand it, but you can accept it and support your student’s decisions. Trust your student and trust the job you have done in getting them to this point.

The First-Year Learning Outcomes were created to improve student success by increasing academic and social integration into the University. The vision that Penn State has for each student is highlighted in these Learning Outcomes. We hope that your student will complete these outcomes by the end of their first year.

In addition to these Learning Outcomes, students will work towards achieving Penn State’s General Education Learning Objections.

  • Understand and meet academic expectations; engage in active learning and use effective time management skills to balance academic work with extra-curricular activities.

  • Learn about the value of higher education to both society and to individuals; appreciate the value of the general education curriculum and the worth of lifelong learning and scholarship.

  • Be familiar with student services and academic resources on campus; actively use those resources and interact with staff.

  • Engage with faculty in and out of the classroom.

  • Interact effectively with peers in social settings and through educationally purposeful student activities.

  • Refine short-term and long-term academic goals; learn about career management; establish more specific career goals.

  • Achieve a higher competency in writing, note-taking, active reading, critical thinking, and quantitative reasoning to be able to master college-level work.

  • Expand knowledge of human diversity and cultural competence; effectively interact with others.

  • Engage in activities leading to improved personal health and fitness; learn about making responsible decisions in a college environment.