School Season: Going 'Off' To College. How To Prepare?

As we enter the month of August, stores began to announce sales, salesmen and sales women get excited, recently graduated college bound high school seniors get excited, and parents are stuck in the middle of all of this. “Going off to college” is a pretty significant time in the life of students. Believe it or not, just as this is significant to the student, it can also be just as significant to parents. Although there are things that needs to be known as one prepares for college, such as financial aid, things to buy, etc., this blog will examine the theoretical developmental approach of preparing for college.

Anxiety, fear, and excitement, typically comes over students in anticipation of what the college experience will be for them. Students often view college as a collegial atmosphere where lots of students go to start preparation for getting a good paying job. In reality, however, college is a time where students are developing and figuring out who they are. In 1969, Arthur Chickering found that successful students are able to achieve a sense of competence, learn to manage emotions, develop autonomy, establish one’s identity and interact with others. So, with this, students will be going through lots of changes throughout their time in college. Also, college is a time where students are more susceptible to mental health issues as they could possibly suffer from depression and homesickness. Other issues that students may face is roommate conflicts, feelings of inadequacy and inferiority due to the discrepancy between high school grades and status and college performance, value conflicts, increased sexual pressures, and financial adjustments. Although all of this sounds quite frightening, there are quite a few positive things about the college experience. Students often meet lifelong friends, spouses, future employer/employees and other great network of individuals that will be an integral part of the students’ development. Again, even with those conflicts mentioned above, it is very important for students to go through these situations as it often helps to develop their sense of identity. Therefore, it’s not always bad if there is a slight roommate conflict or other peer pressures.

Just as students deal with the fear and anxiety of going off to college, parents deal with these emotions as they are watching their child “leave the nest”. Melissa Kenzig, certified health education expert from Columbia University stated, “It’s about walking that fine line between helping your kids and at the same time letting them grow as adults.” Most parents want to let go, but are scared they haven’t prepared their kids well enough to handle the issues that were mentioned above.

Again, college can be an overwhelming experience for both students and parents. However, overall, this experience and time in the students’ life is vitally important. Students have to address these issues that occur. Also, parents have to trust how they’ve raised there children and walk that fine line between being helpful to their children and being a handicap as it relates to their development.