Family Checklist
During the academic year, it is important that parents and families continue to keep in touch and communicate with their student. Their academic success in college is a shared responsibility. Sometimes it is difficult to decide where to "butt in" and where to let your student venture out on his/her own. As advisers, we provide an on-site personal relationship to help you student in any way possible. To make your job, our job, and your student's job easier, we've included the following checklist to give you some guidelines for where you can help with this important process.
§ Checklist §
- We have read the Family Education Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) and have discussed it with our student, so that we all understand that certain information is considered confidential (such as grades).
- We have checked with our student to make sure he/she knows who his adviser is.
- We have suggested that our student contact his/her adviser.
- We are aware that our student and his/her adviser share responsiblity for staying on track and that it is our student's responsiblity to share this information with us.
- We have discussed with our student what he/she does during a typical week at college so that we can offer support and advice, if necessary.
- We have asked our student what he/she likes and dislikes about college.
- We have encouraged our student to become involved on campus.
- We have asked our student about his/her choice of major and have encouraged him/her to discuss specifics with his/her adviser.
- We are aware of our student's academic plan (and current progress).
- We know when our student should register for classes for the following semesters and are aware of our student's choices for courses.
- We have discussed the possibility of academic difficulty and strategies used to overcome this.
- We have asked our student about his/her instructors and have talked about each of his/her classes.
- We have discussed academic, career, and social support services available on campus.
- We have referred our student to the Penn State Principles and Academic Integrity policy.
- We have encouraged our student to check with the financial aid office to make sure he/she is aware of critical deadlines.
*Note: This checklist was adapted from: Gordon, V.N. & Smith, D.C. (2003). A family guide to academic advising. Columbia, South Carolina: The University of South Carolina.
1 Reed Building
Penn State Erie, The Behrend College
4701 College Drive
Erie, PA 16563
Telephone: 814-898-6260
Fax: 814-898-6455