This term is used to capture all the feelings, anxieties, curiousness, and concerns that are involved in a student moving on from high school to college. It is the subject of books and research.

Overnight, as it seems to many, parents and families are expected to move from active day-to-day participants in their students’ lives to someone who is merely a spectator on the sidelines. Colleges and universities are bound by law to work with the student rather than the parent or family member and are even prohibited from discussing the details of a student’s life with anyone.

As administrators of the Institute, we are pleased to help you and your student make this transition successfully. Beginning in the first year, we expect students to take personal responsibility for their academic lives as well as their personal lives, whether it be in the residence halls or as a commuter. We recognize that our students are adults and have the expectation that they act accordingly.

The day your student comes to campus to move into the residence halls either permanently or temporarily as a commuter, we will offer a program for parents and family members to not only welcome you to the community, but to give you information on this topic as well.

There are two fantastic books that we recommend to parents and families on this topic. They are:

Letting Go: A Parents' Guide to Understanding the College Years, by Karen Levin Coburn and Madge Lawrence Treeger, 1997.

According to Amazon.com: Letting Go is about what it feels like for parents when their kids go off to college. Karen Levin Coburn and Madge Lawrence Treeger provide a compassionate approach, practical information, and advice about the physical and emotional processes of letting go. They discuss the college-age child's search for identity, independence, and intimacy; give a succinct and accurate description of how college life has changed over the decades; and provide a year-by-year breakdown of what to expect. Plus, you can read about typical and not-so-typical problems including date rape, crime, eating disorders, drug and alcohol use, and sexual issues. Of special note is the focus on orientation and the freshman year, including the disorientation parents feel once the drop-off has been made.

You're On Your Own (But I’m Here if You Need Me): Mentoring Your Child During the College Years, by Marjorie Savage, 2003.

According to Publisher’s Weekly: Savage, who has worked with parents and students at the University of Minnesota for a decade (she's now the director of its parent-liaison program), addresses the sometimes tough issues facing parents and their college-age kids, as the latter seek independence (but still rely on counsel from Mom and Dad) and the former try to figure out just how involved they should be in Jr.'s undergraduate experience. In 12 chapters that span the summer before college, the culture shock of school (and the corresponding empty-nest shake-up for parents), the freshman 15, course loads, extracurricular activities, risky or defiant behaviors and life beyond the BA, Savage gives parents clear and seasoned advice-and offers tips for students as well. Illustrating her points through anecdotes, charts and bullet-pointed lists, she crafts a readable, if sometimes very commonsensical, guide to establishing the right level of parental involvement. For nervous parents, this should be a reassuring and helpful book.