Strategies for communicating with the parents of college students

Many of you have been following my blogs about my daughter Kylie’s journey from prospective college student, through her campus visit experiences, to her orientation impressions as a first-year student at a four-year private liberal arts college in the Midwest. I am now happy to share that she had a successful first semester and has been very excited about her second semester. As everyone warned me, the time is going by quickly.

As a higher education professional and someone who works with colleges and universities to monitor their students’ satisfaction levels, I have been extra sensitive to Kylie’s perceptions of her interactions with faculty, her observations on the advising experience, and her sense of the general campus climate. I am also highly aware of my own perceptions of the value of her private education, and I can tell you that I have been very impressed with the college’s frequent communication with me as a parent. If you are serving a traditional-aged college population, are you communicating effectively (or at all) with the parents of your students?

In my review of the national results from the Parent Satisfaction Inventory (the parallel instrument to the Student Satisfaction Inventory that asks the parents about their perceptions of what is important and how satisfied they are with their child’s experience), I see that the top issues include:

1. Tuition paid is a worthwhile investment.
2. Instruction in my child’s major is excellent.
3. Academic advisors are concerned about my child and are knowledgeable.
4. Adequate financial aid is available.
5. My child is able to register for classes with few conflicts.

I would suggest that effective communication plans can help to improve parent satisfaction in some of these key areas.

Kylie’s college did a remarkable job keeping me informed. Here are the communications I received during her fall semester:

• A monthly college newsletter for parents sent via e-mail, which includes updates on the events calendar, features on current students and how they are making the most of their college experience, messages from the college’s senior leadership, photos of activities on campus, spotlights on campus support services (with a special emphasis on the career center), and links to resources on the website.
• Weekly email updates from the music department on choir performances and activities within the department, along with links to the website. (While Kylie is not a music major, she is in the first-year women’s choir.)
• Regular Facebook updates. The updates include photos, information about alumni, links to articles by professors, announcements about speakers on campus, and highlights of current activities.
• Twitter posts. I follow the dean of students on Twitter and he tweets about things that he is excited about on campus that are of interest to students and parents alike.
• A letter from the Parent Council co-presidents about their activities on behalf of the college parents, including suggestions for staying involved appropriately with the college.
• The quarterly alumni magazine. It is nice to be included on this mailing list. I not only appreciate having a chance to read about the exciting things that graduates of the college are doing, but I enjoy getting a print magazine I can hold in my hands.
• A personalized email to me announcing that Kylie was on the dean’s list for the first semester and giving me the chance to follow updates on Kylie via another website service that is similar to receiving press releases about her accomplishments.
• A letter from the president in January highlighting some of the exciting things that happened on campus during the fall semester and previewing some events for the spring semester, as well as acknowledging that there will be a 3 percent tuition increase for the 2014-2015 academic year.

I think this last communication from the president was especially important because it gave me advance notice as a parent about the tuition increase, while framing it within the context of all the good things that are happening on campus. I found this to be an effective way to prepare my family for the increase, while reinforcing the value of the college education.

One thing I have noticed is that Kylie and I are continuing to communicate frequently while she is on campus, in a variety of methods. We talk, we text, we email, we Snapchat, we are on Facebook, and yes, I still send her notes in the mail. I hear her perceptions about the college on an almost daily basis, so it is also nice to hear her observations within the context of the information that the college is sharing and highlighting. The combination of communications keeps me aware without my having to be overly involved. (I can proudly say that I haven’t been too much of a helicopter parent so far, but it is because I have the information that I want at my disposal.)

How are you communicating with the parents of your students? Are you implementing any of these examples? Have you found other ways to communicate effectively with multiple populations on and off campus? Let me know what is working for your campus or what you are considering implementing, and I can share my perspective with you. Please leave me a comment, or send me an email with your questions or feedback.