Parents
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A New Role For Parents
Your role as a parent has changed. While in the past you have made many decisions and been responsible for your student, it is time to trust in how you have raised your student.
College age students face several crucial human development stages. Educational researcher, Dr. Alan Brower, identified 7 important life challenges that college freshmen must meet and overcome in order to progress toward maturity and prepare to lead a fulfilling professional and personal life after graduation:
- Being on one’s own away from family and friends to develop confidence and comfort with independence.
- Establishing a personal and professional (career related) identity.
- Making new friends and finding a status and a place within chosen peer groups.
- Getting good grades. This means making the transition from high school level study skills to college level study skills.
- Establishing future goals. This includes identifying short-term and long-term academic, personal, and professional goals to maintain motivation.
- Managing time. Most students come from situations where many decisions related to time in education and home life are made for them. In college, they are suddenly responsible for making nearly 100% of tim-related decisions. Organizing the proper amount of time to do the job of learning at the college level is equivalent to a full-time job.
- Maintain the physical self. This includes scheduling to get the proper amount of sleep, proper diet, and regular exercise. There is a strong correlation between these three activities and academic performance.
10 Things Parents Of College Students Can Do To Help Their Student
- Be willing to give up some control. It is time for your student to develop a sense of independence, build confidence in him/herself, and to develop an individual identity.
- Become more of an emotional supporter. Be encouraging, supportive, and positive. Avoid negatives, discouraging statements, and criticism. Praise for attempts to be successful and not only for successes.
- Understand that the transition to college involves much more than academics. This is a stage when many issues pertaining to independence, personal identity, career identity, status issues, and relationships must be resolved.
- Set up a system of rewards for earning good grades. Our whole society is based on rewarding good performance. The family is a good place to teach this.
- Demonstrate interest in your student’s college life. Go to orientation, parent’s day activities, and your student’s activities, if invited and whenever possible.
- Encourage your student to get career testing during their freshman year. Does (s)he need information to select a "best fit" major? If selected, is s/he in the right major? Without career testing, your student is guessing.
- Realize that graduating in 4 years is not what it used to be. Employers look for high grades, student involvement experiences, and work experience related to the major. Time to graduation is not of major concern to many employers.
- Buy a meal plan for your student. A poor diet will negatively affect learning and is likely to show up in lower academic performance.
- Ask to see your student’s calendar book. Are they using it properly to manage their time? All classes, meal times, study times, due dates, test dates, etc. should be included.
- If your student is struggling, contact the academic advisor to see what resources are on campus would be help and then follow up with your student.
Important UCF Policies and Procedures
ADD/DROP POLICY
Add: A student may add or drop a class any time after registration until the Add/Drop deadline with no penalty or cost via MyUCF. After the Add/Drop deadline, no class may be added.
Drop:A student may drop a class before the Add/Drop deadline and it will not appear on the transcript. To get rid of a class after the Add/Drop deadline, the Withdrawal Policy must be followed.
WITHDRAWAL POLICY
student may withdraw from a class via MyUCF or by visiting the Registrar’s Office in 161 Milican Hall. A "W" will appear on the permanent transcript. Students have until the withdrawal deadline of any semester to withdraw via MyUCF. Refer to the UCF academic calendar for deadlines or go to http:www. regitrar.ucf/calendar.
No withdrawal is permitted after the deadline except in unusual circumstances such as serious medical problems. Unsatisfactory academic performance is not an acceptable reason for withdrawal after the deadline. Students who stop attending classes are not automatically withdrawn. Students who need to petition for a late withdrawal should consult Academic Services, Milican Hall 210. At the time of a request, Academic Service will contact the class instructor to ascertain whether the student was passing or failing the class.
GRADE FORGIVENESS
A class may be repeated and the grade earned in the first attempt is replaced by the grade in the 2nd attempt and recalculated into the GPA. Students have only 2 grade forgivenesses while at UCF and both may not be used for the same class. The deadline to apply for grade forgiveness is the last day of add/drop in the semester that the class is repeated. Students must apply for Grade Forgivenesses in the Registrar’s Office in Milican Hall 161.
THE 9 CREDIT HOUR SUMMER REQUIREMENT
Students who enter the Florida State University System with fewer than 60 semester hours of credit are required to enroll in a minimum of 9 credit hours in the summer at a 4-year Florida state university. This requirement must be met before graduation.
