Published in partnership with NODA, the Association for Orientation, Transition, and Retention in Higher Education Parents and family members play a critical role in the success of new college students, but those who never attended college or who have been away from it for a while may lack critical information about the purpose, goals, and structure of higher education today. This brief guide offers parents and families an overview of the college experience, especially in the first year, and suggests strategies for helping their students succeed. A glossary of key terms is included. Grounded in the student success research and practice literature, the guide is ideal for use in orientation programs, recruitment events, and family weekends. $2.00 each when purchased in multiple copy pack of 100.

Part of "a new series of publications titled The skinny on, a progression of drawings, dialogue and text intended to convey information in a concise and entertaining fashion." This plain-English explanation will prepare "students for the first year experience, outlining realistic expectations for social, academic, and emotional challenges, and identifying resources for successful outcomes".--Extracted from introductory page and p. [4] of cover.

The transition to adulthood is a complex process, and college is pivotal to this experience. The Science of College aids entering college students--and the people who support them--in navigating college successfully, with up-to-date recommendations based upon real student situations, sound social science research, and the collective experiences of faculty, lecturers, advisors, and student support staff. The stories captured in this book highlight how the challenges that college students encounter vary in important ways based on demographics and social backgrounds. Despite these varied backgrounds, all students are more likely to have successful college experiences if they invest in their communities. Universities have many resources available, but as this book will show, students need to learn when to access which resources and how best to engage with people serving students. This includes having a better awareness of the different roles held by university faculty and staff, and navigating who to go to for what, based upon understanding their distinct sets of expertise and approaches to support. There is no single template for student success. Yet, this book highlights common issues that many students face and provides science-based advice for how to navigate college. Each topic covered is geared towards the life stage that most college students are in: emerging adulthood. In addition to the student-focused chapters, the book includes appendixes with activities for students, tips for parents, and methods information for faculty. Supplemental website materials suggest classroom activities for instructors who adopt this book within first-year seminars and general education courses. This is an open access title available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read at Oxford Scholarship Online and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations.

Written by students, for students, this guide shows freshmen how to get through their first year with flying colors.

Erica Young Reitz helps college seniors and recent graduates navigate the complex transition to post-college life. Drawing on best practices and research on senior preparedness, this practical guide addresses the top issues graduates face: making decisions, finding friends, managing money, discerning your calling and much more.

Leaving high school and going to college is complicated for everyone. But if you're a student on the autism spectrum who is about to enter higher education for the first time, it might be a little bit more complicated for you. Maybe you're worried about getting accommodations, getting places on time, or dealing with sensory issues in a new environment. Maybe you could use some advice on how to stay healthy at school, handle dating and relationships, or talk to your friends and classmates about your disability. Maybe you want to talk to someone who's already dealt with these issues. That's where we come in. Navigating College is an introduction to the college experience from those of us who've been there. The writers and contributors are Autistic adults, and we're giving you the advice that we wish someone could have given us when we headed off to college. We wish we could sit down and have a chat with each of you, to share our experiences and answer your questions. But since we can't teleport, and some of us have trouble meeting new people, this book is the next best thing. So as you go back to school, check out a copy of Navigating College for yourself or your loved one. We ve done this all before--let us help you out.

Navigating the Transition from High School to College for Students with Disabilities provides effective strategies for navigating the transition process from high school into college for students with a wide range of disabilities. As students with disabilities attend two and four-year colleges in increasing numbers and through expanding access opportunities, challenges remain in helping these students and their families prepare for and successfully transition into higher education. Professionals and families supporting transition activities are often unaware of today’s new and rapidly developing options for postsecondary education. This practical guide offers user-friendly resources, including vignettes, research summaries, and hands-on activities that can be easily implemented in the classroom and in the community and that facilitate strong collaboration between schools and families. Preparation issues such as financial aid, applying for college, and other long-term planning areas are addressed in detail. An accompanying student resource section offers materials for high school students with disabilities that secondary educators, counselors, and transition personnel can use to facilitate exploration and planning discussions. Framing higher education as a possible transition goal for all students with disabilities, Navigating the Transition from High School to College for Students with Disabilities supports the postsecondary interests of more than four million public school students with disabilities.

An essential guide to tackling what students, families, and educators can do now to cut through stress and performance pressure, and find a path to purpose. Today’s college-bound kids are stressed, anxious, and navigating demands in their lives unimaginable to a previous generation. They’re performance machines, hitting the benchmarks they’re “supposed” to in order to reach the next tier of a relentless ladder. Then, their mental and physical exhaustion carries over right into first jobs. What have traditionally been considered the best years of life have become the beaten-down years of life. Belle Liang and Timothy Klein devote their careers both to counseling individual students and to cutting through the daily pressures to show a better way, a framework, and set of questions to find kids’ “true north”: what really turns them on in life, and how to harness the core qualities that reveal, allowing them to choose a course of study, a college, and a career. Even the gentlest parents and teachers tend to play into pervasive societal pressure for students to PERFORM. And when we take the foot off the gas, we beg the kids to just figure out what their PASSION is. Neither is a recipe for mental or physical health, or, ironically, for performance or passion. How to Navigate Life shows that successful human beings instead tap into their PURPOSE—the why behind the what and how. Best of all, purpose is a completely translatable quality to every aspect of life, from first jobs to last jobs and everything in between.

The first practical guide of its kind that helps students transition smoothly from high school to college The transition from high school—and home—to college can be stressful. Students and parents often arrive on campus unprepared for what college is really like. Academic standards and expectations are different from high school; families aren’t present to serve as “scaffolding” for students; and first-years have to do what they call “adulting.” Nothing in the college admissions process prepares students for these new realities. As a result, first-year college students report higher stress, more mental health issues, and lower completion rates than in the past. In fact, up to one third of first-year college students will not return for their second year—and colleges are reporting an increase in underprepared first-year students. How to College is here to help. Professors Andrea Malkin Brenner and Lara Schwartz guide first-year students and their families through the transition process, during the summer after high school graduation and throughout the school year, preparing students to succeed and thrive as they transition and adapt to college. The book draws on the authors’ experience teaching, writing curricula, and designing programs for thousands of first-year college students over decades.

Engage and Activate: Navigating College and Beyond introduces readers to the cultural and social tools they will need to be successful in higher education while identifying opportunities within academic life to connect with others, effect change, and create communities that are more just, humane, and sustainable. The authors address important issues for beginning students such as cross-cultural appreciation and understanding, self-care, navigating institutional rules, study habits, relationships and consent, mental and physical health, finances, and the environment, all with a focus that situates the contexts in social justice. Throughout, engaging exercises, class activities, and personal accounts encourage the development of transformative thought. Designed to help readers navigate higher education to become successful students and responsible, democratically-minded citizens, Engage and Activate is an ideal book for first-year and college success courses or programs, as well as people who will participate in U.S.-based higher education spaces. C. Kyle Rudick (Ph.D., Southern Illinois University) is an associate professor of communication and graduate program director at the University of Northern Iowa. His research explores how power, privilege, and oppression are constructed and marshaled through everyday communicative practices. Katherine Grace Hendrix (Ph.D., University of Washington) is a professor of communication studies at The University of Memphis. Her research examines the challenges faced by professors and graduate teaching assistants of color, including those with English as a second language, and the types of research that are generally published within the communication discipline versus what is generally left out. Nicholas A. Zoffel (Ph.D., Bowling Green University) is the executive director for the Global Forum for Civic Affairs, an NGO that facilitates partnerships in education and civic affairs. His research focuses on collaborative innovation, the social influence of identity, and performances of power in routine interpersonal and organizational relationships.