Acknowledge Your Role Shifts

Your role as a family member is still paramount. However, it should and will look different than it has in previous years when your student was in the K-12 grades. When your student was younger, they relied on you to help them coordinate responsibilities, prepare for upcoming activities, and help them manage the day-to-day.

Now, your role is to be supportive, rather than directly involved. Your student will need to use this time not only to learn academic and technical skills – they will need to be intentional about learning additional life skills. How to ensure they meet deadlines. How to ask questions and communicate proactively. How to plan for upcoming priorities. How to be flexible as life may throw curveballs, and how to build relationships to support and sustain them. It’s a time of growing, and as a loved one, you will need to remain supportive while also letting that growth happen – which may involve some challenges for your student.

Have Confidence in Your Student

In this season of life, your role isn’t about controlling or ensuring all the right cascade of things happen. It’s about giving your student space to take on those choices, actions, and plans. And you know what? Your student is capable. With your support and all that you’ve taught them, they will gain confidence, learn to manage their responsibilities, and step into their future because of your loving guidance. Even if your student does not keep in touch as often as you might prefer, or run everything by you like they might have before, remember this: When something good or bad happens, the first thing the student is likely thinking about is connecting with their family members about it.

Ensure Your Student Has Space to Choose

One of the best ways to help a student begin to take ownership of their responsibilities is to provide space for them to make choices. In a college setting, one of those most important choices in how to support your student is having them select a major that resonates with them. In a technology and trade school setting, it will likely dictate the very specific skills they learn and the career path forward. Attending an Open House in the Fall or Spring at Thaddeus Stevens College is a great way to help them discover and experience different programs to support their choice.

Support Self-Advocacy

As family members, our role has often been to advocate for our student. In fact, for many of us, that has been a central part of our energy as our student has advanced through the school years.

One of the ways you can support your student in college is to help your student transition to being their own self-advocate – in a college setting, it is their actions and communications that will set them up for success. Some tips for self advocacy:

If a student has questions or concerns about any classes, encourage them to meet with their instructor to discuss. Please note: Instructors do not meet with parents in the college setting. If your student is in need of learning more information or receiving support, they will need to communicate the need for a discussion and then attend it.

• Coach your student on what to say when THEY call the college. It will not be effective for you to call for them as they are expected to manage their own responsibilities and needs.
• Encourage your student to talk with their Academic Coach very early in their time at college – this will help their coach connect with them and best understand their needs. Taking our incoming student survey helps to clearly define what your student may most need academically.
• As a family member, ask questions about what the student may need to do or complete for their application, orientation, or enrollment, but do not complete it for them.
• If a student has questions or concerns about any classes, encourage them to meet with their instructor to discuss. Please note: Instructors do not meet with parents in the college setting. If your student is in need of learning more information or receiving support, they will need to communicate the need for a discussion and then attend it.

Understand Housing and Room Assignments

The Room Selection Process is available following confirmation of enrollment in the early summer – a link to the process is available on the College’s Residence Life page of the website. This selection process will be emailed to an incoming student’s personal email address following confirmation of enrollment.

The Room Selection Process must be followed by both first-year (incoming) and second-year students. Residents can select their roommate during this process; roommates are guaranteed if each roommate selects each other.

First-year students receive confirmation of housing by early July. Returning students will receive confirmation by early June.

Confirmations will be send to a student’s Thaddeus Stevens College email. It may be useful for students to download the Outlook email app to their phone as to easily check it.

Help Them Understand Systems and Tools

During the application process, a student will be using the College’s ‘applicant portal.’ Once they have officially enrolled, they will be assigned a College email address and will be given access to ‘Self Service’ – the tool in which they can view financial information, class registrations, etc. The College also utilizes Canvas, a classroom support software, to access grades and assignments. All of this can be found in the College’s student tool, known as ‘Thad’s Pad’, which can be found at my.stevenscollege.edu. It is only accessible with a Thaddeus Stevens College email address and login. In Thad’s Pad, there are tiles and links to everything a student would need while enrolled at the College. Menus are posted weekly in announcements at the top, and a calendar at the top right includes all upcoming student activities. A student bulletin is sent out weekly via email and is also accessible on Thad’s Pad in an announcement at the top. Please note: Most communications from the College will come via email.

Understand that Struggle is Normal

Transitioning to a new phase of life will naturally come with frustrations, overwhelm, and struggle. For your student, this isn’t a question of if these scenarios may happen, but when. This is a normal part of adjusting to change and intense seasons of learning. Let your student know they are not alone. The support systems at Thaddeus Stevens College are comprehensive. A student in need of support simply needs to communicate and follow through in seeking help. The College has many levels of staff dedicated to ensuring the success of each student.

Ask How Things Are Going Academically and Socially

Checking in and asking how the college experience is going gives your student a chance to share with you as you are being supportive. If they have questions or are facing something difficult, ask them what office or person on campus they could go to for help? Inquire about what college resources might be available, such as tutoring, office hours of an instructor, a director of a certain area to address an issue, etc. We know mental health is a significant scenario for many college students today, and the College has a counselor on staff with a location at the Griscom Education Center, and their role includes helping students find additional support if needed as well. If a student is unsure of who to go to for their needs, we recommend they speak with their Academic Coach – every student on campus at Thaddeus Stevens College has an Academic Coach!

Day-to-Day Logistics

One of the toughest things to manage in learning adult skills is time management and preparation.

Prior to the start of college, it will be important for your student to have a system developed as to how they keep track of commitments, deadlines, and responsibilities. While the system itself can vary (paper planner, phone calendar, app, etc.), a student will need to have an effective method for navigating their responsibilities both now and in the future.

As their college career advances, they will have a better understanding of time commitments – how much studying time may be needed for a class, how much time it takes to get to class, etc. To support your student while they are learning this, encourage them to plan and prepare ahead, leaving themselves extra time. If parking is limited they may need to park elsewhere and take a College shuttle. They will need to be aware of mealtimes if they have a meal plan to fit that in between other commitments, etc.

Meal Plans

Students on campus might have a meal plan, or they might occasionally purchase meals separately from a meal plan. Each meal has a pre-set price. On Main Campus, Jones Dining Hall is open for breakfast from 6:45 to 9:30 a.m., for lunch from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., and for dinner from 4:30 to 7 p.m., Monday through Friday. On the weekends and holidays, brunch is served from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and dinner is served on Saturdays from 4 to 5:30 p.m. Dinner is not served on Sundays. There is also a Campus Grill open on Main Campus throughout the day Monday through Fridays and on Sundays for dinner. At our Griscom Education Center, the Orange Street Café is open throughout the week and on Sundays for dinner as well.

Parking

Students will need to navigate where to park, how soon to get there to walk to class, and our shuttle system depending on their needs. Parking lots are divided into red or grey colors. Grey lots include the Clark Street lot (student parking near Griscom Education Center), the Transportation Center parking lot, parking at the College’s Greenfield location, and the Alms House parking lot, which is on Broad Street across from our Main Campus. There is no cost to park in the grey lots; however, students still need to register their vehicles to receive a grey parking permit decal. Red parking lots include the MAC at the Main Campus, parking at Hartzell on the corner of King and Broad streets, and parking next to Schwalm building on our Main Campus, as well as at the Naval Reserve building across Parkside Avenue at our Griscom Education Center. Red parking lots have limited spaces on campus – grey parking spaces are ample. Anyone with a red parking permit may park in a grey or red lot. Students living in residence halls will be given a red parking permit as part of the residence cost after they register their vehicle. For those not living on campus, red parking permits are available for $75 in a limited supply.

At the Start of a Semester

At the beginning of a semester, you can support your student in college by ensuring they know how to follow the systems for needed items.

Textbooks

In preparing for college classes, students will need to access textbooks for each class. The textbook list is made available in Canvas, where classroom information is hosted, and textbooks at Thaddeus Stevens College are purchased through HACC. (If a student is receiving a Stevens Grant, they will not need to purchase their own textbooks). Books may be purchased directly or online from the HACC Lancaster bookstore at https://bookstore.hacc.edu. Instructions on how to find and purchase the textbooks needed can be found on our textbook page on the website. Textbooks may be picked up at the HACC Lancaster bookstore location or delivered to an address. If mailed to the College, please use 750 East King St., Lancaster, PA 17602, and the mailing system will distribute mail to our Residence Life staff for students living on campus.

Tools

Tools are needed for most program lab classes. Stevens Grant students are provided with tools. Tool lists are posted on the program pages of the website, on the right above the “Request Info” button. The tool document may have a previous year noted on it; be aware that these are the most recent tool lists available.

Shuttles

Thaddeus Stevens College maintains a shuttle service running amongst all five of its locations on a regular basis. The current schedule can be found on Thad’s Pad, both in an announcement at the top and on the Campus Life tile. There is also a shuttle that brings students to and from the residence hall we use on the campus of Millersville University. There is a phone number a student can call posted on the schedule if a shuttle is not arriving as expected. Students will need to familiarize themselves with the shuttle schedule to plan out their time commitments, leaving room for flexibility for traffic or unexpected delays.

Support Responsibility for Stepping into Career

The process to secure a job both during and after graduating from Thaddeus Stevens College takes initiative and communication skills. The College benefits from robust industry relationships, with many local, regional, and statewide companies seeking out our graduates to hire.

Encourage your student to create their own account on the College’s job posting tool, College Central Network, which is widely used by employers connected to the College. Students can also attend workshops on campus to prepare for seeking internships, work with Career Services to create a resume, attend career fairs during the Spring semester, apply for summer internships, and create a LinkedIn account. The Career Services office is located in Hartzell building on Main Campus. Each of these steps helps to strengthen a student’s opportunities for future roles and career advancement. As your student begins to follow these steps to secure a future role, know that employers will expect them to communicate themselves, show up for interviews and appointments, and respond to additional communication.