“Let me call my mom first!”: The challenges of working with millennial students and their parents

1. “Let me call my mom first!”: The challenges of working with millennial students and their parents Jeannine Kranzow Sara E. Hinkle Annual Conference on the First-Year Experience Atlanta, GA February 2006

2. Millennial Students – Who are they? Those born between 1982 and 2002 (Coomes & DeBard, 2004) Characteristics: • Optimists • Cooperative, team players • Accepting of authority • Tend to follow the rules • Think being smart is good • Hopeful about the future

3. “A mystery to earlier generations, this child-proof age group is self-assured, stressed, and straight. Born into an era of the wanted and watched child, these techno wizards accept authority, follow the rules, crave structure, and are smarter then they might first appear. Eight out of ten think it’s cool to be smart.” Kathleen Phalen “Self-Assured, Stressed, and Straight: Millennial students and how they got that way.” Web article: http://ww.itc.virginia.edu/virginia.edu/fall02/student/home.html accessed 12/2/04

4. Professional Standards Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) Let’s look at some of the articulated goals and you will see some of the challenges we face with when working with millennial students.

5. “Activities to develop independence and self-sufficiency will be provided.” CAS Standards, College and University Student Housing Professionals • “Develop citizenship through participation in campus and community affairs.” CAS Standards, Campus Activities Program • Helping students understand themselves (goals, values, interests, strengths, weaknesses) CAS Standards, National Academic Advising Association • Desirable student learning outcomes include clarification of personal values and enhancing self-esteem CAS Standards, TRIO & Other Educational Opportunity Programs

6. Chickering – Student Development Highly influential psychosocial theory (Chickering & Reisser, 1993) Seven Vectors • Developing Competence • Managing Emotions • *Moving through Autonomy to Interdependence* • Developing Mature Interpersonal Relationships • Establishing Identity • *Developing Purpose* • Developing Integrity

7. They would like to be told what to do- • “Let me call my mom first!” – Trouble making decisions on their own • They have highly involved parents

8. John Weidman’s Model of Student Socialization (1989) Weidman suggests that: Student background characteristics + Non-college reference groups + Parental influence = The amount of impact that an institution can have on any given student.

9. How can we best assist students? How can we work with parents collaboratively to assist students?

10. Parent orientation Audience ideas Asking lots of questions Utilizing technology to help students develop Encouraging co-curricular activities Ideas?

11. Collaborating with parents Encourage parents to have their children participate in co-curricular activities. We know the impact they can have, but parent’s don’t always see them this way. Teach parents about important things on your campus. They want to help, but need direction in knowing how to best do that. Educate parents about the services available to help students. If your institutional size will allow for this, let parents meet faculty members. This way, they can more comfortably refer their sons/daughters to speak with faculty

12. Break into groups by institutional size/type Sharing other ideas

13. Jeannine Kranzow, Ph.D. Director of Academic Advising Saint Leo University PO Box 6665 MC 2067 Saint Leo, FL 33574 352-588-7730 352-588-8300 (fax) Jeannine.kranzow@saintleo.edu Sara E. Hinkle, Ph.D. Associate Director College of Arts & Science Advising Center 100 Washington Square East, Silver 905 New York University New York, NY 10003 212-998-8130 212-995-4378 (fax) Sara.hinkle@nyu.edu Contact Information