Suggested Reading List

The following is a list of publications that are available if you are seeking additional information about the college transition:

• Don’t’ Tell Me What To Do, Just Send Money
  by Helen E. Johnson and Christine Schelhas-Miller

When children leave for college, many parents feel uncertain at their roles. This book emphasizes the importance of being a mentor, helping parents to celebrate their student’s independence while still providing love and support. The authors offer valuable insight into the minds of the students, and provide parents with simple suggestions on a wide range of topics including financial matters, academic concerns, and social adjustment.

• Helping Your First Year College Student Succeed
  by Richard H. Mullendore and Cathie Hatch of the National Orientation Director’s Association

This booklet focuses on “letting go” as a long term process that needs to be completed. Feelings parents and students will likely experience during the first year of college are explored and suggestions are offered for resolution of issues. Parents are encouraged to “renegotiate” their relationship with their student as an adult.

• Letting Go: A Parents Guide to Understanding the College Years
  by Karen Levin Coburn and Madge Lawrence Treeger

Parents are lead through the period of transition that their students experience between the junior year of high school and college graduation. It distinguishes normal developmental stages from problems that may require parental or professional intervention. A new resource guide is included for useful websites, campus technology and organizations that can lend assistance.

• Empty Nest . . .Full Heart: the Journey from Home to College
  by Andrea VanSteenhouse, Ph.D.

Featuring an emphasis on the freshman experience, this publication is a lighthearted, yet savvy look at the turbulent time between a student’s last year in high school and that first year in college. The book’s general, compassionate scope makes it lively, humorous, and emotional.

• When Kids Go to College: A Parents Guide to Relationships
  by Barbara M. Newman and Philip Newman

This is a practical guide covering the topics of identity formation, values developed, exploration, social relationships, sexuality, alcohol and drug abuse, relationships, residence hall life, personal freedom, depression, and college bureaucracy.

• Parent’s Guide to College Life: 181 Straight Answers on Everything You Can Expect Over the Next Four Years
  by Robin Raskin

Gives parents straight answers to tough questions like:

• How much money should my son/daughter be spending a week?

• Is it wise to give my child a checkbook? A credit card?

• Does my son/daughter need a laptop or a desktop computer?

• Should she/he be working a job wile attending school?