We realize that sending your student to college is a time of tremendous transition for your family. All students (and their families) go through an adjustment period and experience many ups and downs while living away from home. There are many resources at the college to help your student manage community life at Penn State Altoona.
In the Office of Residence Life, we deal directly with the student(s) who are experiencing conflict. This enables us to establish a relationship with your student and helps to get to the crux of the issues more efficiently. We do welcome parent input and questions at any time. Our goal is to provide parents with resources which they can pass on to their student to help them help themselves. As a college, our relationship is with the student, and it is important that we include them in the process, which could include copying them on e-mail responses, contacting them before returning your call and asking the Residence Life staff to follow-up on an issue parents bring to our attention.
It is important that students have support and encouragement from home while being allowed to mature through their own experiences. By all means, be there for your student as a sounding board, but let them handle their own problems as much as possible. We know this can be hard, but your student’s success is dependent on their own ability to function independently.
