As  tuition prices rise annually, today’s college students are seeing an increase in parental involvement during their transition into college environments. While some parental involvement is beneficial throughout the college process, it’s very important for parents to give students space to bolster independence before moving into the working world.

A study on six college freshmen aimed to determine the positive and negative impacts of parental involvement during a student’s transition into a college environment.

“The students who communicated with their parents multiple times a week or even on a daily basis displayed less independence, as they remained dependent on their parents and needed affirmation and validation in order to feel good about the decisions they made. The students who felt like they didn’t need to speak with their parents as often or constantly ask them for advice demonstrated a greater understanding of what it meant to be independent,” said Lauren Edelman of the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

It can be concluded that students who rely too much on their parents for advice, financial stability and housekeeping tasks suffer in the development of their independence. This bears the question of how much a college student’s parent or guardian should put into their child’s transition into a college environment.

Sophomore OMIS major Cody Bradshaw pays his own tuition but has had parental help in his orientation and with moving into his apartment.

“I think you do need support, like your parents should be there to help you,” Bradshaw said. “But at the same time, college is like your last step in becoming an adult, so you do need to be able to be prepared. You do need some parent support, but you should also do some things by yourself like laundry, cooking and setting up your own stuff.”

On the other hand, parents who help pay a student’s tuition fees deserve some involvement in the college transition and the college process in general. If a parent is spending their money for their child to attend college, there are many grounds for this money to be abused and something like an educational progress report should be warranted in that respect.

“Yes, I think that if the parent is supporting, it’s up to the parent to ke sure that the money is not being wasted. I mean, it’s easy for the student to take the money and just go party, so the parents need to realize that if they’re making that investment they should be getting their money’s worth out of it.” Bradshaw said about the topic.

Overall, it’s best if a parent keeps in touch with their student but do not inhibit their experiences by coddling them. College is an opportunity to transition a person from the role of a K-12 student to a functioning adult; therefore it’s important for students to learn the necessary skills to function during this transition period instead of taking on the brunt of it when they enter the working world.