INSIGHTS | PARENT & FAMILY PROGRAMS
Parent & Family Programs for Colleges and Universities
A family’s relationship with a college or university does not necessarily begin and end with orientation.
Parents, family members, and other supporters may participate in orientation, receive information before a student arrives, complete online preparation, attend Family Weekend, register for family programs and events, or stay connected to institutional resources throughout the student’s transition.
Not every family or supporter will participate in the same way.
Some may attend orientation with their student.
Others may not be able to attend at all.
Some may return for Family Weekend or another family program months later.
And some institutions may continue communicating with families and supporters well beyond the initial orientation experience.
That creates a larger question:
How does an institution support the people who are helping students navigate the transition?
What are parent and family programs?
Parent and family programs help colleges and universities inform, prepare, and engage the parents, families, and supporters of students.
The terminology varies by institution.
Some colleges and universities use Parent and Family Programs. Others may use Family Programs, Family Engagement, Parent and Family Engagement, or language that specifically includes supporters.
The programs themselves can vary just as much.
Depending on the institution, parent and family programs may include orientation, online preparation, communications, institutional resources, Family Weekend, family events, educational programming, or other opportunities to participate in the university community.
There is no single model every institution needs to follow.
The important question is:
What relationship does your institution want to establish with families and supporters, and what do those individuals need from the institution?
Families and supporters may have an orientation experience of their own
Family participation in orientation is not always the same as student participation.
Some institutions may allow students to add parents, family members, guests, or supporters when they register for orientation.
Others may operate a separate family orientation registration process.
The family experience itself may also differ from the student’s.
Families and supporters might attend some activities with students and others separately. They may need their own information, schedules, communications, resources, or check-in process.
Some programs may also charge a family or supporter registration fee or manage capacity for particular activities.
This can make family orientation more than simply adding another person to a student’s reservation.
The institution may be operating a related experience for a different participant.
Not every family or supporter can attend orientation
Physical attendance is not the only way a family or supporter can participate.
A parent may be working.
A supporter may live far from campus.
Another family member may simply be unable to travel during the institution’s orientation dates.
Those individuals may still need information about the student’s transition.
Depending on the institution’s model, families and supporters may receive online orientation, preparation activities, task lists, communications, institutional resources, or other information without attending an in-person program.
That creates an important distinction:
Supporting families and supporters does not have to depend on whether they can be physically present at orientation.
Family orientation registration may involve more than attendance
When families and supporters do attend orientation, the institution may need to know more than whether an additional guest is coming.
How many supporters will attend?
Which student are they connected to?
Are there fees?
Are some activities optional?
Do particular sessions have limited capacity?
Does the supporter need a different schedule from the student?
Can a registration be changed or canceled?
Will supporters check in separately?
The answers depend on the institution and the program.
For some colleges and universities, family orientation registration may remain closely connected to student orientation registration.
For others, the family or supporter may have a more independent registration experience.
Family programs can continue beyond orientation
Orientation may be the first highly visible family program, but it does not have to be the last.
Family Weekend may bring families back to campus for a different kind of experience.
Depending on the institution, that may involve registration, reservations, schedules, capacity, communications, payments, check-in, or other participation requirements.
Some institutions may also offer family brunches, send-off events, educational programs, receptions, virtual programs, regional gatherings, or other family experiences throughout the year.
The scale and structure can vary significantly.
One institution may operate a few family programs.
Another may maintain a more continuous family-engagement effort.
The important point is that each program does not necessarily have to represent an entirely new relationship.
A parent, family member, or supporter who participated during orientation may be the same person returning for another institutional experience later.
Families and supporters are not necessarily just guests
The word guest can be useful when describing someone attending an event with a student.
But it does not necessarily describe the entire relationship.
A supporter may attend orientation as a guest.
That same person might also receive preparation information, complete an online orientation experience, access institutional resources, register for Family Weekend, attend another family program, or receive communications later.
In those situations, the supporter has a relationship with the institution that extends beyond one event registration.
That distinction can matter when colleges and universities consider how they manage parent and family programs.
Communications and resources may continue between programs
Not every interaction with a family or supporter needs to be an event.
Institutions may provide information and resources related to topics such as orientation, advising, financial matters, move-in, campus resources, important dates, family programming, or other parts of the student transition.
Communications may also continue before and after individual programs.
For some institutions, the primary objective may be preparing families for orientation.
For others, it may include maintaining a continuing connection through communications, resources, educational opportunities, and future programs.
Neither model is inherently the right one.
What should colleges and universities consider when supporting parent and family programs?
There is no universal parent and family program model.
A useful evaluation begins with the experience your institution already provides.
Consider:
- How are parents, families, and supporters first identified?
- Can a student identify or add a supporter?
- Can supporters participate independently of the student?
- What information should families receive before orientation?
- What happens for families who cannot attend in person?
- Is online orientation or preparation available?
- Do families and supporters have tasks or other preparation activities?
- How does family orientation registration work?
- Are there fees, capacities, reservations, or optional activities?
- Do supporters receive schedules that differ from student schedules?
- How are families and supporters checked in?
- Does the institution operate Family Weekend?
- What other family programs or events occur throughout the year?
- Can the same supporter participate in more than one program?
- What communications or resources should be available between programs?
- Which institutional offices and systems should appropriately own each responsibility?
The answers may reveal that parent and family programs are not one event or one communication channel.
They can represent several connected institutional responsibilities.
How VZOS® supports parent and family programs
VZOS® is VisualZen’s Orientation Management Platform for colleges and universities.
Depending on the institution’s needs, VZOS® can support family and supporter experiences involving orientation registration, preparation, communications, schedules, participation, Family Weekend, and other family programs.
That can include online preparation for families who cannot attend in person, as well as registration, communications, task-based preparation, schedules, and check-in for institution-defined programs and events.
An institution does not need to use VZOS® for all of that work.
One institution may begin with supporters participating in orientation.
Another may need an online experience for families who cannot attend.
Another may use VZOS® for Family Weekend or other family programs.
Another may support a continuing relationship with families and supporters across multiple experiences.
The appropriate role depends on what the institution has decided VZOS® should support.
Your family and supporter model is yours
There is no universal way colleges and universities should engage parents, families, and supporters.
Programs differ in purpose, ownership, terminology, duration, participation, communications, and the role families are expected to play in the student experience.
Some institutions may focus primarily on orientation.
Others may operate Family Weekend and additional family programs.
Some may provide online preparation and resources.
Others may maintain an ongoing family and supporter experience.
VisualZen’s role is not to decide what that relationship should look like.
Our job is to understand the family and supporter experience your institution has chosen to provide and where technology can appropriately support it.
Families and supporters may be helping students navigate their transition. They can have an institutional experience of their own, too.
VZOS® can support the parts of that experience your institution has decided the platform should own.
