College Parent Central Podcast

Vicki and Elizabeth had a wide-ranging conversation with Harlan Cohen, college transition expert and author of The Naked Roommate: And 107 Other Issues You Might Run Into In College. Harlan shared why the transition to college can be so difficult and why finding your People, your Places, and having Patience can make a difference. Harlan encourages parents – and students – to understand that the first year of college, or at least th...

Talking about tutoring is a new topic for our podcast, but we are finding that college parenting begins earlier and earlier, and parents are making many early decisions with future college potential in mind. In this episode, Vicki was pleased to be able to have a conversation with Celine Bewsher, Owner/Manager of Club Z! Tutoring in Cambridge, MA. Celine shared her insights about how tutoring can help students succeed, not just by ...

This episode is sort-of an encore episode. Each year we do an episode where we share some of our favorite – and helpful – books for college parents. This year, we realized that many of the books that we’ve talked about over the past four years are still ones we recommend. So we’ve pulled together seven of our suggestions from past years and put them together in this episode. These books are truly some of our top recommendations. Ha...

Once your student makes their final college decision and puts down that important deposit, they enter a new leg of the college journey. Sure, you know there will be lots of preparation work ahead – summer decisions, shopping, good-byes, packing – but your student may be thinking they’ll really become a college student at Move-in Day in the fall. Your student may still be a high school student, but the college knows there’s work to ...

When our student heads off to college, we worry about a lot of things, and one of the primary concerns is our student’s health and well-being. We first interviewed Dr. Jill Grimes, often dubbed the “College Doc” because of her focus on the health of college aged students, back in Episode #024 in 2020, at the height of the Covid Pandemic. It was time to invite her back to hear what’s changed in the last 4 years and also to hear abou...

Here’s an encore of an earlier podcast episode that we think is so important it deserves to be released again. If your student is making their decision right now, you may need to hear this. The college admission process begins earlier and earlier and sometimes seems to go on forever. When those highly anticipated acceptance letters begin to arrive, the process enters a new phase. The ball is now in your student’s court to make a de...

In this second crossover episode with a Facebook Live even hosted with cohost Elizabeth Hamblet, we were joined by Timothy L. Fields and Shereem Herndon-Brown, authors of The Black Family’s Guide to College Admissions now out in its second edition. Tim and Shereem shared how the book came to be, what’s new in the second edition, and touched on many topics including what makes a strong college essay, college choice and the college s...

We recently received an email from a parent with a question. This mom was concerned that in spite of a number of supports, her son was struggling and not doing well. She could see far enough down the road to be fairly certain he was going to fail and she wondered whether failing was the only way he would realize that he needs to use his supports more fully. This mom wants to hold on to the hope that her son will come through - and ...

Vicki and Sarah spent some time recently at the Region 1 conference of NACADA - the National Advising Association. There's a lot to learn about how staff and faculty advisors work to guide your student throughout their college career. In this episode, Vicki and Sarah compare notes and share some of the themes that bubbled up at the conference. It may help you understand a little more about your student as you hear what some of...

In this, our first crossover episode, we joined with Elizabeth Hamblet (one of our new cohosts) as she hosted a Facebook Live discussion with four guests who work in programs for students with disabilities - Brittany Cortinas of the University of Arizona's SALT Center, Ann-Marie Stripling of Focus Collegiate, Mary Sokolowski of College Internship Program, and Adam Lalor of Landmark College. Our panel shared information about h...

In this episode we’re “meeting the team” in two different ways. We introduce you to our new College Parent Central podcasting team as we are joined by new cohosts Elizabeth Hamblet and Sarah Shane, and we also reintroduce Vicki Nelson and Lynn Abrahams for new listeners. But we’re also talking about the team of people at most colleges who are there to support your student. With so many different support roles it’s easy to wonder wh...

The transition to second semester of college is so important – and often hidden – that we’ve decided to share this episode again. You and your student may be taken by surprise when the start of the second semester of college seems so difficult. In this episode, Vicki and Lynn explore why some students may experience the “second semester blues” and why some parents feel they need to increase their involvement. We share strategies yo...

As a follow-up to our earlier episode on communicating with professors (#83), Lynn and Vicki explore some of the benefits of relationships with professors, what those relationships might look like, and how students might approach and work with faculty members outside of the classroom. We often assume many of these social skills are second nature and common sense, but post Covid, students may need help in developing these skills. Pa...

In this episode Vicki and Lynn take a look ahead to Season 5 of the podcast and describe some of the exciting changes we’re planning. We introduce two new co-hosts who will be joining the College Parent Central Podcast Team.  Elizabeth Hamblet and Sarah Share will be adding their voices to the season ahead. We’re excited about exploring new topics and perspectives while continuing to provide the support for parents we’ve shared in ...

We’re 100 episodes in! Lynn and Vicki take some time to look back at some of our most popular episodes, some of our favorites, some trends and themes we’ve noticed, and what we’ve loved about getting together to create this podcast. We also take a look at some of the themes we think might surface for college students and parents in the future – and there’s more to come about that in our next episode. Stay tuned!

Thank you for liste...

Vicki and Lynn spent this episode in conversation with Ron Lieber author of The Price You Pay for College: An Entirely New Road Map for the Biggest Financial Decision Your Family Will Ever Make. Ron helped us unpack how complicated the financial aid system is and how crucial it is to understand how it works. The Price You Pay for College examines how our feelings and our ideas about success affect the choices we make about what we ...

So many mysterious terms and acronyms to understand when your student heads off to college! In this third College Lingo installment Vicki and Lynn define and discuss several of the insider terms that colleges use that may not be clear to parents. We cover topics from Disability Services and Priority Registration to Satisfactory Academic Progress, Minors, the College Catalog, and the Clery Act. We’re only scratching the surface of t...

It’s natural for students to struggle with college work. The problem we see isn’t the struggle or challenge, it is that students don’t always ask for the help they need. Colleges work hard to make sure students know about the resources available, so why don’t more students make use of them? In this episode, Lynn and Vicki explore some of the reasons students may be reluctant to get help and how parents can encourage their student t...

In this episode Lynn and Vicki took a tour through the college calendar. We focused on several of the touchpoints students experience throughout the year. We highlighted conversations to have with your student at the important milestones in each semester. Understanding what is happening for your student will help parents provide the support needed at just the right time.

Thank you for listening!

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