Child Heading to College this Fall? Back to School Items Too Many Miss

In late summer in parts of town close to universities, it’s best to steer clear of big box stores, when rising first-years and parents make last-minute runs to get ready for the start of the school year. Long bed sheets, notepads, the latest technology, and closet organizers are already in shopping carts. But some important items can get overlooked. As an academic advisor at Washington University in St. Louis for the past ten years, I can offer recommendations for other items for your student to put on the back-to-school list, items commonly missed:

• Send in AP Scores

Did your student take Advanced Placement (AP) or other coursework or exams for college credit while in high school? Even if results were submitted to the college as part of the application process, the information may not have been passed along to the registrar or dean’s office. And results for AP exams taken in spring of senior year were announced only a couple weeks ago, so they need to be reported too.

Your student should be sure to get full credit for any “pre-matriculation” work (fancy word for work done before the start of college). Since there’s no universal rule for how colleges grant credit, nor any guarantee that the college will take the credit, students should research policies at college web sites, and then find out if test scores or transcripts need to be submitted again to the academic office of their school.

Why do it now? Pre-matriculation scores or coursework may affect placement levels for first-semester classes. Also, taking a class for which they would have already received credit would be a waste of time, money and effort.

For information on reporting AP scores, visit the College Board site; for IB scores, visit the International Baccalaureate site; for other sources of pre-matriculation credit, contact the provider or your college.

• Learn to love FERPA, and talk with your student about whether (and how) you want to see grades.

You probably know about HIPAA (the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act), which protects the privacy of your health information. But you may not have heard about its cousin FERPA (Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act).

FERPA “protects the privacy of student education records.” At 18, or when the student attends a post-secondary school, the right to privacy transfers from parent to student, which means (no matter who foots the bill) parents do not automatically have the right to see the student’s grades.

Discuss with your student your expectation to see grades. If you want to see them, some schools provide FERPA waivers for students to sign, others don’t. Perhaps the easiest way to see grades, however, is to ask the student. It’s an opportunity to engage with your student on a new level, as they reach adulthood with its attendant rights of privacy. For more information on FERPA, see the US Department of Education

• Register to vote.

One of the most critical roles of college is to prepare students to be engaged citizens, and one of the best ways to be part of democracy is to vote. Important midterm elections are right around the corner, and if your son or daughter will be eighteen by November 6, 2018 (born on or before November 6, 2000), now is the time to register to vote. Students going to college out of state also need to decide whether to register to vote in their home or college state.

For information on how to register to vote, visit USA.gov.

• Need disability resources? Reach out now.

Nearly every college provides accommodations for disabilities to ensure equal access to campus and all of its academic experiences. But students who received accommodations in high school may notice differences in college. While high schools are required to identify an individual’s educational needs, colleges ask students to self-identify. Then they provide resources necessary to provide equal access and avoid discrimination on the basis of ability.

If students plan to seek accommodations, they should contact the disability resource office at the college as early as possible to learn the process for submitting documentation and securing accommodations. The process may require documentation from a professional and take more time than you expect.

For more information on disability services, see the Office of Civil Rights page “Students with Disabilities Preparing for Post-secondary Education."

• Need to continue therapy or psychiatric care? Research support at the college.

Students who have received ongoing therapy or psychiatric care should research the support their college provides. Even if a university has a professional health center and counseling services, it may be designed to provide help for students needing occasional or emergency assistance, rather than those who need ongoing care. Research the support at the college starting at its web site. If it cannot provide the ongoing care needed, it may still be able to refer you to local caregivers with a strong reputation for working well with college students.

No doubt your student has plenty to do, from registering for fall-semester courses to putting in hours at a summer job, from making arrangements with future room-mates to making “one last time” memories with high-school friends. Whether you put it on your student or take it on yourself, put these items on the back-to-school list now, and September will be all the easier for it.