• Follow us on Twitter
  • Join our Facebook Group

University Survival

  • Student Success Skills
    • Picking a College
    • Financing Your Education
    • Choosing a Major
    • Preparing for College
    • Managing the Personal Side of the Transition to College
    • Developing Discipline to Do Well
    • Managing the Social Side of College
    • Being an Efficient Learner
    • Taking Tests
    • Ensuring You Receive The Grade You Want
    • Managing Group Projects
    • Becoming a Campus Leader
    • Student Athletes
    • Navigating College Practices
    • Succeeding on Internships and Co-ops
    • Making Critical Decisions
    • Overcoming Challenges for Specific Types of Students
    • Setting Goals
    • Being an International Student In The United States
    • Using Resources
    • Communication Skills for College Graduates
    • Building a Professional Network
    • Using LinkedIn to Develop Your Network
    • Preparing for a Career
    • Understanding Job Protocols
    • Developing Essential Career Skills
    • Becoming a Leader
    • Overcoming Career Challenges
    • Planning for your Financial Future
  • Parent Connections
    • Parent Topics
      • Being a Supportive Parent
      • Making Critical Decisions
      • Financing Your Student’s Education
    • Parent Emails
  • Teacher Resources
  • Resources
  • Community
  • About
You are here: Parent Connections » Parent Topics » Being a Supportive Parent » Knowing When to Intervene

Parent Topics

Knowing When to Intervene

by JoJo
July 19, 2012

In most cases, students should resolve their own issues.  College is a time when students should learn how to negotiate challenges.  But there may be times when you need to intervene.

            What are these times?  Here are some criteria you might follow.  Intervene when:

1.   Your student has exhausted every possible remedy, but has made virtually no progress.

2.   Your student is getting no response from university staff or faculty

3.   Your student is being given obviously wrong guidance

 

How do you intervene?  Here are suggestions.

1.   If your campus has a parent advocate, start there.  Often the parent advocate will get the attention you need.

2.   When you reach a responsible university person

  • Give the background on the issue
  • Ask for help
  • Determine the best resolution
  • Follow up the resolution with a written understanding of the resolution. Whatever you do, don’t threaten or raise your voice.  University faculty and staff are notoriously stubborn when being threatened.  Name dropping also doesn’t work.

3.   If the issue isn’t resolved satisfactorily, you’ll need to assess whether the issue should be pursued further.  At some point, continued pursuit of the issue could be counter productive.  If you do decide to take the issue further, take the issue to the dean of the college.  Generally the dean will want to get the issue resolved amicably.

As a rule of thumb, there are very few cases where you will need to intervene.  But if you do, starting at the lower level of the dispute is always best. .

← Understanding Privacy Laws
Dealing with Homesickness →

Suggest a Topic

Looking for a topic and can't find it? Why not submit one...

Suggest a Topic

Share This

Rate This Topic

1 Star2 Stars3 Stars4 Stars5 Stars (No Ratings Yet)
Loading...

Testimonials

  • My biggest improvement is that I have been checking my grades, instead of burying my head and trying to ignore the classes I know I am doing bad in.  This semester my grades don't necessarily show improvement at midterms because once again I wasn't prepared for the first round of exams.  That really came back to bite me because in a few classes that was the only grade on the midterms.  But since I have been keeping track, I have been doing everything in my power to make the grades better.  I did all my on-line homework for a few classes so that I would not have to worry about keeping track of when they are due, and I have been keeping a to-do list for studying and things like that..

Sign Up For Parent Emails

Enter your email below to get weekly parent emails.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Suggest a Topic

Looking for a topic and can't find it? Why not submit one...

Suggest a Topic

Share This

Sign Up For Parent Emails

Enter your email below to get weekly parent emails.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Suggest a Topic

Looking for a topic and can't find it? Why not submit one...

Suggest a Topic
© Copyright - University Survival