• A father and son at a candle lighting ceremony
Incoming Undergraduates & Families

Residential Students Tips

» Residential Students Tips

A major change for first-year students is adjusting to a new living situation. Moving to a college campus and living without daily parental check-in is a transition for both students and parents. Below are tips that will help you and your student ease into this transition.

Before move-in day

Encourage your student to contact their roommate(s)

Students will receive room assignment information over the summer. Coordinating with roommates prior to move-in will help determine who will be bringing specific items to the room (e.g., TVs, printers, game systems, etc.) and avoid duplication of supplies.

Roommates may want to look into renting or purchasing a microfridge for the year. This compact refrigerator/freezer/microwave oven combo unit meets all size, safety and electrical requirements and is the only approved device that allows students to have a microwave in their room. Details are available here.

Once the semester begins

Avoid asking your student if they are homesick

The first few days and weeks of school are activity-packed and the challenge of meeting new people and adjusting to new situations may take a majority of your student’s time and concentration. So, unless they’re reminded of it (by a well-meaning parent or family member), they’ll probably be
able to escape the initial loneliness and frustration of homesickness. And even if they don’t tell
you during those first few weeks that they miss you – they do. Homesickness is normal.

Visit occasionally

Visits by parents and families (especially accompanied dinners out together, and fun new adventures) are often something that new students are reluctant to admit liking, but appreciate greatly.

Visiting your student gives them an opportunity to share some of the important aspects of their new world (e.g., friends, activities, etc.). The Chapman Family Homecoming Celebration is the perfect opportunity to visit for the first time. Students are settled in by this point and parents can get a realistic feel for how everything is going.

Trust your student

As one college student recalls: "One of the most important things my mom wrote to me in my four years at college was ‘I love you and want for you all the things that make you the happiest. I guess you, not I, are the one who knows best what those things are.'"

 

 

Contact Parent and Family Engagement


Email: pantherfamily@chapman.edu

Phone: (714) 997-6558

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EMPEZANDO EN ESPAÑOL

Getting Started en Español


Visit the Getting Started en Español page for information on how to help your child stay on track as they prepare for their first semester at Chapman, all in Spanish.

Visita la página de Empezando en español para obtener información sobre cómo ayudar a tu hijo a mantenerse en el camino mientras se prepara para su primer semestre en Chapman.