Parental involvement in college has increased

More evidence that parental engagement in their children’s college has increased over last few years.

Colleges and universities have noted parents’ seemingly boundless concern for their children’s well-being and have shifted strategies in response. They have boosted parental involvement, or engagement, as it is known in the fund-raising industry. Schools have doubled the number of on-campus parent associations in roughly 10 years, according to the Council for Advancement and Support of Education, and parents, in turn, have given generously, even as college costs have hit new highs. Parent donations to higher education, from 2001 to 2010, increased by nearly 50 percent, according to a study published by the Council for Aid to Education.

College parent orientations used to be rare until recently.

According to the National Survey of College and University Parent Programs, in 1999, some 35 percent of institutions offered parent orientations. In 2007, over 95 percent conducted them.

Is this good or bad?  Probably both, depending on the type of parental involvement.  One thing to consider is that skyrocketing college costs may have caused parents to become more careful about making sure their money is being spent wisely.  Hence, the increased oversight of how their children’s college is adding value.