Tips for Parents of New College Students

• Soon after we receive your student’s deposit, we will send an email to the address listed on their application with instructions on how to set up their Wingate email account.

• Students who are beginning their college careers are often unclear about their career path or choosing a major. Have a positive discussion with them about their strengths, interests, passions, and possible career paths. Listen to them and offer them encouragement to find their own path.
• Encourage your student to explore Wingate’s self-assessment tool or offer to explore it together with them. Click here to open the tool. Have your student enter their Wingate email and password.

• Wingate University is nationally ranked as a top college for best value for the money, and our students pay less out of pocket on average than students at many other public and private universities. It is important to understand, however, that college is an investment in time and money with a big return. Americans who hold a Baccalaureate degree (sometimes called a Bachelor’s degree), regardless of major, earn an average of $30,000 more per year and $1 million more in their lifetime than those who hold only a high school diploma.
• Students can expect to receive their first bill in early July. For that bill to be correct, students must have completed the financial aid process. In order to receive the best financial aid package possible, it is critical to complete the FAFSA using Wingate’s school code 002985. If a student is ineligible for FAFSA due to citizenship status the student should complete this form. Once your student gains access to their Student Checklist, you and your student should start completing the Financial Aid Documents task immediately. This task can take time to complete and will require that your student continues to check their Wingate email frequently. It will also be important for your student to continue to check their NetPartner account which can be accessed via the Financial Aid Documents task on the Student Checklist.
• Working in college is a good experience for students and it helps to pay the bills. Experts, however, recommend that full-time college students work no more than 20 hours per week. Otherwise, they risk failing their classes and losing the money they’ve invested in them. Wingate has hundreds of opportunities for students to work in great campus jobs, where they not only earn money, but they apply their professional skills as well. We also have a portal called Handshake where they can find jobs and internships on and off campus. They must use their Wingate username and password to access it.
• The College Foundation of North Carolina is a great resource for learning more about funding the college experience. Click here to explore CFNC.

• College is a great time for students to begin to practice independence and personal responsibility in a safe space, with lots of support from Wingate staff. We all know how important networking is, and college is a great time for your student to begin building their own support network.
• It’s great to stand by to help your student if they have a question only you can answer or a need only you can support, but if they need information from a Wingate professor or staff, encourage them to find the answers on their own, to reach out to us, and allow us to help them. Asking questions and finding answers are important problem solving skills that students need to develop. Federal law (FERPA) also requires students to formally sign a waiver before we can share any educational information with anyone other than the student.
• If your student asks you for help or is facing a challenge or problem, ask yourself if this is something only you can provide. If it is, then of course support your student, but if the information and support is offered elsewhere, encourage your student to begin to build their own network of support. For example, if they are filing for financial aid, they will most likely need you to provide some financial paperwork. But if they want to know how much financial aid they are receiving, encourage them to contact our financial aid officer themselves, or look it up using the tools we provide. Their academic advisor can help with most student needs, but students need to take the initiative to ask for help. Please encourage your student to do just that.

• Resilience and a growth mindset are essential to leading a successful life. It is normal for college students to feel overwhelmed at times and doubt their ability to succeed in their classes. It is normal for students to struggle and to want to give up at times. This is a sign that they are growing. If they are living on campus, it is normal that they will feel homesick. As a parent, it is important to listen to your student, and to reassure them that what they are feeling is normal and that they can do it.
• Wingate staff and faculty are here to support your student and help them to use these struggles to develop resilience and success strategies. Encourage your student to talk to their professor or our staff in residence life or in our free counseling center. We want to help your student since this is an important part of the educational experience.

Transitioning to college can be challenging. We want your student to have a smooth transition. Completing the Student Checklist tasks as soon as possible will help with that smooth transition. While it is critical to complete all tasks as soon as possible, there are a few of them that are especially important and we encourage students to start working on those immediately.

• The Course Preference Form: This will allow our academic advising team to begin building a course schedule for your student that meets their needs. Providing complete and accurate information on this form is critical. Click here to watch a video on navigating the Course Preference Form. 
• Math Placement Exam: This will allow our academic advising team to place your student in the appropriate math class which will be directly related to your student’s academic success. 
• Housing Application: Who your student will live with and where they will live is always a point of excitement and even a little bit of anxiety. The sooner your student completes this, the sooner they’ll know where they’re living and who they’re living with.
• Financial Aid Documents: Completing the financial aid process as soon as possible via the Financial Aid Documents task on the Student Checklist is critical to a smooth transition. Get started on this task immediately as it can take some time to complete. 
• Health Forms and Immunization Records: When these items are submitted to Wingate, our staff has to manually review them. This can take some time, as you can imagine. Submit them by July 1 so that by the time August rolls around you’re in the clear.
• Submit all high school transcripts by July 1. Additionally, if you have earned any college level courses, those transcripts must be sent to Wingate directly from the college/university at which those credits were earned. They should be sent immediately as it is impossible for the Office of Advising to build a class schedule that meets your needs if they do not have record of college level credits previously earned.

•  Parents are of course concerned about the health and safety of their student...that’s their job. It’s our job too!
• We have a Campus Safety team that is available 24-7 to help your student, whether they’ve locked themselves out of their car or building, or anything else that college students might need. We have an extensive crisis plan in place that covers nearly any event that might happen. They do a great job of keeping our campus safe. Click here for more information.
• We also have a health clinic on campus with trained doctors, nurses, mental health counselors, and staff, available to take walk-ins any day of the work week. The clinic is just steps away from residence halls and classrooms. Click here for more information.

• This College Parent Central website for a great start.
• The College Foundation of North Carolina has many resources for parents and students.
• Our New Student Orientation Hub is a great resource for parents and students.
• The Parents or Family Members portion of MyGate is full of resources.