Parent Information

Academic Coaching

Nine tenths of education is encouragement -Anatole France

Transitioning to college can be challenging. Here are the questions you should be asking your son or daughter as they begin their college career:

• Are you going to class? Cutting class is one of the top reasons students fail.
• Are you studying at least 25 hours per week? College is a fulltime job! Students should put in 40 hours a week going to class, studying and doing homework.
• Are you reviewing the material for each class weekly? When students conduct regular reviews, preparing for an exam becomes easier.
• Are you scheduling your down time? Students need down time, but it needs to be scheduled and kept in perspective.
• Are you starting your assignments early? The UNEXPECTED happens. Students get sick, computers crash....
• Have you visited your professors during office hours? Professors like to help students. Encourage your student to go see professors during posted office hours.
• Are you going to tutoring or PASS? Check out the tutoring and PASS schedules on and the tutor request policy on our website.
• Have you formed a study group? Studying difficult subjects is more efficient with a study group.

Advising

Advisors care about students.

Academic Advising:

• Is an on-going and multifaceted process. It is more than a one-shot conference with a student; rather it is a continuous process of student/advisor interaction.
• Is the responsibility of both student and advisor. Advisors facilitate communication, coordinate learning experiences through course selection, fosters career planning, review of academic progress, problem-solves with the student, and refers to other campus resources.
• Assists students to better understand themselves in order to maximize their potential.
• Helps students define realistic life, educational, career and personal goals, and develop plans to realize them.
• Disseminates information to students and helps them consider available options and make appropriate choices.

Career Development

Working while in college is an excellent way for students to gain clarity in their career choices, earn an income and set themselves on-course for more and better full time work opportunities following graduation. Despite the belief that working while in college distracts students from their studies and prolongs graduation, it has been shown that students who work in a degree related field during college generally perform better in their classes and delay graduation by as little as one semester.

Excellent work opportunities exist for your son or daughter through cooperative education, internships, on-campus or off-campus employment. Many of these work experiences are directly related to student's majors and pay well above minimum wage. Students working through the cooperative education program are still considered full time and therefore maintain full time student status with the university.

Check out our Four-Year Plan for Parents!

FERPA

We understand and appreciate your concern regarding your student's progress, however in order to be in compliance with FERPA we cannot discuss your student's individual record or appointments. Regardless, our goal is to keep you informed of our programs in any way we can. If you have questions about what our programs offer please feel free to contact us at ssc@uah.edu.

• FERPA and Meetings with Parents of Students
• More information on the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA)

First Year Experience

Learn more about the First Year Experience (FYE) Program here.