How to create a home from home for students at university

Parents play a pivotal role in making the home a home. Beyond providing love and affection, they determine what is valuable and establish the modus operandi of “normal” life. For those students who study away from home, the shift from the parent-driven home life – comfortable, organised, structured and carefree – to that of the self-regulated university life – chaotic, stressful, strict and new – can be daunting, to say the least, for new students.

Students often feel homesick and unable to seamlessly assimilate as they are weaned off their parents and forced to chart their own course. At this stage, parents are expected to take a step back, but a university can fill the gap through an effective student services department.

Here are five ways that your university can help new students adjust to university life.

1. Financial support

Children seldom have access to the financial activities at play in the home. Beyond managing their weekly allowance or income from a part-time job, most children have a limited understanding of how to create and maintain a budget, how to find non-predatory financing and how to manage a credit card. This is especially relevant for students from low-income households, who have very few options in funding their education.

• Universities can provide scholarship, bursary and grant programmes to help students finance their studies. Such programmes should be proactively shared because students with the most need might not have the know-how or support from the home to identify and apply for them
• Students with financial need might feel embarrassed to ask for the help. One-on-one counselling sessions with financial advisers help students to privately access information about finance options. Additionally, marketing scholarships as prestigious rather than benevolent can destigmatise scholarships and make them more attractive
• Financial literacy and personal budgeting workshops can be incorporated into seminars or soft skills training promoted by the university
• The provision of jobs to enable student workers to get useful, relevant experience while earning an income helps to empower students who might be experiencing financial challenges and prepares them for the world of work.

2. Shelter

Finding and managing a home is a major responsibility of university life, whether the student lives in campus dorms or private housing. Establishing routines in completing the mundane but essential activities of managing a home or dorm can prove challenging for new students who have had little insight into what parents do behind the scenes to keep the household running efficiently. Universities should provide:

• Vetted housing lists for off-campus living
• A comprehensive what-to-pack list as part of the orientation package
• Household advising sessions that provide insight on topics such as grocery shopping and household sanitation best practices
• Room-mate counselling sessions aimed at helping students create a plan for completing chores in a timely manner. They are also useful in teaching students how to have difficult conversations with their flatmates when the schedule is not followed
• Alerts as simple reminders about upcoming rent and bill payments due dates using an app.

3. Course and activities selection

Before university, parents might have advised on academic and extracurricular activity decisions. Extracurricular activities chosen for children might depend on factors such as cost or convenience as well as the child’s interests and talents. The criteria used by university students to select courses should satisfy both their programme requirements and match their competencies, interests and career aspirations. Students are encouraged to get involved in extracurricular activities that might range from sports to volunteer projects to societies.

• Academic advising and career counselling sessions led by faculty help students navigate a university’s course offering as well as keep them on track with completing their programmes
• Incorporating career fairs into orientation sessions provides students with early, first-hand access to industry professionals who can share information about trends and job market needs
• Peer counselling sessions led by senior students is a more relaxed way for reserved students to access academic and extracurricular advising
• Hosting an activities open house provides insight to the catalogue of extracurricular clubs and societies available on campus and the value of participating in them.

4. Conflict resolution

Parents serve as mediators between siblings when conflicts arise. Conflict resolution between adolescent students at different levels of maturity can be difficult without an independent, trusted third party. In the university setting, conflict will undoubtedly arise between room-mates, assignment group members and even pledge brothers and sisters. Without an arbitrator, conflict can escalate to dangerous levels. Universities can help students navigate this aspect of campus life by having:

• Team-building and conflict resolution workshops during dorm-life orientation
• Clear channels for reporting and arbitrating conflict and contentious behaviour with an aim of getting early intervention. It is important that all students know where they can get help if they feel threatened
• Well-defined anti-bullying and anti-hazing policies that are shared among the student community. This a first step in establishing a student-friendly campus.

5. Getting emotional support

Parents are usually children’s first cheerleaders when they are successful and consolers when they do not achieve their goals. In the university setting, a good grade may be as much of a “congratulations” that a student will get from a lecturer. Students might not be able to find a listening ear in room-mates and classmates since they too may be struggling to deal with the emotional highs and lows of university. Universities can help by:

• Collaborating with academics to provide continuous feedback about student performance so that proactive interventions can be made
• Developing a campus-wide culture of recognising and validating student success
• Establishing a 24-hour student support hotline where students can reach out for help during a crisis.

The most challenging part for a university fresher might not be the academic work, but rather the adjustment to university life itself. The university can make the transition from home to university life manageable if appropriate support structures are implemented. Pointing students to sources of financial support, shelter, guidance on available courses and activities, conflict resolution and emotional support are ways that a university can help students feel more at home.

Adeola Matthew is recruitment officer and Kerrie-Faun Nathan is employed in the office of the director of academic affairs, both at University of the West Indies Five Islands Campus.

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