Dawn Coder is the senior director of online student success at Penn State World Campus.
I remember the first time an academic adviser on my staff told me that a student’s parent showed up during an advising call on Zoom. A voice off screen said, “I have a question.” The voice was a parent, who then slid into view, saying she’d been listening to the call.
Until recently, our students at Penn State World Campus, the online campus of Pennsylvania State University, were overwhelmingly adult learners. Parents appearing on calls wasn’t something we were used to. But it’s becoming increasingly common as we see more students learning online who are members of Gen Z, typically considered those born in 1997 and onward.
Those of us who work in online higher education must prepare our employees and our institutions for the arrival and the involvement of the parents of traditional-age college students.
Yes, parents will likely be surprised to learn they do not have access to things like their child’s course schedule or grades because of the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, a federal law protecting the privacy of student records. To be in compliance with FERPA, colleges can’t release educational records to parents unless students sign a consent form. But parents will be the strongest supporters of their children as online learners, so we must look at their presence as an opportunity, not a challenge.
We can do several things to accomplish that. We will need to set expectations for parents and educate them about what it’s like to be an online learner. We will also have to train staff members on building strong relationships with parents.
Before the pandemic, 80% of our undergraduate students were adult learners. At Penn State, we define an adult learner as a student who is 24 and older, a student who is a veteran or an active-duty service member, a student who is returning to school after four or more years, or a student who has adult roles, such as a parent or employee.
In the 2023-24 academic year, the percentage of adult learners at Penn State World Campus was 67% — a drop of 13 percentage points. That means the number of students between 18 and 22 years old increased 13 percentage points.
This change is leading us to devote staff time and energy to creating new resources for parents, guardians, spouses and others who have a vested interest in the success of their online learners.
Gen Z students and adult learners come to college from different places.
Adult learners are typically busy “adulting.” Their daily routine involves a delicate balance of their personal, professional and educational responsibilities. They’re working, they’re raising a family, they could be in the military. They could be caring for an aging parent, as opposed to having a parent over their shoulder in an advising Zoom call. It’s been awhile since they were in high school or since they left college before they could graduate. Most importantly, they’re making their own decisions and have been doing so for some time.
Gen Z students don’t have all that life experience, and they’re not yet that independent. Their parents may be making or influencing their decisions, especially for those who live at home after graduating high school. The parents probably expect to continue having this influence or being part of the decision-making as their children enroll in college online.
We know that students who have family and friends championing them as online learners have a better chance of staying in college and graduating. That’s why we should foster support for our online Gen Z learners and use these resources for our adult learners, too.
We think parents and guardians — and other supporters like spouses, friends or other family members — would benefit from an orientation that Penn State World Campus is developing on learning online in college. During this orientation, we will outline the resources we offer, share tips and best practices to succeed, such as time management strategies, and highlight what students could be doing each week in the courses. We will also address important dates, processes and what information is confidential through FERPA.
Our online learners can find this information through our new student orientation program, but it is important that the learners’ supporters know all of this, too.
After the orientation, we will provide parents and advocates with a guide that reinforces the shared tips and expectations.
For staff, we will be creating new resources they can use when communicating with parents. For instance, if a parent calls to tell us that their child wants to drop a philosophy course, the academic adviser cannot confirm that the student is taking philosophy due to FERPA. Instead, the staff member can speak in general terms by describing how one could drop any Penn State course. And if the student wants us to talk specifically with their parent, the advisor could direct them to fill out the form to provide approval for us to talk to the parent.
This way, the adviser assists the parent without violating confidentiality protocols, the parent has high-level information and the student is the one to take action.
We must keep another consideration in mind. We have almost 500 international students, and, for some, it may be customary in their cultures for parents to make decisions for adult children. We want to be respectful of their cultural mores and offer an inclusive, welcoming and equitable environment to all students while upholding our duties under FERPA. In these situations, we can have students provide us with written approval so that their parents can speak with our staff.
Additionally, our staff may find themselves in a different type of advising situation than what they are used to with their adult learners. They may be coaching Gen Z students to fully understand a situation, such as what their chosen career field requires, so they can make the decision that is in their best interest. It’s helping them develop into responsible adults.
After all, that is exactly what we all want — mature, successful students who will graduate and use their degrees to support themselves. While their parents may be off screen or in the background while they are working through each semester, the parents’ role is immensely important as a strong supporter. We should harness that support to get the students to the finish line.
