"Parents are partners" is a common phrase we hear at many colleges. But what does that mean? And where do you start? CampusESP presented on this topic at MSACROA with Cyndy Hill, Director of Penn State's Parent Programs and suggested 5 strategies based on parent engagement data: 1) Personalize your outreach 2) Focus parent involvement on recruiting and admissions 3) Nudge the nudgers 4) Don't use FERPA as an excuse 5) Build a parent engagement strategy

1. Partnering with
Parents for Student
Success
CYNDY HILL
Director of Parent Programs
czb12@psu.edu
DAVE BECKER
CEO
dave@campusesp.com
November 2018

2. Today’s parents are
the most influential people
in their students’ lives
COLLEGE STUDENTS INTERACT WITH THEIR PARENTS
13 times a weekHOFER & MOORE, 2010

3. ◦CampusESP Background
◦Penn State Background
◦Today’s Modern Parent
◦Engaging Parents & Families
◦Successful Strategies for Student Success
◦Open Q&A
Agenda

4. CampusESP
CampusESP focuses parent and family involvement on student success

5. Trusted by over 250,000 parents
SAMPLE CUSTOMERS

6. Family
Engagement
Improve
Student
Recruitment
Drive Student
Retention
Increase
Family
Giving
Protect
Student
Privacy
Reduce
Parent
Calls
Connecting Parent Engagement to GOALS
Student
enrollment
rates +30%
Student
persistence rates
up to +15%
Parents x2
likely to give
Parent email
open rate:
+50%

7. CampusESP automatically posts content into your portal, so that families can see
everything they want…without the need to call your school.
Your Content
School-specific posts, events and deadlines from your Website
EXAMPLE: New student orientation logistics
CampusESP Content
General advice and support articles from expert sources
EXAMPLE: FAFSA deadlines
Student Content
Student academic and financial information
EXAMPLE: Unmet financial aid requirements
Everything parents need in one place

8. Nudge the nudgers
Keep parents appropriately engaged and alert them when their involvement is needed.
Automated Alerts
Emails are sent to parents about financial aid deadlines,
new grades, bills (sorry parents!), and appropriate times for
parents to step in & help.
Real-time Advice
Direct parents to relevant articles, blogs and guidance to
make them better advisors.
72% of parents say that
CampusESP helps them
better support their students.

9. The Penn State Parent & Family Experience

10. Penn State University

11. Program goals:
◦ Central resource
◦ Involvement opportunities
◦ Information about the student experience
◦ Communications
About the office:
◦ Office opened in 2010
◦ In Student Affairs with close relationships with Undergraduate Education and
Development
◦ 2.5 FTE
Penn State Parents Program

12. Penn State
o PWI
o Multi-campus system
o 60% in-state and 40% out-of-state families (Including 10% international families
o About 75% students receive some kind of aid (62% Loans and 26% Pell-Eligible)
Parents Program
o Parents & families of 42,000 undergraduate students
o 69,800 receive regular email newsletters
o 10,000+ attended Parents & Families Weekend
o 8,500 new families welcomed at NSO
o Thousands of prospective families
o Provides some support to other Penn State campuses
Who We Serve

13. Today’s Modern Parent
CampusESP summarized over 8,000 completed parent surveys from 14 major colleges and universities

14. “How frequently do you communicate with your college student?”
Parent involvement levels are very high.

15. Involvement varies by ethnicity and experience
“How frequently do you communicate with your college student?”

16. “How frequently do you communicate with your college student?”
1st year parents are most involved, but not by much!

17. “How often do you contact college officials to solve problems
your student may be having?”
Parent involvement can also be tough to manage.

18. “Does your student share their college self-service ID and
password with you?”
Don’t think parents are involved?

19. What do parents want?
Top 7 parent engagement interests (out of 28 choices).
Interests in RED require FERPA approval.

20. Engaging Parents & Families
In "It Takes a Village Campus: 15 Initiatives to Improve
Retention", by Dr. Kyle Ellis, Initiative 7 is "Parent Inclusion".
The chapter discusses the importance of keeping
parents informed and involved from a distance.

22. “Parents are rational and emotional, informed and
misinformed, deeply interested and distressingly
distant, seeking solutions to and being part of
various problems.”
- Marc Cutright, 2008

23. Five Outcomes Measured:
◦ Practical competence
◦ Personal and social development
◦ Gains in general education
◦ Grades
◦ Satisfaction with college
Students with “involved parents” report greater gains on three outcomes:
◦ Practical competence
◦ Personal and social development
◦ General education outcomes Shoup, Gonyea, & Kuh, 2009
Student Learning & Satisfaction

24. Exploring life choices
Learn to make decisions
Increases in confidence,
self-sufficiency, and
responsibility
The importance of autonomy

25. Redefining the parent-student relationship
Relinquishing unnecessary control and allowing students
to make mistakes;
Encouraging responsibility; and
Providing support to the decisions made
Autonomy development

26. Strong desire to support their student
Most are not helicopters, snowplows, or lawnmowers
Some families lack experience
Concerned family members who want to understand
and help their student
Love, care & concern

27. In "It Takes a Village Campus: 15 Initiatives to Improve
Retention", by Dr. Kyle Ellis, Initiative 7 is "Parent Inclusion".
The chapter discusses the importance of keeping
parents informed and involved from a distance.
Successful
Strategies for
Engaging
Parents

28. Personalize your outreach.

29. 1. Parent & Family Weekend Information
◦ Opened by 80% of first-year families
◦ Builds community and prepares parents for parent
giving
2. Move-In Information
◦ Smoother student transition
◦ Less parent calls
3. Important Upcoming Dates
◦ Bills paid on time
◦ Missed deadlines can force a student to drop out
11. Financial aid information
◦ The LOWEST on the list
What do first-year families want?
https://www.campusesp.com/
blog/2018/10/18/top-3-topics-
to-talk-to-first-year-families-
about-hint-its-not-financial-aid

30. Focus parent involvement
on recruiting & admissions.

31. Increase student yield up to 30%
https://www.campusesp.com/blo
g/2018/9/25/engage-parents-in-
admissions-to-reach-your-
enrollment-goals

32. Nudge the nudgers.

33. Student
Academic
Data
(SIS)
Parent
Engagement
Data
(CampusESP)
Retention
Impact
(Reports, Research
and Modeling)
Parent engagement can help student retention
Usually 100% ROI with
1-2 students saved
Electronic FERPA Waiver

34. Increase student persistence up to 15%
https://www.campusesp.com/blog/student-persistence-increases-with-parent-engagement

35. 1.57
1.34
1.28
1.25
1.22
1
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.4
1.5
1.6
Enrolled in
Honors
College
Predicted
GPA
Parent Portal
Connection
Expected
Family
Contribution
(EFC)
Athletic
Scholarship
Recipient
Standard relative odds of improving persistence
Parent/student connection in the portal
plays a big role in retention

36. Don’t use FERPA as an excuse.

37. Often quoted, rarely understood:
Over 60% of parents have their students’ college IDs and
passwords (without a FERPA waiver)
Generally interpreted differently by school and
department
The exception everyone forgets: education records may
be disclosed without consent when the disclosure is to the
parents of a "dependent student" on the parent's most
recent year's income tax statement
Most students want their parents to have access: the
rejection rate for FERPA waivers in CampusESP is 5%
FERPA doesn’t need to be a barrier
https://www.campusesp.com/blog/2018/9/10/how-auburn-university-leverages-family-involvement-to-drive-student-success

38. Build a parent engagement strategy.

39. Colleges use different technology strategies:
Technology can help you scale your efforts
https://www.campusesp.com/blog/20
18/3/21/facebook-wont-help-you-
reach-your-parent-engagement-goals

40. Partnering with
Parents for Student
Success
CYNDY HILL
Director of Parent Programs
czb12@psu.edu
DAVE BECKER
CEO
dave@campusesp.com