With college bills coming from every direction, the information often seems overwhelming and the paperwork endless. However, this should not stop any parents from applying for financial aid, said Barbara Armstrong, personnel staff for human resources and the Office of Student Financial Aid.

“We have a lot of information out there and we are here to help you,” Armstrong said. “You can call up the financial aid office any time, and people will give you whatever information you need.”

Students are required to pay many fees to attend the University for services, resources and other usages. Sometimes students may be eligible for reimbursement at the end of the school year.

“I wish I would have known before that students can get a lot of their fees back every year in the spring,” Illini mother Barb Gawenda from Joliet said. “We received almost 200 dollars back one year.”

Another important thing for students to remember is the amount of scholarships available.

“Scholarships are not only for incoming freshmen,” said Julian Parrot assistant provost and director for the Center of Advising and Academic Services. “There are many available through the University for sophomores, juniors and seniors that people rarely know about.”

These scholarships are available on the financial aid website, which has a variety of resources concerning any questions one may have regarding aid. People are also welcome to drop in the Office of Student Financial Aid, located in the Student Services Arcade at 620 E. John St.

Adapting to college life can be as stressful for parents as it is for students, and the Moms and Dads Associations understand that.

The organizations, which first started in 1923 and 1922, respectively, have become a resource for parents throughout this transition.

Daughters and dads participate in the Dads Weekend 2009. The Dads Associationg is planning Dads Weekend from Nov. 12-14, 2010.

“Research has shown that involved families will help to increase retention rates and student success even through the college years,” said Becki Galardy, program manager at the Illini Union Parents Programs Office. “So we exist to help educate parents to become better coaches and mentors to their emerging adult students. We are really here to help them navigate that change.”

Galardy’s office, in conjunction with the two parent organizations, has become a very influential voice in the campus community, organizing several events with the goal of helping parents. Volunteers from the Moms and Dads Associations are the first impression many new parents have of the University, as they work the freshmen orientation programs.

Linda Jansen, former vice president of the Moms Association, said that volunteering at these orientations is something that members of the parent organizations really look forward to.

“All you have to do is look at the student and the parent next to them and you can tell both of them were overwhelmed that day and they were just feeling stressed,” Jansen said. “We always just tried to tell them that what they’re feeling right now is totally normal, and if they get there and they need help with anything, help is there.”

“You can just see the anxieties in those new families’ faces kind of melt away when they talk to those experienced volunteers,” Galardy said.
The scope of the Moms and Dads Associations extends beyond alleviating fears; the two nonprofit organizations have made many other contributions to the campus community.

“It does give (parents) a forum where they can actually, I think, can provide some valuable services to parents and to university life,” said Richard Yates, vice president of the Dads Association. “If I wanted to help the University in other ways, I don’t know what those ways would be.”

And the organizations have helped. Over the past year, the groups have made contributions to the University police department to install more security cameras on campus. The associations have also helped to fund other safety measures around campus, including: improved lighting; patrol vests for SafeWalks, a nighttime safety escort service; and Nala, the police department’s bomb-sniffing dog.

“They have given back to the University over the years very generously,” Galardy said, noting that the Moms Associations’ tuition drawings and Dads Associations’ scholarship funds have financially benefited students.

While the parent organizations have had a palpable impact student life, Yates and Jansen differentiated them from a typical middle school or high school PTA.

“Our job isn’t so much to provide input to the school, which I think a PTA does. We are there really to assist the parents in adjusting and adapting to University life. We are a service to the parents,” Yates said.

“By joining something like the Moms and Dads Associations, because you go to more football games and basketball games, you’re just on campus more,” Jansen said. “When (students) talk about stuff going on, you can just relate to them more and they can relate to you.”

Yates and Jansen said time commitment to the organizations wasn’t overly burdensome, as members of the Moms and Dads Associations typically attend four or five meetings on campus, volunteer for a few events and communicate via e-mail.

Galardy said parents interested in getting involved with the organizations should volunteer for an event, like the Illini Parent 101 workshop the organizations sponsor in September.

“That’s a good first step, to kind of get their feet wet and find out what kind of events we do and what the associations are all about, and then maybe they might consider serving on the board of the directors of the Moms or the Dads Associations,” Galardy said.

Every year, thousands of incoming freshmen leave their homes in the Chicago suburbs and elsewhere and flock to a small town in the middle of the Illinois cornfields. With SUVs packed with all the latest dorm essentials, they arrive with their families to Champaign-Urbana — their home for the next four years.

But after the excitement of being on their own wears off, students typically find themselves longing for home.

And while the last thing some students may want is to have their parents visiting every weekend, care packages and letters from home are almost always appreciated.

“It’s a constant reminder that you’re not going through (the transition to college life) alone,” said Allie Gecas, freshman in LAS. “It takes you away from the textbooks for a minute. It really makes you smile.”

Gecas added that although she talks to her parents frequently on the phone, letters and small gifts are a way she keeps in touch with the rest of her family, especially those who live farther away in other parts of the country.

Care packages also provide a way for students to stay connected not only to their family, but also to their hometown.

Chris Liquin, freshman in Business, said that his mother has included articles about his high school and other current events related to his interests in packages or gifts that she has sent.

“It means a lot,” he said. “It really means a great deal. It helps me stay in touch even though I’m away at school. It helps keep me informed.”

One of the most popular times that students receive a little extra gift from their parents is during exams.

“It definitely helped with the late night studying,” Liquin said of the package he received for finals week.

But like with most other gifts, the most important thing is that, no matter what students receive, it’s the thought that counts.

“My mom always writes a nice note too,” Liquin said. “She’ll add something from the heart.”

So while it may be hard for students to leave their parents — and vice versa — the good, old-fashioned mail service is a great way to make that transition just a little bit easier. Whether it’s a small note or an entire college kit, students of every age love to be reminded of the great support system they have at home.

And to any of you incoming freshmen out there — get ready because something as small as receiving mail is about to become one of the highlights of your day-to-day college life.