The Voice of College by Kipp Van Dyke, Dr. Michael Severin & Nicolas Kline

“College is about 3 things: homework, fun, and
sleep…but you can only choose 2.”

So begins the first chapter of The Voice of College, a fun and useful primer on the college experience.

Authors Kipp Van Dyke and Michael Severin met as orientation leaders during their own time as undergraduates, and went on to hold various Student Affairs positions. One time when Van Dyke was visiting with him, Severin got an e-mail from a writer who was looking to interview student leaders and get their tips on campus life. This excited the two, and they began many conversations about how they could put together a book of their own to give advice and tips to college students and their parents.

The book is an easy read, in part because of a series of symbols illustrated by Nicolas Kline, one of Van Dyke’s former resident assistants, which denote various ideas, concepts, and insights on the college experience: Shared Scares (common concerns), the Struggle Bus (various hardships), the Magic Carpet (tips and advice), Liquid Gold (powerful information), Awkward Moments (light-hearted looks at embarrassing situations)  and Word on the Street (things you need to know during college).

The Voice of College takes readers through the first year of college beginning with the summer beforehand, through the adjustments that come during the Fall semester, and the changes students experience during Spring, as they plan their first Spring Break, Summer vacation, and the sophomore year and beyond.

A sample chapter is available at their website as a downloadable .pdf file, and the book is available on Amazon.Com.(affiliate link) You can hear more about the book on our BlogTalkRadio show, from an interview conducted with Van Dyke earlier this month.

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This is a two-part series on helping scratch the surface of dealing with difference for the first time on campus.

If I had a dollar for every time I heard a student say ‘I’m from a small town, I’ve never met someone who is ________ (fill in the blank) before” I’d be a rich person.  Also, I can’t tell you the number of times our housing office got called for a roommate change request because parents or students were having an issue because their roommate was of a different race.

For a lot of students, coming to a college or university is the first time they’ve encountered difference in their life.  It is the first time they are aware they are encountering difference.  Perhaps it is their Resident Assistant who identifies as an atheist, or maybe it’s their classmate with a physical disability, or maybe their professor speaks with a “non-American” accent.  Regardless of what the difference is, many students struggle through these changing experiences.

Often times, students want to revert back to what they know to be safe…hanging out with students that look, act, sound, date, and socialize with people just like them.  Maybe it even means hanging out with fellow students from their graduating class, even if they weren’t really friends in high school.   Sometimes this is accompanied by judgment, which in some of its worst incidences include lashing out against other students that are different than them based on ignorance or lack of exposure.

For other students, and this is often times a smaller group, they dive head first into getting to know people who are different from them.  These students thrive on going to all the cultural activities they can, and ask tons of questions.  They are the ones who call home talking about the foods that they tried, the new words they learned, and their lab partner who came out to them.

One thing is clear, though. Most students, as they progress through college,  come to understand that difference is good.  Difference allows for opportunities that weren’t presented to us in the towns we grew up in, or the church we attended.  Difference allows us to have more than one perspective on issues, and allows us to learn critical thinking skills to formulate mature, informed opinions on life issues.   Difference allows us to see our world as not just the college we attend, but a much larger society we fit into.

As referenced in a recent post on identity exploration, students often times come into conflict with parents, family members, or significant others that they left at home.  This conflict comes from this experimentation with difference, and sometimes can be very difficult for a family to work through.

In my next post, I’ll offer a series of tips for not only the new student, but also family/hometown friends on how to ease into understanding and celebration of difference on campus.

Mickey Fitch is a higher education professional who has crafted her career around the residence life experience on the college campus.  Mickey loves to tell stories and help students make the most of their residential experience on campus.  A native to the upper Midwest, Mickey is currently undergoing a job search to find her opportunity to serve in residence life.  On the personal side, Mickey is an avid fisherman and outdoorswoman and is currently engaged in a life-changing health and fitness journey!  You can learn more about her at mickeyfitch.weebly.com.

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Guest Blogger Shonda Goward of firstgenerationu.org suggests 6 great ways to save!

Everyone needs to save money these days.  Although it may seem like financial aid will pay for your entire education, student loans must be paid back.  In fact it is easier to walk away from a home loan than a student loan.  So what is a college student to do?  Get creative when it comes to maximizing a minimal budget.  Here are a few tips.

1) Learn to cook.

College meal plans are great if you absolutely cannot feed yourself.  However, many students do not eat all the meals on their plans and end up wasting money.  A meal plan can cost over $2000 so either eat every meal in your plan, or learn to cook what you need.

2) Get a job that has dual purposes.

While it may be fun to work for the school’s athletic teams, unless you want to start a career in sports then find a position that matches your needs or work interests.  If you can’t cook, then get a job at the cafeteria.  You can earn a paycheck and eat!  Keep your grades up so that you’re eligible to become a residential advisor.  You can save several thousand dollars in room and board, and gain valuable leadership experience.  There is a reason that the saying “time is money” is an overworked cliché.  Make the most of every hour.

3) Rent or borrow books.

As a college student I stopped buying books after my sophomore year.  I got smart and began checking them out from the library.  My institution had a consortium agreement with area colleges, and the books that weren’t available from my library I borrowed from other schools.  Sometimes a great public library will have the books you need for your humanities classes.  Now there are companies such as Chegg.com which will allow you to rent textbooks for about half of their normal cost.  If you absolutely must own your books be sure to check half.com to see if you can buy them cheaper than at your school’s bookstore.

4) Take general education courses at your local community college during the summer.

You may have to pay for these courses yourself, but at prices such as $50 per credit for a three credit course it is worth the investment.  Obtain a copy of the catalog of your local college and sit down with your academic advisor to be sure that the classes will transfer over and save yourself not only money, but free up time to explore interesting courses at your university or graduate early and go start earning cash.

5) Move off campus.

If you are at a university that is located in an inexpensive area it may actually be more economical to move off campus with friends than to continue to stay on campus.  Living on campus is great for freshmen who need to learn the campus community and meet new people, but once you have established your circle why not save?  Keep in mind that you may need to sign a 12-month lease, so be sure you aren’t planning to go home for the summer or have a summer sublet lined up.

6) Buy a refurbished computer.

Many schools are scaling back on the number of computer labs they have, and the hours these labs are open.  Also, many classes are now solely online.  Instead of buying the latest and greatest machine consider buying a used laptop or desktop.  Craigslist has many deals as tech junkies often want to sell their old computers.  Just be sure that whatever you buy is compatible with your university’s systems, and that the computer isn’t damaged in some way.

You may not need all of these techniques, but utilizing one or two could seriously cut your college costs, and allow you to have more income when you begin working instead of handing your whole paycheck over to your loan company!

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College kids get a bum rap sometimes.

Sure, binge drinking seems rampant on campuses across the country, attention spans of today’s students seem much shorter, and let’s not even talk about how they relate sometimes to their parents, their peers and the world outside the boundaries of their egos.

Every generation has its problems, but it’s good to remember that we once walked in those shoes, and people said those things about us, as well.

A great yearly reminder of how much college students can step forward and help others is Penn State’s Dance Marathon, or THON. It’s raised millions of dollars for the Four Diamonds Fund at the Hershey Medical Center, to combat pediatric cancer, help children get treated, and work toward a cure.

So enjoy this video on the history of THON, and consider making a donation at THON.ORG.

During my time at Penn State, THON always reminded me that there is good in most people and that we need to take a time out every now and again to remember the good that people bring into our lives. For me, as well, it was a time to remember friends and family members lost to cancer.

One of my first experiences with death was when a friend of mine, Ashley Dearing, died of leukemia. He was 13, I think, and had been in and out of school at various times of his life due to relapses. He faced the world with great strength and was always nice to everybody. He became an Eagle Scout before he died. (The Boy Scouts waive some time requirements for this sort of thing for terminally ill children.) The park he built in Clemson with the help of his boy scout troop (including my younger brother Aaron) was renamed after him.

I wonder sometimes what Ashley would be like today. He was a great inspiration to me growing up and even today I can say that having known him made me a different person.I know that events like THON are helping kids like Ashley live longer, better lives.

For all of the dancers out there at THON, and all the students going out to support them, all I can say is a heartfelt thanks.

Keep Dancing!

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There is so much for college students to learn about themselves during college, and so much for their parents to try to understand about what’s going on with their student. An understanding of the normal developmental tasks that students face should help both parties deal with the many transitions that come with college life.

It’s been a while since we visited the realm of student development theory. Let’s return to Chickering’s 7 Vectors of Development. In the last post, we explored Developing Mature Interpersonal Relationships. The next vector, establishing identity, explained briefly below, from a synopsis of student development theories available from Residence Life at Central Michigan University.

Establishing Identity
This component is strongly interwoven with the other vectors and refers to the ability to articulate an accurate, realistic self-profile. Students discover or confirm their core characteristics, their preferred ways to dress and act, and their favorite interests. They make choices and commitments about with whom they want to identify, roles they play, and lifestyles they want. Identity formation based on sexual orientation, ethnic minority status or handicap often presents additional challenges to students.

Many students experiment with ongoing experiments in re-creating themselves, so it shouldn’t shock parents when the child they leave behind in August comes back at Thanksgiving with a tattoo, different colored hair, a major change in lifestyle or even surprising pronouncements about religion, politics, sexual orientation, etc.

While some parents may write off their student’s changes as passing phases, others need to be taken seriously as the result of personal revelations, introspection and growth.

How can you tell the difference?

The truth is, you can’t. And it’s not up to you to divine your child’s personal truth. That is something that is exclusively his or her responsibility.

So what can a parent or friend do to be supportive, especially if you don’ t understand the changes?

• Listen to your child talk about what he or she has been going through at college.
• Ask him or her to explain the new interests and how these interests were discovered.
• Learn what you can about the changes, and ask more questions.
• Reassure your child that you love him or her.
• Talk to someone who has experience with the issues and if necessary, join a support group.
• Stick with your student through the changes. There will be many, and some changes truly are phases that will pass.

For some of the harder issues (those that don’t mesh with your views on race, religion, politics, drug use, sex, sexual orientation):

• Try to put yourself in your child’s shoes, and think about how isolating it would be to lose the support of people you love, who have been there for you your entire life.
• Will lectures bring you and your child any closer?
• Will disavowing or disowning your child lead you to a more fulfilling life?
• Will you be able to live with yourself (and without a connection to your child) if it is only a phase, but by the time the phase passes, you have disenfranchised yourself completely from your child?
• On a similar note, what will you miss in your child’s life if you have a later change of heart, but the divide between you and your child is too deep to repair?

The quest for identity is a difficult one, and parents should be able to draw on their own experiences to inform their responses to their students’ quest, and the changes that come with it. My recommendations for all involved (parent and student) are summed up as follows: Ask. Share. Listen. Learn. Be Patient. Be Kind. Love….And Try to Understand.

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