College Success Plan

Late September is when many first-year students hit a wall. Here's why that's developmentally normal, and what actually helps right now.

Of the 58 College Success Plan students who came to us below a 2.0 and stayed, 83% raised their GPA and more than three in four finished at or above 2.0.

Campus tutoring and advising fit a single hard subject or an accommodation. A standing weekly appointment with one coach is what College Success Plan adds.

An executive function coaching session at College Success Plan is a weekly one-on-one video meeting: a pass through every course and a written plan for the week.

Telling your student you think they need a coach can feel impossible to get right — say too little and nothing changes, say too much and it lands as criticism. The conversation itself can shape whether your student walks in ready to engage, or resentful before it even starts.

In our newest post, we break down how to get it right: choosing a calm moment instead of a crisis, leading with what you've noticed rather than a decision you've already made, and framing coaching the way athletes and executives frame their own coaches — as an investment, not a correction.

The real goal isn't managing your student. It's handing them tools they'll use long after coaching ends.

Nearly every parent of a rising freshman faces the same tension: how involved is too involved? The short answer is that the goal isn't to disengage from your student's first semester — it's to reserve intervention for when it's genuinely needed, and to know the difference. The instinct to help is a good one. The challenge is knowing when helping crosses into hovering.

That tension shows up in the research. A 2014 study by psychologist Holly Schiffrin and colleagues at the University of Mary Washington, published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies, found that college students who rated their mothers as more controlling and over-involved reported higher depression and lower life satisfaction than peers whose parents stepped back — effects the researchers tied to students feeling less able to make their own decisions (Schiffrin et al., 2014). A separate 2011 study found a related pattern specifically with anxiety (LeMoyne & Buchanan, 2011). Different studies, same conclusion: over-involvement has a measurable cost.

Nearly every parent of a rising freshman faces the same tension: how involved is too involved? The short answer is that the goal isn't to disengage from your student's first semester — it's to reserve intervention for when it's genuinely needed, and to know the difference. The instinct to help is a good one. The challenge is knowing when helping crosses into hovering.

That tension shows up in the research. A 2014 study by psychologist Holly Schiffrin and colleagues at the University of Mary Washington, published in the Journal of Child and Family Studies, found that college students who rated their mothers as more controlling and over-involved reported higher depression and lower life satisfaction than peers whose parents stepped back — effects the researchers tied to students feeling less able to make their own decisions (Schiffrin et al., 2014). A separate 2011 study found a related pattern specifically with anxiety (LeMoyne & Buchanan, 2011). Different studies, same conclusion: over-involvement has a measurable cost.

If your student had an IEP or 504 plan in high school, their accommodations won’t automatically carry over to college. Students must self-disclose, formally request support, and provide any required documentation—and that process can take several weeks.

The U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights explains that, unlike K–12 schools, colleges generally aren’t responsible for identifying students who need accommodations. The responsibility shifts to the student, making it important to start the process well before classes begin.

Documentation requirements vary by school, and the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) offers additional guidance for families navigating the transition.

Starting early can help ensure students have the support they need in place from day one.

Housing assignments go out every summer, and every summer some students open the email disappointed: a roommate they didn't request, a dorm lower on their list, or a floor plan they hadn't hoped for. It's a small letdown in the scheme of a college career, but for a student already anxious about the transition, it can feel much bigger in the moment. How parents respond in this moment matters more than the assignment itself.

It's normal to feel let down by a housing assignment, and dismissing that feeling ("it doesn't matter, you'll be fine") can come across as invalidating. At the same time, dwelling on the disappointment alongside your student can reinforce the idea that this is a bigger problem than it is. Acknowledge the feeling, then move the conversation toward what's next.

A roommate a student didn't choose isn't necessarily a bad roommate, it's simply an unknown. Many of the closest friendships in college start with randomly assigned roommates. Encourage your student to reach out before move-in with a simple, low-pressure message to start building familiarity before day one.

Between packing lists and orientation schedules, it's easy to overlook one of the biggest predictors of first-semester success: whether your student has a routine in place before life gets busy. Research consistently shows that routines reduce decision fatigue, improve time management, and make it easier to build healthy habits that support academic success.

Most students begin college highly motivated. The challenge isn't enthusiasm, but it's consistency. Once classes, clubs, social events, and newfound independence compete for attention, relying on motivation alone becomes difficult. A simple daily routine creates structure, helping students stay on track even on days they don't feel particularly motivated.

Instead of planning every hour of the day, encourage your student to identify a few habits they'll prioritize no matter what. These might include...

Dorm décor, class schedules, and welcome-week events tend to dominate the countdown to college. But one of the biggest predictors of success during the first semester isn't what they pack, rather it's whether they establish a routine before life gets busy. Research consistently shows that routines reduce decision fatigue, improve time management, and make it easier to build healthy habits that support academic success.

Most students begin college highly motivated. The challenge isn't enthusiasm, but it's consistency. Once classes, clubs, social events, and newfound independence compete for attention, relying on motivation alone becomes difficult. A simple daily routine creates structure, helping students stay on track even on days they don't feel particularly motivated.

Instead of planning every hour of the day, encourage your student to identify a few habits they'll prioritize no matter what. These might include...

As move-in day approaches, most conversations focus on logistics: what to pack, when to arrive, how to set up the dorm room. One conversation that often gets skipped is just as important: how often you'll actually be in touch once your student is on campus. Research from Middlebury College's iConnected study found that college students and parents communicate an average of 13 times per week, but averages hide a wide range, and mismatched expectations between what a parent wants and what a student assumes is often where the anxiety starts.

When expectations aren't discussed in advance, parents fill the silence with worry and students feel monitored rather than supported. A text that goes unanswered for six hours can mean nothing to a busy freshman and everything to an anxious parent. Agreeing on expectations ahead of time removes the guesswork for both sides.

"I'll call when I can" means something different to every family. Instead, agree on something concrete: a weekly call on Sunday evenings, a daily good-morning text, or a check-in every few days...

As families finalize dorm shopping lists and move-in logistics, one conversation is easy to overlook: how your student plans to use AI tools like ChatGPT once classes start. A 2024 Digital Education Council survey found that 86 percent of college students report using AI tools in their coursework, yet a large share say they've received little or no guidance from instructors on where the line is. Left unaddressed, that gap can turn into a stressful, and avoidable, academic integrity issue in the first semester.

Every syllabus your student receives this fall will likely include an AI-use policy, and those policies vary widely by school, department, and even individual professor. One class might allow AI for brainstorming but not drafting; another might prohibit it entirely. Students who haven't thought this through in advance often make assumptions, and by the time they realize the assumption was wrong, they're sitting in front of an academic integrity board instead of a professor's office hours.

The good news? This is a conversation you can have now, calmly and before the semester starts...

As families prepare for college, conversations often focus on majors, dorms and roommates. Yet money matters can cause more anxiety than any class schedule. A survey cited by Kansas State University notes that as many as 71 percent of college students report feeling financial stress. Teaching budgeting and financial literacy before move‑in day helps students avoid crises, reduces stress and builds executive‑function skills like planning and self‑monitoring.