How universities and colleges communicate with their students’ (helicopter) parents

I’ve already posted about helicopter parents, this new breed of college parents.

It’s difficult to ignore them when you work on a campus. And, we shouldn’t.

Never has a generation of parents been so involved in their kids college life, which is why they have become one of our main target audiences (the fact that they pay some – most? – of the bills is also a big factor).

A couple of weeks ago, College Parents of America and Student Advantages surveyed their members. More than 1,700 parents answered the web-based questionnaire.

The resulting 8-page PDF report, the 2nd Annual National Survey on College Parent Experiences provides an interesting snapshot of this population.

The detailed results of the survey also give a good picture of the communication channels used with this target audience and identified as such by the parents themselves.

While 40.8% of the respondents declared that they were not aware of any parents-related communication, the 59.2% left identified several channels broken down in the following way:

1. Parent-oriented web site (53.5%)
2. Mailed newsletter or publication (49.3%)
3. Parent orientation (41.3%)
4. Electronic newsletter for parents (39.7%)
5. Parent Relations Office (30.6%)
6. Parent e-mail listserv or discussion board (19%)
7. Other (3.3%)

I’m wondering if these last 3.3% include any new media initiatives like blogs or podcasts.

What do you do at your institution to communicate with parents? Do you use some or all of the channels listed above? What seems to be working the best at your institution?