Most students experience some degree of homesickness - the longing for home, family, friends, or familiar environment - when they first come to college. Penn State Counseling and Psychological Services Program (CAPS) has developed a list of suggestions that parents may want to share with their college students about adjusting to college.

Here are some things you can say to your student:

• Accept that it may take some time for you to feel as comfortable at school as you do at home. You may feel a sense of loss and discomfort with all of the changes, but you are capable of surviving these feelings if you allow yourself to relax and explore.
  
• Analyze your homesickness, What experience, thing or person are you missing the most? Are you longing for someone to listen to you? Do you long to meet people to hang out with? Do you miss your role in high school as a student leader? Do you feel like a "small fish in a big sea" now? Have you had trouble finding students with similar values or life experiences? Ask yourself what things you can control.
  
• Participate in events to learn about Penn State and to meet others. Check out the Directory of Penn Sate Student Organizations.
  
• Take action. Structure your time and open up to Penn State experiences that may replace those at home. Decorating your room, learning where to play your favorite sport, going to a movie, finding out about student organizations on campus and even studying for classes are examples of activities to help you.
  
• Plan trips home and maintain contact with family by phone, e-mail or IM. Remember that a continuing psychological connection with home and loved ones exists even when you are not here physically.
  
• Limit the amount of time you consciously think of home. Refocus on what you can do now at Penn State.
  
• Focus on things that relax you - deep breathing, listening to music, going for a walk, exercising, or talking with a friend.
  
• Try to make new friends by talking with other students on your floor, in classes or sitting in the HUB/Robeson Center.
  
• Go for help if you continue to feel distress, or if you feel suicidal or desperate. You can talk with peer counselors at Lion Support at 863-2020, your RA or Area Coordinator, or call CAPS at 863-0385 to schedule an appointment for professional counseling.
  
• Remember to enjoy this new experience!

Links to Other Student Health Issues