Parents & Families

Mailing Letters

All residential students are required to have a box on campus. Your daughter will receive her box number via email approximately one month before arriving on campus. The information will also be given out again at check-in.

Addressing mail to a box.
Daughter’s Name
7916 Williamson Road
Box #
Roanoke, VA 24020

Do not address U.S. mail with your daughter’s room number because it could be returned to sender. Please make sure to use your daughter’s name as registered with the university (first and last), as nicknames will not be in the mailbox system and mail could be returned to sender.

Shipping Packages

Deliveries and incoming packages

• All incoming mail, including ground and overnight deliveries to students from all carriers, is delivered to the printing, mailing, and shipping services (PMSS) office in Botetourt Hall weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
• PMSS notifies recipients at their Hollins email address.
• A handcart is available for heavy packages; it must be signed out and returned to the mail center.
• Weekend and evening deliveries are left at the security department in Botetourt.
• No after-hours access is permitted

Addressing

For correct shipping, use the campus route/street address indicated below.

All shipped packages should be addressed as follows:

Your Name
7916 Williamson Road
Box #
Roanoke, VA 24020

SPECIAL NOTE: Online retailers sometimes will not accept a Hollins University street address. In this case, either:

1. Put the street address first with the box number directly after “Road” or “Street.”
2. Put your box number next to your name.

Sending Flowers

Local florists deliver flowers to the student affairs office in Moody, and we call students to pick up their flowers Monday through Friday between 8:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.

We suggest that you work with your student over the summer to help them begin thinking about taking responsibility for themselves in college without having to rely on you as much as they have in the past. Here are some suggestions to help both you and your student prepare for this time of transition.

• Encourage your student to use all resources at their disposal to handle situations on campus before you intervene. If they have an academic issue or a problem with a roommate, encourage them to talk with a staff member or instructor first.
• Encourage them to create a filing system for important documents such as receipts, financial forms, bank statements, medical records, and materials related to their academic record.
• Reinforce the importance of keeping appointments, showing up on time for classes, work, and other activities, and being aware of important dates (drop and add, registration, final exams, first day of classes, breaks).
• Urge them to keep a daily planner for homework assignments, test dates, and other important dates on Hollins’ academic calendar.
• Urge them to read the student handbook, which they will receive at new student check-in. It is also located online.
• Instill basic concepts related to handling business matters such as getting names and phone numbers of people with whom they speak about academic, financial, health, and other matters.
• Allow your student to take control of their personal health. Encourage them to seek medical attention when they need it and to make their own medical appointments.
• Make sure they know how to take care of basic needs, such as doing laundry and keeping track of their belongings.
• Remind them to observe personal safety practices, including locking doors, traveling in groups, walking in pairs in well-lit areas, letting people know where they are going when leaving campus, avoiding drinking and driving, or riding with a driver who has consumed alcohol.

Homesickness is a typical part of a student’s transition to college. Here are some suggestions to help your student adjust to their new life at Hollins.

• Keep in touch with your student. Call, and send letters, emails, and inspirational cards.
• Send care packages with cookies, pictures of the family, items from home such as trinkets and notes from neighbors and other family members.
• Visit your student during the school year, if possible. Please make sure to coordinate your travel plans with your student. Most college students don’t like surprise visits, especially when they coincide with busy academic times such as midterms.
• Be understanding and reassuring if you receive frantic and tearful calls from your daughter saying she wants to come home. Encourage her to talk to her community assistant (CA), student success leader (SSL), O-team leader, professors, advisor, friends, or any member of the student affairs staff. There are many people who are willing and able to help if they will just reach out.
• Encourage them to become involved in campus activities. Students tend to feel the effects of homesickness a lot more when they have too much free time on their hands.
• Remember that they are not alone in feeling homesick. Encourage them to make new friends, talk with other new students, and seek advice from returning students.

The way you handle a distraught phone call can make the difference between empowering and enabling your student. Here are some guidelines to help you through these difficult calls:

• An overwhelmed, distraught student can’t be magically calmed down. It takes active listening on the parents/guardians’ part to discover the real issue.
• Overreacting to the call won’t help. Remain calm and reassure them that things will be okay. Direct them to the appropriate people on campus.
• They are calling you because they trust you and knows how to express themselves with you. Although they may not want her peers to know they are upset, encourage them to talk with them. They may be feeling the same way.
• Remember that you are hearing only your student’s side of things in an emotional moment. Do the best you can to diffuse the situation and follow up later for more details.
• Don’t let your student develop a habit of having only emotionally charged phone calls with you.
• Know when they may need support or counseling. They may need extra help with academics or may want to talk with a counselor about their homesickness or coping skills. Let them know it’s okay to ask for help.

Just as you’ve started figuring out what to do with the extra space and how to deal with the quiet, your student will be home for an extended stay. Even though they may have been home for a weekend or two, this is the first time you will have several days together and it will be a time of adjustment and re-acquaintance.

Parents and guardians are sometimes shocked by how much their students change in the first semester of college. Much of the change stems from developing an independent lifestyle and finding a persona that fits. What you may see at Thanksgiving is a blending of many different experiments and experiences. Try not to be alarmed at the change.

Remember that things at home have changed for your student, too, and they may feel a little insecure. For instance, things in the house may have been rearranged or added, siblings haven’t been an issue for several months, and there’s the struggle with the former rules that guided their life in high school.

Here are some helpful hints for surviving the vacation periods:

• Expect them to sleep…a lot. They most likely are exhausted from papers and exams, as well as their active social life in the residence halls.
• Establish new rules. Discuss things such as use of the car, curfews, and information sharing. Make sure you explain why there are new rules and why they are important.
• Talk in advance about family obligations over the vacation period. Make sure they know that the family will be spending time with relatives outside of her time with her friends.
• Discuss your expectations of household chores. Will they be expected to do their own laundry or assist with other things around the house?
• Finally, they will want to show her independence. If their approach toward you has changed, try not to take their new attitude to heart. They just wants you to know that they are independent. Even so, they still need your guidance. Finding the right balance will take time and patience.