An exceptional high school student starts college, expecting her grades to be equal to those she earned in high school. Initially she performs well, but somewhere around week three her grades start to change. At first her school work and schedule were manageable, but now that tests, papers, and projects are starting to pile up her grades are getting lower and lower.

This is a unique experience to this student. In the past, school was not incredibly difficult for her. Her parents wonder why her grades are suddenly lower, but she doesn’t seem to have an answer. She is just as stunned as they are.

Transitioning to college classes and the college schedule is a challenge for a new college freshman, even a very well-prepared and high-achieving one. If the above description somewhat matches your freshman’s experience, rest assured that your child is normal. Much like the adjustment from elementary school to middle school or from junior high school to high school, your freshman will adjust to the new expectations of college.

In the meantime, how can a college parent approach this academic adjustment with understanding? As a college instructor, let me share with you four possible reasons for this struggle and ways in which you can encourage your struggling freshman.

Reason #1: College assessments are often structured differently.

In high school, your child’s class assessments mainly required memorization or summarization. These skills taught your child to recall facts, names, and dates. Memorization and summarization are needed, base-level skills that require skill and intelligence.

In college, your freshman’s class assessments require a deeper-level of thinking. These skills include evaluation, critical thinking, and other similar skills. These higher-level skills go beyond recalling facts and listing terms but an ability to defend an argument or a statement. At the freshman level, college courses provide rules and guidelines for evaluation and critical thinking. But, as your freshman advances, these skills will require more and more independent thinking and processing.

So how can you help your freshman who has had little experience with these skills before? When approaching her everyday problems, rather than providing the answer or advice consider asking thought-provoking questions. Providing less solutions and answers forces your freshman to take ownership and responsibility for her choices. It also helps her think for herself in areas in which are less foreign to her than her college classes.

Reason #2: College life includes more required responsibilities.

Living on her own for the first time is a big step. In high school, your freshman likely never lived away from a relative’s home for more than a few weeks. As a result, most of his high school responsibilities were tied to school and maybe a part-time job. In high school, balancing classes, sports, and work was demanding, and your child did have to learn how to work ahead and manage her time.

In college, your freshman’s responsibilities are much wider in scope. On top of attending classes and completing school work, your freshman has many adult responsibilities. Paying college bills, living with a roommate, and making friends in a new place are all new challenges. Additionally, your child’s major may require additional activities like labs or participation in a university association. Managing all these new and different responsibilities is challenging even if your child came to college with a good work ethic and good studying habits.

So how can you help your freshman who is struggling to balance these required responsibilities? When your freshman forgets to call home for weeks, be understanding. She is not used to having to juggle these different responsibilities and keep you in the loop by phone or text. When she does call, do your best to refrain from “I told you so” statements. She is going to make mistakes, even after you warned him. She is going to have to repeat mistakes sometimes over and over again before she learns. This is all part of the college experience.

Reason #3: College teachers are unlikely to provide much one-on-one attention.

Depending on your child’s past experiences with teachers, she may expect some amount of individualized attention from her teachers. In high school, teachers were more likely to sit down and help students one-on-one. They approached your child when her grades slipped or he forgot an assignment. They reached out to help your child succeed. Your child adjusted to this attention and to some extent expected her college teachers to do the same.

In college, instructors and professors are less likely to initiate communication. Due to larger class sizes and busy schedules, college instructors are unlikely to reach out to your child even if she fails a test. They expect your child to advocate on his own behalf, emailing or connecting with teachers on her own time.

So how can you help your freshman who does not initiate the contact with her college instructors and professors? Rather than stepping in and calling your freshman’s advisor, dean, or teacher, consider guiding your freshman through the proper way to advocate for herself. Ask about what actions she has already taken and if she is open to hearing some advice. Then do your best to help her format an email or plan her words for a scheduled meeting.

Reason #4: The college grading scale is structured differently.

Not all grades are created equally. In high school, earning an A on an assignment or assessment required following instructions and completing that assignment or assessment during the allotted time limit. Earning a C in high school reflected a lack of attention to the instructions and possibly a late completion date.

In college, professors and instructors require more of your freshman. A letter grade of C is truly average in college, meaning that the majority of students will earn Cs. Earning an A requires a level of excellence that goes beyond following instructions and turning in an assessment by the due date. An A reflects going above and beyond what the teacher required, resulting in exceptional work. Most college freshmen will not earn As on their assignments and assessments.

So how can you help your freshman who is used to earning high grades? Consider turning your focus on learning process, rather than earning a certain GPA or grade letter in classes. Developing the ability to learn and think independently should be one of the results of a quality college education. If your child was an A student in high school, her perfectionism may get in her own way. Encourage her to care less about performing perfectly and more about developing skills and interests. 

These four reasons are certainly not the only causes for the disparity between her high school GPA and her freshman year GPA thus far. Hopefully as a result of reading this post, you have a better idea of the reason behind her lower grades and what you can do to help your freshman in this transition. Succeeding during freshman year is possible and you can help in these four areas!