Parents: Helping Your Student Start University with Confidence
Starting university is a big moment for students, but it can be a significant adjustment for parents too.
There is excitement, pride and a lot to organise, and there can also be plenty of questions.
Will they settle in? Will they make friends? Will they manage their money? What happens if something goes wrong? How do you stay connected without making them feel as though they are still being monitored from home?
UCAS research looking at the transition into higher education found that 71% of students reported making friends as their top concern when starting university. Other UCAS research found 73% were concerned about the cost of living, while 24% identified being able to get support for their individual circumstances as a potential barrier.
The good news is that parents don't need to have every answer.
Often, the most useful thing you can do is help your student feel prepared, know where support is available and give them the confidence to navigate more of university life for themselves.
Staying connected without constantly checking in
One of the easiest ways to avoid misunderstandings later is to talk about communication before university life gets busy.
Some students will happily call home every evening - others may disappear into lectures, societies, new friendships and Freshers' activities for several days before remembering they haven't replied to a message.
Neither necessarily means anything is wrong.
Rather than setting rigid expectations, talk about what feels comfortable for both of you. A quick message, an occasional call or an agreed check-in can provide reassurance without communication becoming an obligation.
imabi Travel Guardian can help with that balance too. Students can add people they trust as trusted contacts they choose to share their journeys or location alerts with - as and when they want to.
Help them find support before they need it
University comes with much more support than students sometimes realise. Before term gets fully underway, encourage them to know where they can find things such as:
student wellbeing or counselling
accommodation support
campus security
academic support
their Students' Union
safeguarding and reporting routes
their local GP
That is particularly relevant when 24% of students surveyed by UCAS identified getting support for their individual circumstances as one of the potential barriers to university or college.
Travel Guardian also brings together trusted guidance, support and reporting routes that students can access independently.
Money may be on their mind more than they say
University independence comes with another big adjustment: managing money.
UCAS research found 73% of respondents were concerned about the cost of living, making it the most commonly identified potential barrier to university or college.
Separate UCAS research also found that 29% of students starting university or college said they felt unsure or unprepared to manage their day-to-day finances.
That makes a practical conversation about money genuinely useful.
Talk about likely weekly spending, food, transport, subscriptions, socialising and unexpected costs
Try to make it collaborative rather than supervisory
The aim isn't to track every coffee they buy, it's to help them understand what their money needs to cover and where they can look for support if things become difficult.
Independence doesn't always mean moving away
UCAS figures show that 31% of UK 18-year-old accepted applicants in 2025 said they intended to live at home while studying, compared with 22% a decade earlier.
So independence does not necessarily begin with moving boxes into halls.
A student living at home may still be navigating new friendships, travelling independently, managing their own timetable, handling university work and becoming more independent in dozens of other ways.
However they choose to study, the principle remains the same: be available, but give them room to make decisions.
A new kind of support
Starting university changes the parent-student relationship, and your role as a parent doesn't disappear - it evolves.
You become less of the person organising everything and more of the person they know they can come back to.
Travel Guardian and wider imabi platform are designed around that same balance - helping students stay safe, connected and informed, while keeping them in control of when and how they use its features.
