Parents learn to say goodbye

0 Comments | USA TODAY, September, 2007 | by G. Jeffrey MacDonald

CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. -- For Jase Ebersole of Vicksburg, Miss., moving into a first-year dormitory at Boston College in late August took only a few hours. But for his parents, Bruce and Story Ebersole, saying goodbye took six days.

"We could have left sooner, but we figured we'd take an extra day to show him around," Story Ebersole explained over a catered sirloin lunch, part of the three-day parent-orientation program. As for actually bidding adieu to her son, she said, "I'm trying not to think about it."

Colleges and universities are learning to work with a new breed of parent who stretch the first-year send-off into a multi-day affair. Dozens of schools offer two- or three-day parent-orientation sessions to get Mom and Dad comfortable with everything from...