September 5, 2025
To parents and guardians of incoming students,
The drop/add period ended today, marking a milestone for the first-years as they finalized their schedules and made the transition from high-school to college students. You and they have been receiving weekly messages since the summer to guide them, and although those messages have now ended, I recognize that this transition will in fact continue through the year— for them and for you. You will still receive messages and updates throughout the year, but this is a good time to address communications and student privacy.
Keeping you informed is a high priority for Yale College, for both my office and the many others who send timely updates or respond during emergencies. Please check with your student to confirm that they have added an emergency contact phone number to their student record. Later, if your phone number or email address changes, please be sure to ask your student to update that information in their records. They — and only they — can enter or revise this information. In my experience, it sometimes takes a reminder or two of your own to make sure that the contact information in their records is complete and up to date.
Unlike in high school, where parents and guardians are routinely informed about their students' grades, activities, and overall performance, colleges are required by federal law to maintain confidentiality between students and the university. While we will do our best to contact you in an emergency, we will not share more routine details about grades, interactions with school officials, progress towards degree, and other such matters. We expect students to keep you informed of their academic progress. and every semester, at registration, they have the opportunity to authorize Yale College to share their grades with you. As with updating your contact details, I recommend that you talk with your student about your expectations for sharing information.
More generally, we expect that students will start to take on responsibilities that you may have handled in the past. Making and keeping appointments with advisers, planning expenses, negotiating with roommates, and managing routine medical care are among them. We recognize that coming to college is a big transition, so students will have plenty of guidance along the way. And although we expect that you will continue to play an important role as they develop these skills, we will address students directly, without parental notification, when they need to act. Again, I urge you to talk with your student if you have concerns; they will often be your sole source of information.
A hallmark of Yale College's residential education is the amount of support students receive from an extensive network of advisers, counselors, medical staff, chaplains, coaches, and many others. Two people, however, are most directly connected to students' wellbeing: the residential college heads and deans, who are faculty members who live and work in the colleges, get to know students very well, and have a deep and broad understanding of university resources. They are students' point of contact whenever they have concerns or questions, not just this year but every year. And although they can seldom share information about students, even with parents and guardians, you can always share information with them.
Finally, if you will be traveling to New Haven in October, for family weekend, I look forward to seeing you then. In either case, I send you my best wishes for the semester ahead.
Sincerely,
Melanie Boyd
Dean of Students
Senior Associate Dean, Yale College
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