Gain a comprehensive understanding of the role that parents and families play in college students’ lives through their involvement starting with K–12, moving through the transition to college, and then focusing on the college experience itself.

The authors broaden the conversation to reflect the actual and diverse array of parents and families that play vital roles in students’ collegiate experiences. Particular attention is paid to:

• diverse families, including students of color, first-generation college students, and low-income students,
• an agenda for more inclusive research, theories, and practices with the goal of broadening the conversation to reflect the diverse array of parent and family engagement, and
• standards, models, and best practices that might be applied more broadly and modified as needed.

As a whole, this volume offers an expanded way of thinking about how higher education understands, engages, and serves the needs of parents and families.

This is the 6th issue of the 41st volume of the Jossey-Bass series ASHE Higher Education Report. Each monograph is the definitive analysis of a tough higher education issue, based on thorough research of pertinent literature and institutional experiences. Topics are identified by a national survey. Noted practitioners and scholars are then commissioned to write the reports, with experts providing critical reviews of each manuscript before publication.