My son will start at Temple in the fall. We (3) went to accepted students day. Son went to his overnight orientation. We are 2 hrs away. Re: parent orientation, husband and I think, Good grief, more speeches and tours? What more is there to say/see? My son took a gap year, so he is 19. No health issues. Opinions?
If you don’t want to do it, and your son doesn’t care, don’t bother. We all went to college and our parents didn’t have orientations, other than “this is where you send the check.”
Maybe you can find the agenda for the day online to see what it is before you decide. My guess is you could live without it.
I went to both accepted student days and orientation with D2. Got a fair amount out of both (but it was not Temple). Maybe one of you could go instead of both. 
If your son is a first generation student, it might be worth it just so you can give him some guidance.
I did go even though my daughter is not a first generation student. Some of the information was useful but far from critical. Since my daughter has heath issues, it was useful to met and discuss some issues in person.
I can tell you that is highly likely that the you will not see your son the whole time. At my daughter’s school, none of the parent sessions were comingled with the students. You will not be missed if you are not there.
The main message I got from parents’ orientation at UT-Austin a few years ago was, “Don’t be a helicopter parent!!” Over and over and over! I enjoyed the campus tour, though, since campus has changed so dramatically since I attended in the '80s.
I’m thinking it probably depends on the family dynamics. Some freshmen may need their parents’ support as they transition to a new environment. Some parents may need to hear the discussions on “letting go” and how to help their freshman navigate the administrative processes of a college. The latter–navigating administrative processes-- is most important to understand. Staying on top of important deadlines (e.g., course and room & board registration deadlines) saves money and time in the long run. I found the discussions on these topics in the “parent handbook” helpful. My husband, not so much.
Here is an example of something I got out of parent orientation: a physics prof mentioned in a parent session that my kid did not attend that most years they have an optional 2-3 day session at the end of winter break to help students prepare for the rigors of 2nd semester physics. My kid was buried and missed the email about it a couple months later, but I mentioned it to her, and she was able to get signed up. She would have missed it if I hadn’t heard about it.
Obviously, it depends on the school, but I found the the parent orientations very useful and interesting. Granted there is overlap with the admitted student’s day, but there was new material as well. In addition to the “talks and tours” there were social events. We had a great time because many of the parents had already “met” online (via FB group) and so we enjoyed meeting in person. We even had a large group meet at the end of the day at the hotel bar. But that is probably very unique due to the small school size.
Anyway, the other thing to consider is helping your kid moving in…does he need/want your help? Will he have a car to run out for a last minute Target run?
It’s really up to what you and your son need/want. I’m sure there are plenty of parents that do not attend orientation.
I can’t say that my H and I gleaned anything too terribly important from parent orientation. But we figured hey, how often will we have the opportunity to do something like this? Might as well go. I guess we suffer from FOMO. But if this isn’t an issue for you, I wouldn’t worry too much if you take a pass on attending.
We went and it was 50/50 useful info and boring speeches. Most but not all of the useful info is probably on the website somewhere but you would have to know not only where to look for it but that you actually should be looking for it. I was the kind of person who never missed a class just in case something important happened so that’s just me.
I think the usefulness also depends on whether or not this is your first child attending college. A lot of things have changed since we were college students. I found my D’s orientation to be useful in this general way. My S starts this August at a different school and I don’t expect the parent orientation to be quite as useful since I have a much better idea of what to expect.
I’d say skip it unless your son wants you to attend. There are other sources of information for parents to find out most need-to-know stuff – email & web sites. Those sessions exist because many parents do want to go, but it certainly is not obligatory.
I went to S1’s orientation; H was working. I enjoyed the meeting with his advisor and the parents of students in this small writing seminar, but the rest was not really worth it. With D1, I moved her in (unpacked nothing), did the same advisor meet and greet, then left. I will do the same with D2. All 3 kids at the same LAC.
We went for our son’s summer orientation for our flagship at my alma mater/my home county. Worth it despite knowing the school and area. A different perspective as a parent. Plus- they answered tons of questions in the parents’ session so that we didn’t need to try to get the answers from our son later. We got to see his actual dorm- useful in planning what he could/should bring that would fit the space. This is likely the best chance to wander the campus forever- not a good idea during move in or later. Your son’s age is irrelevant if you are responsible for knowing when/how to pay tuition, housing et al bills. Still need to be sure health forms are done (get permission from your son for being involved- accidents can happen). All sorts of nitty gritty things your son will forget to tell you.
My D’s college had a stellar family orientation that was informative, engaging, personal, and entertaining. I was thrilled to leave my child in their hands by the end, which I didn’t expect. I wouldn’t have wanted to miss it for anything! They set the bar so high for parent/family orientations (and student orientations, actually) that I’m already bracing myself to not be so impressed with my other kids’ orientations when it’s their turn years from now. But, I’m pretty sure I want to miss theirs, either, just in case… (Besides the fact that I won’t want those kids to think I don’t care as much about their college stuff as do my first, I will be curious about their schools, etc.)
As previously suggested, you could look at an agenda and pick and choose what you’d like to attend, if anything. You could also bail if you decide to go and get bored.
My son school had a 1hr information session for parents and students. The students then were separated in groups and toured everything with the orientation leaders. The parents then could go on a tour guide that ended with a dinner at the stadium with the students. The majority of the kids never reunited with their parents but rather hung out with their new friends. Me and the wife left after the information session and drove to Austin for some BBQ. Told son if he needed us to call. He enjoyed his new classmates and we did not see him again until checkout time at 9:00am the next morning. We were told about the process by some parents who had already went thru it and knew there was no need for us to hang around. The parents that stayed got pretty bored just waiting around.
We sent D1 to orientation by herself and missed parent orientation. We both went with her to move-in, but ther was no orientation then. We did just fine missing whatever it was. D2 has orientation, move-in, and parent orientation at the same time. I think it will be good to attend, especially for DH, who hasn’t been the one to travel to visits and such. This will be his first look at the school. I’ve delayed registering for parent orientation because I’m not sure how many meals DH and I want to eat in the dining hall. 
I found orientation to be very informative and helpful. My daughter is the first of our three to attend college and there was so much I needed to learn about- The ID card and how it works as it is also their meal card and can act as a debit card as well, how study abroad works, how the school handles weather emergencies, etc. Maybe if you have done this before orientation is less helpful but for this first time parent it was very helpful.
I never learned and still have no idea how my kids’ ID cards worked and all the rest. They were living there, not me, so that was for them to figure out. Welcome to adulthood! I’m not sure my kids’ colleges even had a parents’ orientation, but I wouldn’t have bothered attending if they did. Like our own parents, we were of the make-up-the bed-and-take-off persuasion. I’m convinced all this parent orientation stuff, which didn’t exist in my day, came to pass as tuition skyrocketed and schools figured they had to massage the folks who were emptying their pockets to send their kids to school. Kind of amusing about that one college that kept telling parents not to helicopter, as they set up an entire program that enabled a major hover!