My daughter will be attending UCSB this coming year and will be enrolling in the Freshman Summer Start Program. We are from Pennsylvania so she will try to schedule her orientation the 2 days before FSSP move-in day so that we don’t have to fly cross country twice. They charge about $250 per parent for the parent orientation, is it worth the time & $$ or should we just use that time to make sure that our daughter has everything she needs before we fly home?
There is nothing earth-shattering for the parents, so if you can’t go it’s not a huge deal. But if you can go, you will learn some things that will make you feel more comfortable about the school, maybe some things that will help your daughter if she asks for advice during the year, etc.A lot of people just had one parent attend - that’s what we did.
Attending FSSP is a great decision. Our son did that and it got him off to a great start. A good amount of his friends and roommates are still kids he met that summer. It seems to be the best summer program for incoming freshman of any UC due to the number of useful classes they can take.
I agree, nothing earth shattering for the parents. Coming from PA, the FSSP is a good idea. My son didn’t do it, but we live in Silicon Valley and had visited the campus several times. Summer weather in Santa Barbara is so nice that I recommend you visit a week yourself.