The college experience is your young adult's first independent venture into the real word. After you both endured the long and winding road of personal statements, SATs, and applications, you've sent them off with the highest hopes. Now, you're ready to sit back and watch your child excel in an environment you both feel is ideal.

But sometimes things don't go as planned. You get the notification that your child has been involved in some form of misconduct, and you're perplexed. It's difficult to determine when it is appropriate to help your young adult in a serious situation, especially when they may feel some level of embarrassment or shame about what they've been accused of.

In the case of conduct code violations, your intervention is completely necessary. The educational and professional future of your college student could be at stake. If you are a parent attempting to navigate the predicament of a student in trouble, here are some tips to help you out.

Thoroughly read what the school has sent to you

Once your student has been suspected of violating their school's code of conduct, a receipt of notification will be sent to the student's school email and to their home address. This notification will likely detail the incident, the school policy that your student's behavior allegedly violated, the procedures that will be carried out by the authorities to mitigate the situation, and recommended sanctions. It's important you carefully read this notification of charges. Gaining an understanding of the magnitude of these charges is important, and will help you determine your next course of action.

Gather the facts

In order to completely understand what your child is up against, you need an objective and balanced perception of the incident. This consists of you making calls to the school to get more clarification about the incident, and talking to your young adult to get their side of the story also. If the situation looks bleak for your college student based on the facts and circumstances of the incident, your only option is defend yourself, and defend yourself well.

Retain a student defense attorney

Serious allegations of misconduct can jeopardize the academic and professional goals you and your child have set. If you value the investment you've made into your college student's education, retaining a student defense attorney is a must. An attorney can help a student build a solid defense by aiding them in making preparations for a hearing, garnering facts, collecting witnesses, and crafting a personal statement.

Student Defense Attorney Helping Clients Nationwide

As a parent, it may be hard for you to determine when you should intervene for your adult student. In the event of allegations for misconduct, you should be actively involved in this process. To ensure that your young adult doesn't get the short end of the stick in this institution's process, you should hire a student defense attorney. Joseph D. Lento has helped students in your student's predicament prevail in a hearing and overcome their charges in New Jersey, and nationwide. Contact him today for help.