Information for parents
An insight into student life at Sheffield
This area of our site gives you an insight into student life both at the University and in the city of Sheffield and provides details of the support services that will be available to your son or daughter while they are here.
It's also intended to help you answer some of the questions that you might have during your child's time at the University.
New start
When your son or daughter starts at university it marks the start of an exciting new phase for the whole family. The next few years will probably be amongst the best of their lives.
However, this can also mean a big adjustment for everyone especially if she or he is the first in the family to enter Higher Education.
For many, it's the start of independent living, away from well-known places and people and everything that's familiar.
Support
The fact that your son or daughter is probably leaving home for the first time, to go to university doesn't mean that they don't need your support any more, just that they need it in different ways.
They need to know that you trust them to make their own decisions and that those decisions will sometimes involve taking risks.
Make sure that they know you trust them. They will then have more self confidence and be better able to stand up for themselves if they know that they have your support at home and that they can talk to you if things are not going well.
Diversity
Encourage them to get to know students from different backgrounds. The University has a hugely diverse student population and it is a wonderful opportunity to meet and study with people who are from different countries, religions, cultures or age groups.
Most young people enter enthusiastically into their new lifestyle but there are a few challenges on the way.
We realise that parents can have concerns about this new way of life so we hope these pages go some way to address them.
Other useful areas of the University site
As a parent, carer or relative you may also be interested in some of the following areas of our site. Each link below will open in a new window:
Contact numbers / details of academic departments