Parents
Below you will find information related to advising and helpful resources to guide your student while at ECU. In addition to this site, please be sure to visit our ECU Parents page and our Parent and Family Portal.
The Role of the Academic Advisor
We will assist your student in identifying, planning, and achieving their academic goals. Academic advisors serve as a catch-all for a variety of subjects and can direct your student in the right direction. Please see our What is Advising? page for the goals of advising, role of advisors, and expectations of your student as an advisee. Please note that advisors do not have access to any financial information. Questions about billing, FAFSA, and other financial concerns should be directed to either Student Financial Aid or to the Cashier’s Office.
What can you do to help your student?
- Ask your student if they are checking their ECU email account daily.
- Ask your student if they are aware of the available support resources on campus. Two popular support resources are the Pirate Academic Success Center and our University Writing Center. See below for a list of other support resources.
- Ask your student if they have met with their advisor to discuss issues, program requirements, future classes, etc. Advisors meet with students prior to next term registration to provide guidance.
- Allow your student to advocate for themselves. Encourage them to reach out to the appropriate individuals/offices to express their questions, concerns, and interests.
- If you wish to communicate on behalf of your student, a written consent will be required. No office will be able to provide confidential information without this permission. Please see Family Educational Rights & Privacy Act (FERPA) for guidelines and student instructions for providing consent.
Please note that if possible, advisors prefer that the student is present during any parent conversations.
Support Resources
ECU has many support resources in place to help your student be successful. Please be familiar with the following sites and resources and encourage your student to take advantage as needed. This is not an exhaustive list of support resources at ECU, these are some of the common resources we see students use from the advising perspective.
Advising and Support Resources
Academic Advising – General academic advising website for information on the various centers, majors, registration, and other resources. Your student will be assigned an academic advisor for their major and should direct questions to their assigned advisor.
Academic Advising Checklist – Helpful checklist of to-dos from academic advising. This page also includes links to the admitted student checklists.
Academic Calendars – Has the most up-to-date information about when classes start, class registration, the drop/add period, and breaks.
Career Services – ECU Career Services can help your student in planning their career, deciding on a major, help finding a job or internship, etc. In addition to being able to meet with a career counselor, they have a lot of great tools on their website for your student to use and explore.
Counseling Center – The ECU Counseling Center offers many services to help enhance personal growth. Please also see their self-help page.
Dean of Students – Serves as a liaison between students, parents, faculty, university staff and administrators to: assist with individual or group crisis; navigate campus procedures; and serve as an advocate for students, when needed.
Disability Support Services – The mission of the Department for Disability Support Services is to provide individuals with disabilities support that will enable them to access programs, services, facilities, and activities of the university and to enhance disability awareness among all constituents of the university.
Libraries – Services and resources to help your student in their research efforts, study sessions and other educational activities.
Pirate Academic Success Center – Offers academic support through a variety of services (tutoring, academic skills coaching, success coaching, etc.) to help your student.
Registrar – See the registrars page for information on ordering transcripts, registering for classes, degree works, enrollment verification and more.
Speech Communication Center – Works with students to help improve speeches, presentations, interpersonal and professional skills.
Student Veteran Services – Student Veteran Services helps connect Service-members/Veterans and their families to the appropriate services on campus.
Tech Support – Help with IT questions, set ups, connectivity, downloads and more.
University Writing Center – Offers support for you student with their written work.
Financial Resources
Cashier’s Office – Information on tuition and fees, payment, and important financial dates (schedule cancellations, refund period, etc.).
Financial Aid – Provides education, guidance, and support to students and families throughout the financial aid process.
Scholarships – Provide students and their families with information on both ECU and external scholarship opportunities.
Important Calendars
ECU does not have one calendar listing every upcoming event or important date. You will need to visit the specific office and/or college website of interest to view their upcoming events. However, here are three of the most important calendars you should look at leading up to every semester:
Academic Calendars – Has the most up-to-date information about when classes start, class registration, the drop/add period, and breaks.
Billing – Select Tuition & Fees > Important Dates > Select Appropriate Term. You will find information on payment due dates, schedule cancellations, etc.
Refund Period – Select Tuition & Fees > Refunds > Select Appropriate Campus/Term. You will find information on the refund period and the percentage of refund that would be given based on the date of the semester.