FAQ

No. The university does not inform parents of their students’ grades. The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act of 1974 (FERPA) protects students’ records. Grades are made available to students, and we encourage you to talk with your student about his/her grades.

Living in a residence hall means living in a community, and at times conflicts will occur. In the beginning of the year, all roommates are asked to complete a Roommate Agreement form and turn it into their Resident Assistant (RA). The purpose of this form is to empower residents to have a conversation about how to share their living space. If a conflict does occur, the best step is to communicate. Students are highly encouraged to talk with their roommate(s) first about any concerns or challenges they are facing. Students may also use the RA as a resource that lives on their wing and are trained to mediate roommate conflicts. Each hall also has a professional-level Community Director (CD) who live within the halls and who is available to assist. Finally, there are additional professional-staff resources in the Department of Residential Life who can provide guidance with the roommate mediation process or other on campus living matters.

Yes. In our interdependent world, we must take students further in their undergraduate education than ever before, and as a globally focused university PLU is very intentional about doing so. We purposefully focus many of our own programs on the Pacific Rim and the southern hemisphere (e.g. China, Mexico, Namibia, Norway and Trinidad & Tobago), where the majority of the world’s people live. Students who have lived and studied abroad have a greater understanding of our global community and are also building their resumes as undergraduates. The key is to match a Study Away program with your student’s major and curriculum needs. Students are encouraged to explore their off-campus options as early as their first year in case a program has prerequisite requirements that need to be fulfilled. The Wang Center for Global and Community Engaged Education and a student’s academic advisor assist students in this exploration, as well as in identifying programs that best suit their needs. Students can select semester-long, year-long or month-long programs; some include direct enrollment in an overseas university, some include field research, many have service-learning and/or internships opportunities, and much more. PLU financial aid can be applied to all featured and sponsored programs. For more information visit www.plu.edu/wang-center

A number of campus offices offer free academic support to all undergraduate students at PLU. Whether students are struggling in a subject or wanting to enhance their academic performance and learning potential, the following offices are great places to visit: Academic Assistance Center, Writing Center, and the Language Resource Center. (See individual sections in “Items of Interest” for more information about these resources.)

The four-week term in January provides the opportunity for intensive study of a single subject or topic. This includes courses in a student’s major, general university requirement courses, and special elective offerings unique to the intensive one-month January format. All first-year students are required to take one of an array of courses during J–Term.

RESOLUTE is the university’s magazine, published and mailed to alumni, parents and friends of the university two times a year. Please make sure you are set to receive online communications from the university, such as the periodic Parent eNews, by emailing parents@plu.edu. In order to receive all communications from PLU, please direct address changes to the Office of Alumni & Student Connections.

PLU’s Academic Advising website has some invaluable information to start asking those important questions when choosing a major.