The Ultimate Guide to Parent & Family Pages on College Websites
By John Azoni, founder of Unveild— a video production company for higher education.
Most parent and family pages on college websites are pretty underwhelming and ineffective.
A link to financial aid. A link to housing. A link to the family weekend registration. Maybe a stock photo of a parent hugging a student at move-in (bonus points if it was made with AI).
Done.
Oh, and a “we care about families” header at the top.
Laura Rudolph — founder of Square One Consulting and someone who's spent the last decade obsessing over parent communication in higher ed — came on the Higher Ed Storytelling University podcast and had this to say:
"Parents aren't landing on those pages just like neutral information consumers. They are typically arriving with a purpose and a feeling."
And when the page doesn't meet them there, they go somewhere else.
They go to Reddit. They go to Facebook groups. They look for reviews on Google. They talk about your college on the sidelines of the soccer field in their little folding chairs with their Starbucks.
And when they do, you lose control of the narrative.
Suddenly your “our campus is perfectly safe” copy on your parent page is overshadowed by a Redditor who posted about having to walk like a crazy person at night to avoid getting mugged (based on a true story from my college experience in Baltimore).
Coaching vs. Coddling
There's this old institutional instinct that Laura has heard a lot throughout her career — that communicating with parents would undermine student autonomy.
Listen, I get it. I’m a parent. In fact I’m a very pro “let them fail” parent, so the instinct isn't totally wrong.
You do want the student leading the college search. But neglecting the parents or communicating half-heartedly or sloppily with them is the wrong move.
So while we don’t want to coddle them, we do want to coach them.
There's a difference. A good parent page gives them the information they need to have better conversations with their student, in order to empower the student to take the lead.
Laura put it well:
“Haven't we succeeded as parents if we raise humans who are capable of living life? The goal of good parent communication is to support that, not to do an end-run around it.”
Let’s look at 4 great parent pages from different colleges
Each section is accompanied by a video clipped from the episode so you can see each page we’re talking about.
University of Washington - Segmentation Done Right
The big thing Laura flagged about UW is that they don't treat parents as one big blob of an audience.
What’s Working:
They have distinct sections for first-year families, transfer families, first-gen families, out-of-state families, and international families — and each segment gets communication that actually fits their situation
A first-gen family who's unfamiliar with how higher ed works needs different clarity than a family sending a student to a school two hours away
They also give parents resources for having better conversations with their students — which Laura loved, because otherwise you get "How was school?" / "Fine." / end of conversation
Bottom line: UW recognized that "parents" isn't a monolithic audience and built the page accordingly.
University of Texas, Austin — Big School, But Simplified
UT Austin is a big ‘ol school. And Laura's point about them is that bigger institutions have a specific job to do on their parent pages: make a complex environment feel navigable.
What’s Working:
The page does real work to translate a massive, multi-office institution into something a parent can actually comprehend
"Just contact the right office" is not a strategy when you're UT Austin — and they seem to understand that
They've invested in an actual Parent and Family Office, which signals institutional commitment and gives parents somewhere to anchor
The page creates confidence that there's a path through — which is what anxious parents of students at big schools actually need
As Laura puts it: the larger the institution, the more important it is to make the complex feel simple.
Hamilton College — Warmth You Can Feel Digitally
Hamilton is a small liberal arts school, and Laura used it to make a point that I think a lot of small schools need to hear: you can't just assume your warmth comes through on the website because your campus is warm in person.
What’s Working:
Small schools have an advantage — they can make family communication feel personal and specific in a way that large publics can't
Hamilton leans into that instead of trying to sound like a big university
The page feels like a genuine first handshake — warm, not just a directory
They have a live cam of the quad on the page, which is kind of a small thing but also kind of great
Important dates are front and center, bold, impossible to miss — because if it's not on someone's calendar, it doesn't exist
The lesson from Hamilton: your intimacy is an asset. Let the page feel that way.
Wake Forest University — A Page That Feels Alive
What stood out to Laura about Wake Forest is that the page feels alive. There's actually stuff happening on it.
What’s Working:
It connects families to ongoing communication, upcoming deadlines, and events — not just a static list of resources
They make it very clear who to contact and, crucially, what to contact each office about — because knowing financial aid exists and knowing when to call them are two different things
The page functions as an actual hub — a place you'd return to — rather than a hallway you pass through once
There's a Family Weekend countdown (120 days!) and visible upcoming events front and center, which creates a sense that this community has a pulse
The lesson here: lean into creating a “hub” — a place that’s worth parents and families returning to and getting fresh information each time they visit.
So Now What?
If you watched these videos and felt a little uncomfortable about your own parent page, that's probably useful information. The good news is that the bar isn't that high. You don't need a full rebuild to make progress.
Laura's suggestion for where to start: a "start here" guide for prospective and admitted families, a hub around the real concerns parents actually carry (cost, safety, what happens if my student struggles), and some content that helps parents support their students without taking over.
That’s how you make a parent page and not a link farm.
How does your page stack up?
You can find out — right now.
Laura built a free AI-powered parent communication assessment tool over at squareoneky.com. You can drop in a URL or paste in an email and get an honest read on whether it's actually working for a parent audience, and how to improve.
And go check out the full episode. There are lots more insights that Laura shares, and we also talk about 90’s pop music, specifically where Usher is as 7 o’clock on the dot.
Want more insights on Content Creation and STrategy in higher ed?
Join my free weekly newsletter.👇
“I really enjoy John's newsletter. There is always at least one story in there that is conversation fodder for the rest of my day to make me look smart. And, I love the little moments of interaction built in that make it feel like a conversation.” - Dayana Kibilds, AVP Marketing & Community at SimpsonScarborough, and author of Mailed It!
