Family Orientation starts July 9, and if you just looked at the schedule and thought “an entire workday on Zoom?”, this post is for you. The short answer: you do not have to attend all of it. Here is how the day is built, and how families make it fit real life.
The short version
Summer/Autumn Family Orientation runs every Thursday from July 9 through August 20, as a live Zoom session from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Pacific. It is a drop-in format, sessions repeat weekly, recordings and slides are posted after the first session of the summer, and there is no charge for any of it. Join for ten minutes or the whole day. Both count.
Why it lands on your student’s A&O day
Family Orientation is scheduled on the second day of your student’s Advising & Orientation on purpose. While your Husky is registering for classes and meeting their advisers, you are hearing from those same offices in real time: what registration looks like, how advising works, and which resources exist to support your student. Families tell us it helps to learn alongside their student rather than hearing about it secondhand at dinner.
One important mechanic: your student registers you. Parents and family members cannot sign themselves up. When your Husky reserves their A&O spot, they add you to a Family Orientation session at the same time. You will then receive a confirmation email with the agenda and Zoom links.
Built for families with jobs, time zones, and lives
A full weekday on Zoom is not realistic for every family, and the program is designed with that in mind.
It is drop-in. The day is a series of live sessions. Join only the ones most relevant to your family. There is no attendance requirement and no one is taking roll.
Sessions repeat weekly. If your student’s assigned Thursday does not work for you, you are welcome to attend any session on any date, July 9 through August 20.
Everything is recorded. Slides and recordings are posted after the first session of the summer, so you can catch any topic on your own time.
It is free. There is no charge for any Family Orientation session or resource.
What the day covers
The agenda walks through the topics families ask about most: academic advising and course registration, paying the tuition bill, financial aid, academic support, student health and well-being, campus safety, and building community on campus, including housing and campus life. The day closes with a conversation with UW faculty about classroom expectations.
Living at home or off campus? This is still your day.
If your Husky is commuting or living off campus, nearly everything on the agenda still applies directly to your family. You would simply skip the residence hall specifics. There is even dedicated support for students who commute, including the Commuter & Transfer Commons in HUB 141, a space where your student can study and connect between classes once the school year begins.
Three more ways to stay connected this summer
We define family in the broadest sense. If you have helped guide, care for, and love a UW student, you are part of the UW family, and these are for you:
New family checklist Parent & Family Guide Sign up for Parent Insider
And if a question comes up as you look over the schedule, email us at uwparent@uw.edu. A real person reads every message, and these are exactly the questions we are here for.