On the alert parents be bothered spokesperson direction-finding

German course guidance centers are increasingly turning to see students with their parents. The helicopter parent phenomenon can at least partially be due to the increasing number of under-age school-leavers go on to university.

Guidance Centers are available to students at German universities to advise them on issues such as structuring studies, preparation for exams, or career aspects of coping with stress. Now, parents are supporting all children visiting the centers. This is especially the case for first-year students.

Parents' concerns ranged from whether their children are decided for the true subject of study, the anxiety over their need to make their way in the big cities. Some inquire about how their children are done in the tests. However, this behavior still tends to be the exception. "Most of the students free from home relatively quickly," says Patrick Honaker, a spokesman for the Cologne University.

However, Daniel Wilhelm center course guidance Bielefeld University believes that the phenomenon of helicopter parents is increasing. Wilhelm they characterized as overly involved, overprotective and restrictive. "And they always put the blame on others, such as universities, when things are not working as they should with their children," Wilhelm notes.

The survey was conducted among 2,000 Wilhelm students at the University of Bielefeld in 2003 showed that only 3% to 3.5% of them really helicopter parents. He points out that over protectiveness and other characteristics of helicopter parents declined with increasing age students surveyed in the study.

A higher number of younger students now entering the German higher education. Some states have introduced shorter high school, with students graduating from school a year earlier. This means that more students under the age of 18 are now entry. From a total of 2,217,604 students in 2010-11, only 761 were juveniles, compared to 3.486 of the entire 2,698,910 in 2014-15.

Underage students can not register and hold a library card without parental consent. Baden-Wuerttemberg and North Rhine-Westphalia introduced full legal capacity for minors in all matters related to their studies. In other states, students aged under 18 are required to obtain consent from parents to handle their affairs in higher education.

Parents of minors must sign their lease agreements. "But the parents get involved in hostels and apartments, when their children are already 20 years," says Georg Schlanzke of German student welfare services or DSW, adding that this trend is on the rise

One of the factors driving excessive anxiety among parents seems to increase the pressure to perform at universities. "You must be very good student, you have the right to study in the university, and you can not afford to delay," says Stefan Hertz of the Society for Information, Berating und Therapies on Hochschulen eve or gibbet. This association was formed to promote the development of information, guidance and therapeutic services for students by supporting communication among vocational guidance centers and their staff.

Daniel Wilhelm recommended students under parental pressure to make it clear to parents who want to be independent. "Sometimes the best thing to do is to move, preferably to another city," he says.