Parent & Family FAQ

Parent & Family Orientation is a program that runs concurrently with New Student Orientation. The program, which consists of panel discussions, small group discussion, and one-on-one consultations for specific issues, provides parents and family members of new students with an overview of the Reed administrative offices that support your student and information about the many services and programs Reed has to offer.

Reed's Parent & Family Orientation and Convocation will be held on Tuesday, August 26, 2025.
Parent & Family Orientation events will begin at 9 a.m. and conclude at 6 p.m. Convocation will be held at 10:30 a.m.

Convocation marks the beginning of the academic year and our official welcome to the incoming class of students. It consists of short welcome speeches from the President, Vice President and Dean of Admission & Financial Aid, current Student Body President, and a lecture from one of our esteemed faculty members. Convocation typically lasts one hour.

For move-in and exploring Oregon and Portland, please wear what you find comfortable. All events for orientation programming are casual, so feel free to dress in comfortable clothing. For Convocation, business casual is recommended (examples of business casual are button up shirt but no tie and slacks; blouse and slacks or skirt).

Sessions will be recorded and available the first week of September.

Pre-Orientation programs include International Student Orientation and the Peer Mentor Program. These are programs and experiences for your student only (not for parents or family members). Students participating in either International Student Orientation or the Peer Mentor Program move in early, on Thursday, August 21.

Here are a few great options:

• Accompany your student to check-in on Thursday. Then spend time exploring all that Portland and Oregon have to offer. Beaches, mountains, the Columbia River Gorge, and the high desert are all about 90 minutes from campus.
• Consider not traveling with your student and sending your student ahead. Meet up at Reed on Tuesday as Pre-Orientation Program activities conclude and Parent & Family Orientation begins.
• Accompany your student on Thursday to check-in and then head home. We’ll miss you at Parent & Family Orientation!

Move-in to on-campus housing will occur during time slots on designated days, which students must sign up for in advance. The deadline to sign up for an arrival time is July 15. New students should request housing by June 1. A link to all required new student forms, including the housing request form, is on the New Student Website. More information about move-in is available on the Residence Life website.

It depends on what residence hall your student will live in. There is drive-up access to the Old Dorm Block, Anna Mann, the Grove (Bidwell, Sitka, Sequoia, and Aspen), and Trillium for short periods of unloading. The Grove and Trillium can be accessed from 28th Avenue, next to the 28 West building.

There is no direct driving access to the cross-canyon residence halls (Chittick, Griffin, McKinley, and Woodbridge); you must park in the north parking lot. Access to Foster, Scholz, and MacNaughton is available from the west parking lot.

The Reed College Bookstore is your on-campus destination for books and supplies.

The bookstore has partnered with Dormify for linen orders. If you'd like to have your order shipped directly to Reed, please wait until August 12 to place your order and include your mail stop number.

The bookstore will also have some supplies (including light bulbs, hangers, Reed blankets, and whiteboards) available for purchase when you arrive.

We encourage your student to preorder books and supplies from the Reed bookstore. Preorders will be available by Monday, August 25. Preorders should be placed by Sunday, August 3.