Your students may be surprised – and you may be worried – that their homesickness just isn’t going away. It’s important to let them know that being homesick does not indicate immaturity or insecurity or inadequacy of any kind. It’s a natural grieving process that occurs when a student has left a very safe and comforting place.

Homesick students are here physically, but their hearts and minds are still home. At home they have built-in significance: they’re known and loved and accepted. At college, they may sometimes feel like a nobody: an anonymous figure on the periphery of things, with a support network that is tenuous at best.

Homesick students may exhibit the following:

  • Feeling as though they don’t belong
  • Crying
  • Feeling unusually anxious or upset about things
  • Finding simple tasks difficult
  • Dreading the cafeteria
  • Staying in their dorm rooms alone
  • Wanting to leave school and return home
  • Suffering from minor physical ailments

If you know that your student is still homesick, you can encourage them with suggestions like these:

  • Remember that you’re not alone. Other students who look happy may be homesick too.
  • Walk around campus. Explore nooks and crannies. Make this campus your own.
  • Join something. Go to a meeting. Attend a game or concert. Just get out of your room. 
  • Keep your pictures from home, but add to them pictures of things you’re doing here.
  • Know that it’s okay to struggle with the social aspect of college. If you make a faux pas, apologize and laugh it off. If you go out with new people and find it boring, just try a different group. 
  • Be open and curious about people. If you’re trying to find friends exactly like your friends at home, you’ll be disappointed. Instead, when you meet someone new, say ‘yes’ to them before you say ‘no.’ If you’ve already written off some people as not your type, give them another chance.
  • Decide how much contact you want with home. Would another visit and more texting make you feel safer until you get your feet underneath you? Or would less contact force you to step out and blaze the new trails sooner?
  • Take good care of yourself: good nutrition, lots of sleep, regular exercise. The MLC Fitness Center has machines to hop on and classes to hop into.
  • Admit your feelings to someone else at college. You may speak to other first-year students and find out they feel the same. Or you may speak to an RA, a tutor, Ms. Scharf, or one of your professors. In fact, if the homesickness interferes with your schoolwork, sleep, or general well-being, then you must speak up! Speaking up is a sign of strength, not weakness.
  • You’re only human, so don’t expect a perfect adjustment.
  • Most important, your friend, our Lord Jesus, is always with you. Rely on him for strength.