What follows will be information that students may fail to pass along to those who feel a need to know. Perhaps your student has been independent for years, and you won't see this information as relevant. While your student is an adult, we recommend that, prior to departure, you sit down and discuss communication, finances, and safety, as these are the areas that are often of most concern to parents and spouses. Discuss correspondence with your student and decide on a time each week or month that you will write or make telephone contact. Check with your local long distance carrier regarding discounted international calling rates.
Many sites have a central office that can relay messages to students studying abroad.
All of this will be true once again, though perhaps even in exaggerated form, in another country. Remember that what may be related to you as an emergency will often sort itself out. The parents phoned back a short time later and received no response and imagined all sorts of dire scenarios until finally reaching the student several hours later and finding out that all was now well and that the student had made a new friend over coffee and was beginning to enjoy the new setting. All students are responsible, however, for incidental expenses while abroad. If the source of funds is the student's bank account, consider a short-term Power of Attorney so that the student's signature isn't needed for withdrawals.