At Augustana College, they call it 'the short goodbye.'

It's when administrators at the small private college in Rock Island, Ill., give parents 15 minutes to say goodbye to their children. Then, students are told to report to the gym for freshman orientation, while parents are basically told to shove off.

'Parents go meet with advisers in small groups to compose themselves, and then they need to go home,' says Evelyn Campbell, dean and vice president of student services at Augustana.

Faced with what a Syracuse University administrator calls 'the most over-involved generation of all time,' colleges across the country are increasingly focusing on parents who are struggling with the transition from high school to college. Colleges are holding special orientation seminars for parents, appointing administrators to handle outreach with parents and providing emailed newsletters and specific parent portal websites, among other services.

One of the toughest parts, administrators say, is educating parents how to stay involved without coming across as overbearing, or worse, a hovering 'helicopter parent.'

'Our job is to take the gas out of the helicopter, so that by the time their children become seniors, that helicopter is grounded, and students can take care of themselves,' says Rodney Johnson, executivedirector of parent services at George Washington University.

More than 90% of colleges now offer some sort of programming for parents of incoming freshmen, and 31% of colleges have a parent office on campus, according to data collected by the National Orientation Directors Association in 2011. Twenty years ago, parent-specific programs were rare at colleges, says Joyce Holl, executivedirector of the association. Even now, some parents aren't too keen on separate schedules. Ms. Holl says she knows of one parent who hid behind a bush to watch student orientation through binoculars.

Ann Hazen started crying at Augustana's registration day in July