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Parent Newsletter

Dr-Ryken-headshot-8percentJuly/August 2026

From the President

Dear Parents,

When Jim “Howie” Maxwell ’52 played football for legendary coach Harv Chrouser ’34, he took an inspiring trip to Wheaton’s newly acquired camp on Long Lake in the Wisconsin Northwoods. In typical Harv Chrouser fashion, there was hard work involved: building Honey Rock’s first trip locker.

Maxwell vowed then that he would send his children to Honey Rock Camp as soon as they were old enough to go. Which is how my wife Lisa ended up flying to Rhinelander, Wisconsin—by herself—at age nine and then spending every summer there up through the summer after her freshman year at Wheaton.

Earlier this month, Maxwell’s oldest great granddaughter, 5-year-old Ellie Ryken, attended her first week of HoneyRock Day Camp. Seventy-five years later—in its anniversary year—HoneyRock continues to answer the prayers of our family and to fulfill its vision: “Generations Alive in Christ.”

Wheaton College is your mission-critical partner as you seek to build a spiritual legacy in your own family. By God’s grace, your Wheaton student will carry the gospel forward to a new generation, and beyond. Please pray for us—as we pray for you—that we will all be faithful from generation to generation.

In Christ’s service,

Philip RykenPhilip Ryken
President

Close-up of a microphone

Virtual Parent Town Hall

With the start of a new academic year, we know parents often have questions. We want to answer them. You are invited to join President Ryken and members of Wheaton College's Senior Administrative Cabinet for our annual Virtual Parent Town Hall on Thursday, September 10, from 4:00–5:00 p.m. CDT.

This is an opportunity to hear campus updates, learn about the year ahead, and ask questions directly of college leadership. You can submit questions live during the event through Slido or send them in advance by emailing parents@wheaton.edu.

The Zoom link and Slido information will be sent closer to the event.

If you're unable to join us live, a recording will be available afterward, so you can watch at your convenience.

Passage – The Orientation Program of Wheaton College

Man in a red life jacket and hat paddles a canoe on a lake under a bright blue sky

The Wheaton College community is eagerly preparing to welcome new students this August! If your student has not yet registered for a Passage option, please encourage them to do so as soon as possible using this link.

As you and your student prepare for Passage, the following resources will help guide your planning for arrival and the Passage experience:

As part of Passage, your student will participate in Core 131: Holistic Human Flourishing, a one-credit course required for all first year and transfer students. Please visit the Wheaton College Bookstore’s course area to purchase required reading materials as they become available.

To help students get the most out of Passage, we strongly recommend they purchase and begin reading the Passage Course Reader prior to arriving on campus. The Campus Store expects it to be available for purchase sometime next week. If your student is unable to read it in advance, there will be dedicated time on-site for reading.

Students will receive the most up-to-date schedule and resources through the Wheaton Gateway App, available via the Apple Store and Google Play. They will log in using their Wheaton NetID. Additional instructions on accessing the Wheaton Gateway App will be sent to your student via email in the coming weeks.

While parents do not have access to the app, the Passage Orientation Schedule is available here. This schedule includes key parent events and arrival information to help you plan.

We’re excited to support your student as they begin their Wheaton College journey!

If you have any questions, please contact the Wheaton Passage team at passage@wheaton.edu.

Campus Housing

Student dorm room with wooden bunk beds, a gray sofa, shelves, and a window with dark curtains

The Residence Life team is thrilled to welcome your student to campus in the fall!

New Student Arrival Times

Campus housing opens to new students when they arrive for the Passage experience they selected. Specific times can be found here.

Continuing students

Continuing students may return to campus between Sunday, August 23 and Tuesday, August 25, during the designated check-in hours of 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. each day.

Requests to arrive before August 23 without an additional housing charge will be considered only for continuing students who are required to be on campus for a college-sponsored responsibility and are sponsored by a Wheaton College faculty or staff member. Examples are fall athletes, student teachers, and members of student leadership teams.

All other early arrival requests will be subject to denial or a nightly charge. Approval will be considered, with a nightly charge, for students meeting these criteria:

  • Students arriving early to begin a for-credit internship
  • International students
  • Students with significant travel hardship

Students requesting early arrival must submit their request here. Questions may be directed to residence.life@wheaton.edu.

Check-In Process

  1. New students will arrive at their residence hall and get their key at the welcome desk. Students will then go to their room and complete their check-in paperwork and give it to their RA. ID cards will only be available at the residence hall front desks for new students arriving on Aug 12/13 and for returning students arriving on Aug 23. Transfer students will arrive on Friday, August 21 and will pick up their ID cards at the Banks Welcome Center. Returning students living in a campus apartment or house will go to Public Safety during their specific check-in time to get their ID cards.
  2. Unpack and settle into housing.

Meal Plans

Meal plans for returning students begin with breakfast on Monday, August 24.

Student Financial Services

Person reviewing graphs at a desk with a laptop, calculator, notebook, and coffee cup.

2026-2027 Financial Aid

The Student Financial Services office is getting a later start to financial aid awarding this year due to some recent changes at the federal level in response to the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The act calls for new Federal Direct and Federal PLUS maximum loan limits, and federal loan proration for part-time students. Guidance for implementation of the new legislation has not yet been fully provided, making it difficult for all schools to provide accurate information to their students and parents.

Students should review their Financial Aid Dashboard in the Wheaton Gateway and complete any outstanding requirements to avoid delays in receiving their 2026-2027 financial aid offer and to ensure that their aid will be reflected on their fall semester billing statement. Emailing sensitive information is not recommended, so required documents not submitted by electronic forms, such as tax returns and W-2’s, should be scanned and uploaded using our Secure File Transfer.

Please encourage your student to monitor their Wheaton email account over the summer! This is our main method of communication regarding any missing items that we need to complete their offer. We will email your student and send a postcard to their home address when their financial aid offer is ready to view and accept.

Full-time vs. Part-time enrollment

Part-time enrollment (less than 12 credit hours) will affect tuition charges as well as financial aid eligibility. It is important for students who intend to be enrolled as full-time students in the fall to confirm that they are registered in at least 12 credit hours going towards their Course Program of Study (CPOS eligible), ideally by July 15. If they are currently registered part-time because they are on a waitlist for openings in desired classes, we recommend that they enroll in back-up classes to ensure that the Fall semester bill reflects the correct tuition charges and financial aid as a full-time student. If a preferred class becomes available at a later date, students will be able to drop and add classes as needed through the fall semester add/drop deadline of September 11, 2026.

Fall Semester Billing and Payment

Fall 2026 billing statements will be published online in the Billing & Payment Gateway in late July with a due date of August 26, 2026: the first day of regular classes. Students and their authorized users will receive an email when bills are ready to view and fall payment plans open for enrollment. Students need to grant access and set permissions for parents in the Billing & Payment Gateway and under their profile for Authorized Users. After activating their account, parents will have access to student account activity, online payments, and payment plan enrollment. Students have single sign-on access to the Billing & Payment Gateway through the Wheaton Gateway, while Authorized Users log in here.

All billing statements will reflect charges and credits as of the date and time that they are published. We are not able to produce a new account statement on demand, so subsequent charges and credits (such as changes to registered classes, meal plans, etc.) will be reflected in the amount due and account activity as they are processed and will be included in the following month-end billing statement.

Please visit the website for more information on billing, payment, and payment plans, and the Undergraduate Cost Breakdown page for details on 2026-2027 tuition, meal plans, and housing costs.

GradGuard Tuition Insurance

Insurance can be purchased on a semester-by-semester basis to cover costs of tuition, housing, meal plans, and some additional fees should your student need to withdraw from Wheaton for reasons including injury, illness, mental health condition, death of a tuition payer, or loss of employment of a tuition payer. After bills are published, an offer to purchase insurance through GradGuard will be displayed when logging in to the Billing & Payment Gateway. Tuition insurance must be purchased prior to the first day of regular classes, August 26, 2026, so we encourage you to review the GradGuard page for Wheaton College now so that you can make an informed decision when the offer to purchase is presented. Questions about tuition insurance coverage should be directed to GradGuard at https://gradguard.com/support

Please direct questions to Student Financial Services at sfs@wheaton.edu or 630.752.5700.

First-Year Parents: An Important Note from the Registrar

The transition from high school to college is an adjustment for both parents and students. Many parents are accustomed to school portals that let them track their student’s daily assignments and grades. In college, however, the responsibility shifts to the student and many parents find this shift to be a stretching experience. Here are guidelines about student records:

FERPA (the Federal Education Records Privacy Act) limits what information the College can share with the parents of an enrolled student.  The College cannot share grades, attendance or progress, change a student’s schedule, or give registration information to parents without the student’s express written permission. This permission is set up through an Authorization for Release of Information Form. Students will get information about this form and its use during Passage Orientation.

It does not hurt to start getting in the practice of empowering your student to seek assistance from college personnel when they have questions or needs. Before they move on campus, you might start encouraging your student to navigate and contact the appropriate office whose staff can answer their questions directly.

Students may invite parents to access certain portions of their record online (final grades, transcript, financial aid award, etc.) by completing the Proxy process in the Student Portal Banner Self-Service menu.  This sharing allows parents to view student records online.  The instructions for setting up proxy rights will be sent to new students in July via their my.wheaton.edu email address.

A man writing on a whiteboard

Center for Vocation and Career

To new parents: welcome! To returning parents: welcome back! The Center for Vocation and Career (CVC) is hard at work this summer to ensure your students are served well this year.

The CVC office exists to equip all students with tools and opportunities to discover, prepare for, and launch into their next steps to help build the church and benefit society worldwide. This year, we are focused on starting early. In a competitive and rapidly changing workforce, we want to empower your student and help shape them into strong candidates of discernment and excellence, whatever their next step may be. The best way to do this is to prepare!

Here is a quick suggested action step for your student to take this summer:

If you are the parent of a rising first-year, tell them to save the date for our part-time job fair! On September 1, your student can come to Coray Alumni Gymnasium and meet with employers hiring for part-time jobs both on and off campus.

If you are the parent of a rising sophomore or junior, encourage them to explore the CVC’s internship resources! Internships are a crucial professional experience during this phase of life. Help them make a career coaching appointment here to get started.

If you are the parent of a rising senior, make sure they know that job applications for Summer 2027 open as early as September! Encourage them to make a career coaching appointment here. We can help them get started with networking, resume building, and more so that they are ready to hit the ground running in the fall.

International Student Programs

Group picture of students taken at an outdoor eventGroup picture of students taken at an outdoor event

The International Student Programs Office(ISP) aims to meet the unique needs of International F-1/MK/TCK undergraduate students throughout their time at Wheaton College. Whether your student has been in the U.S. for some time, is re-entering this educational system and culture, or joining for the first time, the ISP is here to support them!

ISP wants all international students to experience belonging on campus, make the most of the rigorous Wheaton education and engage meaningfully through orientation, service and leadership opportunities. New students and families are invited to start their Wheaton experience with special ISP orientation events, called Passport to Wheaton (one day before Passage).

F-1/MK/TCK students and parents are welcome to reach out to the ISP office with questions as you prepare for and navigate this upcoming transition! Contact us at isp@wheaton.edu or 630.752.5919. If you are on campus, you are welcome to stop by the ISP office located in the Todd M. Beamer Center, Lower Beamer 061.

Two Stacked Paper Boxes

College Post Office (CPO)

The College Post Office is looking forward to another great academic year!

Students were sent a “What to Expect” email from CPO this week. It included information about when they can expect to receive their CPO box assignments and when CPO will begin holding packages. If your student did not receive the email, please ask them to let CPO know by emailing cpo@wheaton.edu and include their name and ID number.

The first day CPO will accept packages will be Friday, August 14. The email sent to your student this week outlines what to do if your student needs something earlier.

Important details to note:

  • Nothing should be sent to campus until after students receive their CPO assignment email at the end of July.
  • All packages need to include a name and CPO box number.
  • Students must be able to pick up their packages from CPO within five days of the package arriving on campus.

If you have questions or concerns, please reach out to cpo@wheaton.edu.

Student Health Services

A pen and a notepad cartoonStudent Health Services (SHS) provides primary care services to all active students. Physicals, rapid bacterial/viral testing, allergy injection therapy, ADHD and mental health medication management are some of the many services offered.  The Health & Wellness Fee charged to every degree-seeking undergraduate student at the start of each semester covers the cost of all provider visits at SHS and the Counseling Center. Graduate students are able to opt-in to the fee or pay per visit. F-1 visa holding students are not charged the fee as they are required to carry the insurance that covers visits at SHS. Any prescriptions, supplies, or lab work may incur additional costs that will be billed directly to the student account. An explanation of benefits can be requested for any expenses to be submitted to an individual’s insurance.

As a reminder to incoming students, all medical entrance paperwork was required to be completed by July 1st. Please reach out to Student Health Services at student.health.services@wheaton.edu with any questions or difficulty submitting paperwork.

Wheaton College strongly recommends that all students are enrolled in a health insurance plan with coverage in Wheaton. International F-1 visa holding students are automatically enrolled and their student account billed for accident and illness coverage through a partnership with Cigna insurance; the Cigna plan is optional for qualifying MK/TCK students.  For any insurance related questions or concerns, please email health.insurance@wheaton.edu.

Campus Store

The Wheaton College bookstore carries textbooks, school supplies, Wheaton College merchandise, and more. Stop in or check out what the campus store offers online. The Passage Course Reader and other textbooks for incoming students can be purchased on the website and can be shipped or picked up in store at no extra charge.  Find store information here or contact them at wheaton@bkstr.com or 630.752.5119. 

Three people sit on a bench in a garden and pray

How to pray for Wheaton in July and August:

  • Pray that the transition for new students into Wheaton College would mark the beginning of a lifelong journey of faith in Christ, value for Christian community, and purpose for bringing Christ to the world.
  • Pray for the safety of new students and families traveling to Wheaton and for students during athletics practice, on Northwoods Passage at HoneyRock, on Wilderness Passage throughout Wisconsin, and on Urban Passage in Chicago.
  • Pray that God would guide faculty and staff as they plan for the 2026-27 academic year.
  • Pray for a spirit of unity and encouragement across campus, enabling faculty and staff to serve one another with grace and to work together in advancing Wheaton's mission.
Blanchard Tower Wheaton College IL

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