Student welfare must be a top priority when thinking about the big step from home to some form of study. As I mentioned, the experience can be quite daunting, and parents have enough stress in their lives than to be constantly worrying about their studying child. There needs to be a structure, an understanding, and standards to be met by the providers, but we must be careful not to quickly lay blame, should matters arise. The residential assistants, or the RAs, need to be looked after, trained well, and have clear guidelines to enable them to take on the challenge of other students' problems. Students need to know where to go and who to talk to if they are experiencing difficulties.