Civil War

Today's college kids can't seem to cut the cord with mom and dad. Great score on a test? Flip open the cell phone and give mom the good news. Roommate bugging you? Zip an e-mail to dad to get some solace. Going home next weekend? Alert the folks to stock up on laundry soap.

Recent studies in Minnesota and nationwide show that the so-called "millennial generation" is calling home at a rate that would boggle the mind of past generations.

Strolling through a busy college campus, one might assume all those students busily yakking on their cell phones are talking to boyfriends, girlfriends, buddies. Not so.

Marjorie Savage was walking across the University of Minnesota campus recently when she overheard a brief cell phone conversation. It could serve as a model for modern times:

"I heard a student say, 'OK, mom, test was fine, talk to you later.' That was the entire conversation," Savage said.

Savage, who heads up the U's parent program, practiced the ancient arts of letter writing and calling collect as a college student in the '60s.

At the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, the orientation skit for incoming freshmen includes a plea that parents get text messaging. And in Fond du Lac, Wis., insurance agent Beth Ciriacks had already had two cell phone conversations with daughter Amanda Berg, a University of Minnesota senior, by the time she got a midday call via old-fashioned land line from a newspaper reporter.

Aided by the instant communications revolution, college students contact home for any reason these days. This is a two-way street that involves full participation of the parents.

In fact, a parent survey conducted by Savage earlier this year, found that one-fifth are in touch with their kids at college one or more times a day. More than two-thirds said they're in touch with their kids at least twice a week. A members survey by the College Parents of America found that three-quarters of those who responded contacted their college children at least two-to-three times a week.

"I probably call my mom two to four times a week," said University of St. Thomas junior Carl Mickman from Otsego. "I just talked to her about a half-hour ago. ... I might have insignificant reasons for calling, I might need some money for groceries, and that might evolve into a conversation where we discuss what's going on in our lives."

Meanwhile, the conventional telephone and hand-written letter appear to be going the way of carrier pigeons. Savage's survey found that only 9 percent of respondents used a land line frequently. Eight percent take pen in hand with any frequency.

"I've had one letter from my [U senior] son since he left for college and none from my [University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh sophomore] daughter," said Faye Rasmussen of Stoughton, Wis. And regular long-distance conversations simply don't happen.

"We're talking about cell phones, so these are free calls," Rasmussen said. They converse by e-mail, too.

Rasmussen said her son, Ricky, calls if he's having problems, while daughter, Clarlie "will talk to me about the dorm, what kids are doing, when she's coming home and what she needs."