On the subject of college parents, mine were appalling. My dad did write me a letter, bur not my mum. And then when I arrived they both failed to organise anything. The first time I met my mum (she did at least come and find me I suppose) she just told me that I'd hate my first year, that the course was dreadfully stressful and then left me to it. Nice.
My college husband and I both wrote extensive letters and I even included a CD of images of life in college with mine. I'm still in contact with one of my college sons ocasionally, but the other degraded and I lost touch.