Losing a Parent During College

Grief and the Role of Faith

Abstract

Parental loss during college as a distinct form of grief that disrupts both emotional life and the practical and developmental conditions under which adulthood begins. Drawing on grief literature and anecdotal accounts from six Vietnamese American and Vietnamese Stanford students, this paper argues that parental bereavement often includes anticipatory loss, academic disruption, and ambivalent attachment to the parent. It also explores faith as an unstable but meaningful resource in this process. For some students, grief renewed the significance of inherited rituals and texts; for others, continuity took nonreligious forms. Parental loss during college reshapes identity, belonging, and the choices through which students move forward.