New students can feel overwhelmed their freshman year.

Summer orientation programs at Kansas University are designed to ease worries for campus newcomers.

Madison Ford, an incoming Olathe freshman, went through orientation this summer and said she was prepared for the academics in college. Ford was more concerned about meeting her roommate and having to share a bathroom in her Ellsworth Residence Hall suite.

Ford grew up an only child and has a tight-knit relationship with her family. She chose KU to be close to her family.

“It’s going to be hard to manage everything on my own,” she said.

Ford already experienced life as a college student. She is starting her freshman year at KU with about 30 credit hours, which she earned through high school courses.

In late June, Ford joined some other incoming students for orientation at the Kansas Union.

Taryn Slawson, Evergreen, Colo., freshman, was one of them. She has strong family ties to the university. Her parents, her father’s parents and their parents attended KU.

Like many new students, Slawson’s main concern was finding her classes and meeting friends. Slawson said orientation allowed her to meet her future roommate.

David Arledge, Dallas freshman, said he was most concerned about having an overloaded class schedule.

Arledge said he had spent a lot of time in Lawrence and had been visiting friends here the past four years.

“I’m used to the college scene, but Lawrence is much more quaint,” Arledge said.

Arledge said orientation helped him learn a lot about the KU Card system.

“The KU Card is really important; you use it for everything,” Arledge said.

Ford said orientation helped her understand the many uses of the KU Card and figure out her fall class schedule.

“(Orientation) helped me see what college is really going to be like,” Ford said.

The orientation program also emphasized diversity by showing new students a video called “Shades of Crimson and Blue.”