Parents Hire 'College Moms' to Do Laundry, Handle Emergencies and Keep Tabs on Their Kids at University

American parents are paying local women near their children's campuses to wash their laundry, deliver soup when they are ill and drop in to confirm they are all right.

A cluster of small businesses has emerged around the anxiety of sending a teenager several states away, offering services that range from household chores to what one operator calls concierge support.

Some handle cleaning and washing, others describe themselves as troubleshooting emergencies, and at least one provider will visit a student's room, take a photograph and send it to the mother who asked.

Some psychologists have questioned whether extensive parental support at this stage interferes with a student's development of independence.

What the Services Do

The offerings vary but overlap. Campus Mom advertises holistic wellness check-ins and laundry services, and also offers sorority recruitment support packages that, according to a report on the trend published on 14 September 2026, are sent to sorority members.

One operator has built a following at a single university. Carrie Eckhardt, who trades as the Bama Mama, cleans students' rooms and will check in when parents have not heard from their child for a few days, describing her approach as popping in to say hello, taking a picture and sending it to the mother. The reporting does not establish whether students consent to being photographed or how those visits are arranged.

The requests can be oddly specific. Eckhardt said one parent this month believed her daughter was going to a bar every night, then learned she had chosen to stay in, and wanted the decision marked with a stay-in basket containing the student's favourite ice cream, a cookie and socks.

Other firms draw a line at housework. MindyKnows, founded by the social worker Mindy Horwitz, says its local mothers are not there to do laundry or tidy dorm rooms, and has described them instead as troubleshooting and problem-solving in difficult moments, delivering chicken noodle soup to sick students or bringing meals and clean pyjamas to emergency hospital visits.

The Price of a Surrogate Parent

Membership models put a figure on the reassurance. MindyKnows operated in seven areas including Penn State University and Northwestern University, with memberships reported at $49 (£36.60) a month or $1,600 (£1,195) covering all four years of a degree, and more than 100 families signed up at the time of that reporting.

The household-services segment of the market is longer established. Dorm Mom, founded by a Michigan Technological University graduate who had worked as a resident assistant, offers laundry, grocery delivery, cleaning and moving services across the United States and Canada. The laundry firm E&R serves more than 10,000 customers at 106 schools, according to reporting on the sector.

The range of services has widened. A Washington Post report highlighted the growing choice available to college students, including dorm cleaning, grocery and meal-prep services and moving companies, all of which have grown alongside the older laundry businesses.

All of this sits on top of the bill families already face. The College Board put average published tuition and fees for 2025-26 at £33,200 ($45,000) at private nonprofit four-year colleges and £8,810 ($11,950) for in-state students at public four-year institutions. Average annual student budgets including living costs run considerably higher, at about £48,300 ($65,470) and £22,850 ($30,990) respectively.

Whether Any of It Helps

Clinicians working with these families have raised concerns. The clinical psychologist Emily Edlynn has said parents should be encouraging their children to support themselves, which she suggested could mean identifying health, counselling and other resources on or near campus before the semester begins rather than outsourcing the job to a stranger.

The objection is about development rather than the quality of the service. The argument advanced by those sceptical of the trend is that managing laundry, meals and a household is part of what a first year away from home is for, and that a student who never has to work it out does not acquire the habit.

The criticism is not confined to specialists. Discussing the trend on Fox and Friends, Ainsley Earhardt asked whether anyone wants to be known as the rich kid with the pretty dorm and all the services, and Brian Kilmeade argued that part of college is learning to live on your own, working out when to do laundry and when there is free time, all of which is lost when somebody arrives to clean the room.

Those were their characterisations of the customers rather than a description of any particular family.

Whether a paid stranger photographing a student in their room counts as care or surveillance is a judgment each family is now making with a credit card.