Wall Street Journal, Mother’s Love—a Bargain at $450 a Year, Plus Applicable Fees'.:
Parents are hiring concierge services for their college students, leaving to professionals some duties usually done by mom, including hugs.
Like any good mother, Mindy Horwitz helped Emma Feirstein move into her college dorm room, got her an internship and took her to lunch when she had a bad day.
Horwitz, though, is no relation. She raised three boys of her own and was a social worker before launching a concierge service for college students living away from home. At $450 a year, plus delivery fees, Horwitz, 53 years old, performs some of the same duties students would expect from their own mother.
A young client phoned Horwitz on a recent night in a panic. He needed a sport coat for early the next morning. Target was the only store open but nothing there fit his 6-foot-3 frame. With Horwitz’s help, the student walked into his presentation wearing a coat borrowed from one of her sons.
Similar services have sprung up near college campuses around the U.S. The businesses grew more popular after the pandemic made it difficult for many parents to reach their children at far-flung campuses. Among the tasks offered are medicine pickup and delivery, furniture assembly, rides to and from the airport and accompanying college-age children to doctor’s appointments.
Students can hire Uber, DoorDash, TaskRabbit or Instacart for the same help, Horwitz said, but “we just do it more lovingly.” Seeing the demand for having a mom away from mom, Horwitz expanded her business this fall from Washington University in St. Louis to Northwestern University, Skidmore College and University of Hartford, hiring locals with a measure of maternal instinct. …
Concierge Services for Students, based in Boston, charges $10,000 for the academic year and accepts no more than 30 clients. Tammy Kumin started the business with her partner 30 years ago, largely to serve foreign students at boarding schools in the Boston area. This year, about 75% of her clients are college students, including at Northeastern, Harvard and Suffolk universities.
