Dale, great post and critical topic for all instructors. ALL college level materials are hard to some students while others are easier for some students to understand. The focus here is the same techniques work in ALL classrooms and that is to have open and honest conversations and even discourse with your students. If it were easy everyone would do it. The fact that they have taken time and energy to focus on college shows they have the ability to learn any topic if they are willing to ask questions and learn from their mistakes. Every instructor should have similar conversations with their students and help students understand college is not intended to be easy but it also does not have to be as hard as many think. James Jackson