Worried About Your College Kid? Now You Can Hire a Local Mom.

At some universities, parents can pay to make sure their children are cared for, the way they were back home.

Two smiling students open the door to receive a delivery from Mindy Horwitz, who is grinning and holding a white shopping bag. — Mindy Horwitz is paid to help college students navigate life away from home. “To me, it’s insurance,” said one mother who hired her.Credit…Kate Munsch for The New York Times

By Kristy Alpert

Sept. 13, 2026

On a Saturday in late August, two days before school started, Mindy Horwitz pulled up to Anthony Equale’s apartment complex with the glassware she had been storing for him. When he emerged, Horwitz hugged him and then pulled out a surprise four-pack of his favorite sugar-free energy drinks.

It was the kind of moment a mom might share with her child. But though Horwitz, 56, has taken to calling Equale “her very independent son,” they are not related. Rather, Equale’s parents, who live in Houston, have paid her about $1,600 for unlimited support since he was a college freshman at Washington University in St. Louis.

Horwitz is in the business of playing a version of mom for local college students. Concierge companies offering student support have existed for decades. But in recent years, a new crop of upstarts — such as Horwitz’s company, MindyKnows; the Bama Mama in Alabama; the GA Mom in Georgia; and Campus Mom in Texas — have met additional demand from a new generation of worried parents.

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