In order to understand the character and moral lives of college students today, it is necessary to set an examination within a larger framework of the macrosocial and cultural forces that have developed emerging adulthood as a relatively new and important phase of the American life course. Also helpful are identifying some of the key social-structural features of standard college life in the United States today, which exert significant influences on college students. In the midst of considering how to address issues of morality and character among college students, it is also necessary to explicitly name our assumptions and beliefs about what is good for human persons, what a good human life looks like, and then consider the role that college life may play in nurturing or hindering its achievement. Interrogating our own assumptions about what is normal and good for youth and college students is helpful. This essay concludes by commending an approach of "realistic care" as superior to the alternatives.