<p>"at college i don't think you'll get too many theives or thugs"</p>
<p>As a campus police officer in beautiful Baltimore MD, I would state that this statement is an understatement . Where I work at, we deal with thieves and thugs from both the student population and the surrounding population on a daily basis. I recently worked a case (and got a conviction) where we caught a roomate stealing and using her roomates ATM and credit cards along with racking up a $7500 cell phone bill. Theft happens daily at any college and I would suggest reading any online campus police logs or contacting your college's campus police or security department to look at what the theft rates and clearances are.</p>
<p>As far as safe's go,there is nothing worng with having one in your room. While many campus policing agencies generally dont recommend "one" main brand, dont be afraid to ask if they do have one they can recommend which can be purchased. Also I would suggest looking at getting renter's insurance and if your are bringing in any electronics, getting them engraved which many campus police agencies do for free.</p>
<p>Unfortunatly the only advice is check with your universitiy or college's music department to see if they would let you store your instrument. Most campus pd's generally dont have an answer since musical instruments are large and bulky. The only other option is to engrave your instrument and have the numbers uploaded to a property database incase it ever is stolen.</p>
<p>does your school have an honor code? mine does and most of the students respect it to the point that i feel comfortable walking away from a table at the library for extended periods of time leaving all my posessions there. the only real problem we have is with "borrowing" bicycles. just as a general rule i wouldn't keep large amounts of cash anywhere. look into a debit card that you can keep with you in your wallet. just use common sense. lock your room door when you aren't there, and if you're really concerned about someone stealing sentimental, expensive jewelry, just leave it at home. it's college, not the academy awards ceremony.</p>
<p>And don't kid yourself about the school not noticing 'a few little holes'. In order for a safe like that to be really secure, it's going to need some very sturdy bolts and you will be drilling holes through the concrete floor (most dorms built in the last 20+ years don't have wooden floors - concrete provides a better fire barrier).</p>
<p>Schools go through the dorm rooms at the end of the school year (some go in over Christmas break, as well) with a fine tooth comb - this is a nice little money-maker for the school to charge the people living in the room for the repairs.....repainting the walls because you used tape, instead of the sticky-tak...filling the holes and remounting the curtain rod that was an innocent victim of an impromptu football game...Those holes in your closet floor from your safe will jump right out when they are cleaning and waxing the floors over the summer.</p>
<p>If you are not a music student, do not be bringing super expensive instruments and leaving them in your dorm room (if you care enough about it and have an expensive enough instrument, you prbobly have a cheaper one too...use that).</p>
<p>If you are a music major, you are just going to have to keep things locked and have a roommate you trust. The music majors I know are rooming wiht other music majors who understand the monetary and sentimental value of the instruements.</p>
<p>I have a very old, very expensive ring of my great-grandmothers that I wear on an almost daily basis. Partly out of habit and partly for sentimental reasons. It's passed on to every girl in the family. Any suggestions on items such as these? I don't like being without it because of aforementioned reasons, but the thought of it getting stolen or lost is.... well... lets just say it would be my demise at the very least. </p>
<p>Has anyone brought anything extremley valuable to school?</p>
<p>You're about to start a new life at school...time for some new habits as well...leave the valuable things - both financial and sentimental - at home, at least for first semester. You can always bring them with you second semester if you absolutely MUST have them, after you live with your room and floormates a while.</p>
<p>Personally, if they were worth that much to me, I'd leave them at home and wear them on breaks the entire 4 years....better chance of still having them at graduation.</p>
<p>Don't get a safe it's gong to make you look paranoid, and attract attention to your belongings (which is what you don't want). Try opening a checking/savings account to safeguard your cash. Get a debit card and make your purchases from it. As for belongings, don't bring anything too valueable to college. Learn to let go.</p>
<p>When I was in college & law school 1975-82, I didn't know of anyone who had a safe. I suppose if one had things that HAD to be kept with them that were valuable (like passport), I'd think about renting a safety deposit box at a bank on or near campus, but would agree it would be best not to bring extremely valuable things to campus with you (preferred leaving such things home with my parents), particularly in your 1st semester. I tried not to have ANYTHING I'd be upset if it was lost or stolen--bought a clunker 2nd-hand bike at garage sale for $20 & later sold it for $20 when graduating from each campus. I though having stuff that was not particularly desirable was best theft deterent. Never had anything stolen from me in the 7 years I attended school (except one pair of jeans which were stolen from dorm dryer), nor did any of my friends. Not a bad record, but I don't consider it all that unusual. My boyfriends kept their musical instruments in their dorm rooms--flute & guitar.<br>
I never had or carried much cash--opened a checking account near campus & had ATM card & a credit card which I always paid off in full every month, (plus parents insisted I have a credit card billed to them, "just in case," but NEVER used it). Keeping a lot of cash around is never a good idea & never had trouble cashing checks or getting cash if I needed it. Generally we tried to do things that didn't cost much money anyway so never needed much cash.</p>
<p>USC had a student safe pilot program last year. they invited 4 companies to install their products and let the students decide. University Safe Co was the overwhelming choice. They offered to install these for all USC students for $105.00 per year. The safe is installed at cardinal gardens buildings Eand F and can be seen at notebooksafe.com. it is the only safe with corkboard mirror, recharging ports, dropslots and digital keypad. the students say they use it 3 to 5 times a day.</p>
<p>C&N Manufacturing makes very sturdy footlockers. You could use it for storage and secure it by chaining it to your bedframe or some other large furniture. Functional, spacious and not too paranoid-looking.</p>
<p>I have had a safe with me my entire time at college, even while I'm living in a single. Honestly, I don't think it's anything offensive to your roommate or anything. For me it has been good - it keeps my important papers and information and things I don't use often safe in a place where I know I can go to find them. (i.e. check book, car keys (cause sometimes I can go a week or two without driving around), health insurance stuff, etc.)</p>
<p>And not all safes have the combination thing where you can sit there and try and figure it out. Sure, mine is portable (but it is really heavy, even though it's small), but it has a weird shaped key that opens it - which I carry on me at all times.</p>
<p>the combination safes don't work, you just leave them unlocked instead of dealing with the combination dial. the safes at usc are only digital, no keys. with the drop slots you can put mail. money, cd's, credit cards ect. in the safe without opening it. and with the recharging ports you can recharge cellphones, laptops ect. while they are locked inside. plus the front of the safe is a corkboard-mirror, pretty unobtrusive.</p>
<p>believersmom.....just about any decent bolt/lock-cutter would get through that padlock in seconds. Other than that....eh, i'm in the group that says "just lock your door and don't leave valuables laying around..." </p>
<p>You can probably get a lockbox at your local bank to keep things like your SS card, birth certificate, etc. That's where I keep mine.</p>
<p>My D & her roomie have already been in contact and this is a concern for both of them. I agree the bolt that comes with the safe is not adaquate, I would get her a different one. However, I like the securing mechanism to the post as most dorm room thefts are "grab & go", we have been told that the thieves look for the "low hanging fruit" and will often grab things less valuable but easier to grab than more valuable that even takes them 30 seconds longer to liberate.
Just thought this looked better than most I have seen...she is commited to locking her door even for a bathroom break, as is her roomie.</p>
<p>Also, suggest keeping the safe concealed from sight even IF your roommate knows about it. Again, low hanging fruit...</p>
<p>Why would anyone be offended by their roommate showing up with a safe? It's nothing personal about you - it has more to do with your roommate not being willing to trust a complete stranger (which there's nothing wrong with). Besides, plenty of people other than just you and your roommate will be in your room, so it's not like the only person he/she is afraid will steal his/her belongings is you.</p>