<p>nymom2 sons - no, daughter is going to Northeastern. She's our first child so this college stuff is all new to us as is the private school experience. H and I went to an enormous public on the west coast, characterized by a survival-of-the-fittest attitude. For example, I don't think they had Parents' Weekend (if they did mine missed it) -- it all sounds very east-coast-boarding-school to me. Not that I mind -- it's just all very different to my experience.</p>
<p>Katliamom, I know they have orientation at the state schools here in PA and at Towson University in Maryland. That east coast boarding school stuff is all Hollywood - the majority of students on the east coast attend normal public high schools. Although if they post on CC, they are known as attending, "a well known, high ranking public HS." ; ) I'm guessing that they didn't have a parents orientation anywhere 25- 30 years ago.</p>
<p>Banking - our daughter (rising college senior) never did get a bank local to her college. She had her paychecks direct deposited from her college job, and got used to getting cash back when she would go shopping to avoid atm fees. Our family recently switched to Wachovia and will likely have son get an account with them when we go for the orientation. What would be the purpose in having a joint account with us as opposed to an individual account? He has his own bank account in a different bank at home and has been fiscally responsible for a couple of years.</p>
<p>The only real purpose for a joint account initially was that at 17, DD could not get an individual account.</p>
<p>I opened a joint account so we can more easily both make deposits & write checks, as well as check out the balance. For the most part, I am his "admin asst" and will run his errands (particularly in HI) while he is in LA. Many folks who have kids in college say that having a joint account was useful for them, so that's what we opened. I expect it will primarily be S's account, but it seems to increase flexibility having both of us named on it.
When I was in college/pro school in the 70s & 80s, I opened my own account near college & had sole responsibility for it. I was financially independent, except my folks did buy me plane tickets to come home every summer & back to school every fall. My S is nowhere near financially independent because his school is SO expensive; he is fiscally responsible tho & I have no doubt he will be able to handle his finances fine.
My folks gave me a credit card in my name (on their joint account), which I held "just in case." I never used it. We have given our S one as well--it is a joint card with me & him. He will call us if he uses it (e.g. for eBay, plane tickets, etc.), so we don't challenge the charge as "unauthorized."</p>
<p>
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I still worry if he will bring home all the information he needs -- or -- should I say, that I need. Stuff about finances, food, dorm needs, etc.
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Many schools have excellent sections of their websites for Parents with that kind of information, and you can also browse the specific web pages for Housing and Residence Life, see photos and floor plans of dorms etc.</p>
<p>I thoroughly enjoyed Orientation - the parts I attended - but I think it's case-by-case whether you go or not. I didn't go in for what cangel calls the "nervous nellie" stuff, nor the boat ride/zoo visit/picnic social-type stuff. But I liked the sessions held for parents by the Engineering school etc. Interesting and I liked getting a feel for the professors, how they related to undergrads etc. Of course, I am a college admissions junkie ;).</p>
<p>Jimmom; That's just great- boat ride/zoo visit ! I love that! lol</p>
<p>D's school has two orientations -- the first is for students only and involves rock climbing, river rafting, or public service; the second is the regular assessment/registration/welcome-wagon sort, with a parent welcome and send-off. Looks like we'll drive up (about 1000 miles) and drop D off for activities, take a short Northwest/BC jaunt, and drop by for parents' orientation on our way home. We can stroll a beautiful campus, check out the dorm to see if any little amenities should make their way into the first CARE package, take some pictures of local color for my BBoard at home, and help fine-tune Internet access and firewall protection if needed. It's the first vacation we've had together in ... mmm ... about five years I think. I'm definitely looking forward to all of it.</p>
<p>Our orientation was deftly handled--one or two "together" things, and then the parents were shepherded off for some interesting and fun events, after which we were told by the Dean: It's time for you to go. Wouldn't have missed it for anything. The kids' orientation and the obligatory parents' sendoff were totally separate, but fun, events.</p>
<p>We went to our first child's orientation because it coincided with move-in day and we only lived 50 miles away and needed to bring the car back anyway. There was absolutely no need for us to be there though. The parents were provided some nice, relatively meaningless distractions to keep them busy while the students went off to do their thing. That particular (private) school is very insistent on letting students manage their own lives and they provide the resources to help them do that. </p>
<p>The second child's orientation was very, very different. My husband went to that one and it's a good thing he did. This was a large state U and the process of signing up for classes, getting tested (or exempted) from subject diagnostic tests, etc., was quite chaotic. I'm sure in the end that our son would have made it through just fine on his own, but it was reassuring to him to have his dad available to help him navigate the chaos, since he was already nervous to begin with. </p>
<p>We won't be attending orientation with my daughter in August. The more we stay in the background (or out of the picture altogether), the more she takes up where we leave off, and she does pretty well on her own and tends to over-prepare, so even if parents could play some role at orientation (and I don't think they actually do at this school), I think she'll be better off in the long run doing it on her own. Since she'll be on the opposite coast for four years, the sooner she takes the reins, the better. I think it's better to make mistakes earlier than later. There just isn't that much that they can do or not do this early in their college career that has lasting consequences.</p>
<p>I thought S's orientation was valuable. I skipped a couple sessions for a visit to the local art museum, but the student, parent, and department panels were helpful.</p>
<p>We did not see our kids between the welcome dinner and closing session 48 hours later, a format that I think is great. It gave him a chance to meet his fellow 2010ers, and as is often the case, I learned as much from fellow parents as I did from the official program.</p>
<p>That said, I probably would not have made the trip if it were my second child attending the school. It was fun; don't know if it bears repeating, though.</p>
<p>My 3 Ds who have been through orientations have all had theirs in conjunction with move-in week, and we have attended all 3. Very glad we did. I think that if it's a short summer orientation and not held during move-in week, it is probably less likely that most parents would/should attend. I would definitely recommend that parents go along at move-in time, if at all possible. The vast majority of kids are going to have parents and often siblings helping them move in, and I remember the kids who had arrived on their own, and having varying levels of confusion and fear on their faces. I think that part of orientation is far more important to be a part of, than the sessions which are designed for parents and run by the college.</p>
<p>UVA says they expect parent(s) to attend. Parents and students will reportedly go to separate co-terminus events for each of the two days.</p>
<p>My D is going 1000 miles away, and is arriving a week early for a special pre-orientation program, so it's not practical for any of us to be there for Orientation. I really regret that - not so much for D's sake as for mine. I'd like to vicariously share this experience with her and feel better equipped to provide the paternal advisement that I doubt will ever be requested. But the Parents' Weekend is in November, so we're planning to take the family at that time instead.</p>
<p>The more I think about this, the more I realize that if they really, really wanted parents to attend, orientation would be in conjunction with move in time. Between orientation, move in & Parents weekend, its not feasible for us to do this 3 times in less than 4 months. Means taking time off from work, arranging for S # 2... kenneling the dog..., etc., etc. That said, maybe I'm overly sensitive. Other people are doing it. However, my S. is more than happy, insistent actually, to go alone. Good for him!</p>
<p>We always took D to school- and picked her up
Most of the time the whole family went including the dog- sometimes just my husband- this year of course she didn't come back after graduation.
Freshman year- they did have activities for hte parents but most of the student activies were planned for after the parents left-
I did have a tour of the biology building, but I never did tour the nuclear reactor. Mostly we needed all teh time we had to get stuff that was forgetten or go on critical shopping trips like to Powells.</p>
<p>NYmom, I agree, if they really want the parents to attend then the orientations should be with move-in. Our son's college is 6 hours away and our daughters 15 - 16 (depends on traffic from PA to IL!) and both colleges seem to understand that out of state parents should not be expected to just pop down to the college for an orientation that could just as easily be done in conjunction with move-in. My daughters college had a whole dorm set aside for parents to stay in, so they are definately expected. Since the freshman come 3 weeks prior to school starting for a required writing course they can do that. Unfortunately, we could not attend.</p>
<p>Two ways: with dd#1, we went to the orientation for the Honors Program. That was also move-in day for the HP--they were there a few days early for a retreat. With dd#2--I'm not going but dh is. It's unique--it's Induction Day for the Naval Academy. The parents are strongly urged to come, but I just can't with too many little ones still at home. We will both be going, plus dd#1 for Plebe Parent Weekend in August--wouldn't miss it for the world!</p>
<p>Why didn't I ever think of that? Let's see if it still works: Driver, it's time for you to go.</p>
<p>You know what? My son just walked in the door after being away since Sunday morning -- I gave him a big hug, and said, "I missed you so much". To which he replied.... what for? I've been away for much longer than this. (which is true). Maybe its the sentimentality of graduation being tomorrow (the reason he came home from his summer camp job for the weekend).... maybe because he's finally not a pain in the tush every minute of every day (that honor now falls to his 15 year old brother). He already booted up his computer, IM'd his grandparents, and is in the shower. He's been in the house exactly 14 minutes. The fun never ends.</p>
<p>Either way... he's ready to go to college. I'm ready to have him go. Enough said on this subject....</p>
<p>We wouldn't have missed the orientations for our three sons! It gave us a comfortable feeling to get to know the place that they would be living for the next four years! </p>
<p>For son number one, we went with the two younger brothers in tow as well as grandparents who drove his things 1200 miles while we flew (they like road trips)!</p>
<p>For our youngest son, we flew all the way across the country to check things out and took our two older college sons who wanted to check out where their younger brother was going to be. I think they were almost as emotional as we were seeing their little brother going off to college, and so it felt important to them to check it out at orientation time as well. It meant a lot to our younger son to have that kind of interest from his older brothers. Then again, some kids are different. </p>
<p>For us, all in all, orientations were very special family times.</p>