This was interesting to me. We sent D’s college her immunization records which the doctor and county health dept deemed complete. Her college notified her that her Hep B shots were given too close together - shortly after birth and then 3 weeks later which was supposed to be a month. They required a booster or a titer showing she was immune.
Well the doc’s office did the titer test because they scoffed at the idea that she wouldn’t be immune because of a booster a week early 18 years ago…and guess what? She wasn’t.
Check with your car insurance to see if your college student who is not bringing a car can be classified as “occasional” driver. We are saving $30 a month. They said that the college has to be more than 100 miles away. But may depend on insurance company.
If your college student lofted their bed to make room for storage underneath, they might need a small stepstool to get into bed. My D is getting a storage ottoman for that purpose. :))
My daughter’s lofted bed is accessible only by scaling the end of the apparatus, with irregularly-spaced footholds. It’s higher than a top bunk bed. I want to get her a ladder, but she scoffed.
That’s exactly why my DD didn’t want to loft her bed. She was afraid of getting down during the night to go to the bathroom. We did run out for step stool though because her room had a storage closet above the garage.
D did Loft her bed and put her desk and dresser under it to make space for a reading nook. The end of her bed has evenly spaced slats that form a ladder, so it is easy to climb. I was nervous because neither girl wanted bed rails and insist they won’t fall out. Now she needs a beanbag chair for the nook. She also needs a step stool to reach the upper shelves of her closet. Neither she nor her roommate are particularly tall.
For car insurance, my insurance company said we can actually take my kid’s name off our insurance and he will still be covered for up to 2 week visits (Christmas and spring break I suppose). If he lives at home over the summer I guess we just add him back on then. Saves us $1000.
Bank account is crucial. We both have wells fargo and with surepay she gets funds in 24 hrs. She has an emergency credit card and it is not used ever it is only for emergencies. The coat of all the little things add up so i would start gathering the items.
printer if dorms do not have. Its a life saver for my d.
keurig
enclosed case for mattress and pillow
pillow topper for mattress. Mattresses are terrible
travel mugs
power cords
thin hangers. Wardrobe at my d’s college tiny
fridge
towels
laundry bag
fan
my d cooks so cooking stuff
supply of personal hygiene and medicine
rain jacket
if they are going greek start gathering the clothes
before they leave find them a suit for interviews
Another thing to consider is a medical power of attourney. Crucial to me is my d having an uber account linked to my credit card so she can get places if need be.
Before our d left we pro ably spent about 2000 on stuff she needed on top of computer.
Banking account that is easily accessible by your child while at college as well as by you, in your home town, in case you need to make deposits or deal with account matters. Joint account so you and child have equal access. Credit and debit cards for child, and parent - again, in case you need to access account.
Schedule dental, annual physicals, eye appts, and anything else for the summer prior to moving away for college. If your child plans to return home during winter break - schedule teeth cleaning/dental appts for that time period - it will be 6 months after the summer cleaning appt.
If your child has orthodontic or other ongoing health treatment concerns, get recommendations from your current providers for providers located nearest to your child's location in college. If you need a referral for insurance coverage, get the referrals.
If your child is 18 or older, and you want access to their medical records or the ability to talk to their health care professionals, have your child sign over a HIPAA compliant medical authorization form(s) for all the providers, and keep a copy of each for yourself, mail or deliver them to the providers.
Get the name and phone number of your child's room mate, and the dorm floor RA, as soon as that info is available - in case you need to get a hold of your child.
If you plan to accompany your child to college, to help him/her move in, and go through tours/orientation, consider making an appointment to meet, briefly, with the college deans of housing, and academic studies (either the head, or the one assigned to your child), so you can put a face to the name, and, so they will be aware that you are an interested and connected parent - this might come in handy in the future when you and/or your child need to address concerns or problems with university administration.
For items to pack and move to college - err on packing 'less' rather than 'more'. Most college campuses are near stores such as Bed Bath and Beyond, Target, etc.; once you get to college and are in the dorm room, and discover you need additional items, you can pick them up there. My daughter attends Barnard, and included in the 'orientation fee' that we paid, was air conditioned coach buses that took us to and from Bed Bath and Beyond, multiple times if need be. Also, B,B &B had staff assigned to helping students and parents, and had separate express check out lanes for us - separate from 'regular' customers. The entire process was smooth and fantastic. There was also bottled water on the bus, and a staff person who guided us all. These coach buses made trips back and forth all day long.
Or, consider packing and shipping boxes of your kid's stuff to college ahead of time - if you have the mailing address for college. My daughter went halfway across the country to college, and we helped her 'move', but flew out to her college. We packed and shipped a few large boxes, mailed to her college address, and on move in day, we picked up the boxes and unpacked them there. The school provided a dolly for us to transport the large boxes.
Get a few maps of the city where your child will be going to college, for your child and yourself, and study them before your trip to familiarize yourselves with the layout of the place.
If you have not already done so, have a serious and open talk with your child about safe practices, including knowing what areas to avoid, when to make sure he or she has a partner to walk with, safe sex, not accepting drinks from strangers, not abandoning or leaving a friend whom you attended an event with - everyone stays together and goes home together. That if either or both individuals are under the influence of drugs and/or alcohol, refrain from any sexual contact, and, when initiating sexual contact, make sure that both parties are lucid and able to give clear consent - doing so might help to avoid very complex and unfortunate situations.
Learn what physical and mental health services and resources are available at the college, who the staff people are, and what they will and will not provide. Have your child find the offices where these resources are located, during orientation or move-in day, so your child will know where to go when in need of those services.
Lastly, enjoy your last remaining days together, before your child goes off into the great world of college!
Great list above, but I’d discourage #6. There is no need to meet with a housing director or provost (unless the student has challenging special needs and complications are expected). On the other hand, help your child find the school directory, learn the institution’s organizational chart, and plot how to contact key administrators in the herirarchy. Teach the child how to write a business letter too, in case it’s needs to reach those admins.
Strong suggestion based on experience of first year freshman…is student is taking a car, send an extra car key to be locked away somewhere in the dorm room, just in case! Apologies if this has already been mentioned.
My S future school has a parents’ Facebook page. Someone mentioned an app called Favor. It is a delivery service that allows you to get anything delivered in under an hour. Parents are using it to have food, soup, medicine, Kleenex, etc. delivered to sick kids. It is in D.C, Boston, Atlanta, Austin- several big college towns. There are probably other services like this in just about any good size town.
This question has been asked before (after all this thread started in 2008) however our circumstances are a little different.
My S will be transferring from Australia to complete his degree in Chicago - I will be travelling over with him for the move-in to assist with all the finer details like setting up new phone plans, banking etc (not to mention helping carry his 4 musical instruments as well as 2 suitcases!)
My question pertains to obtaining bed-linens and all the other non-clothes items - I see many colleges recommend a dorm linen supply service online where you can order all you need online however they deliver to your home (no good for us!)
Many have mentioned Bed Bath and Table but also comment that they sell out by move-in days.
We will be arriving in Chicago 3 days prior to move-in - I realise you guys don’t have a crystal ball, but would you perceive we would be able to purchase all he’d need in the city centre before move-in or would I need to head out to outlying suburbs / mall?
I have tried emailing BBT to see if it can be pre-ordered and got some robotic very non-helpful response in reply.
Any and all advice appreciated! (PS I have rented a studio apartment for my stay that has a washer/dryer)
PPS - these threads have been SO helpful for me as it has been (literally) such a foreign process for the past 12 months and I wish I had discovered this site sooner!
If possible I would avoid shopping in the city center and instead go to suburban stores for more selection and possibly better prices. Will you have a car with you? In Chicago the public transportation to suburbs is not great.
@reedsmom - As people have noted, several stores, including Target, Bed Bath & Beyond, and the Container Store all allow you to purchase items online (or in a local store) and choose a store close to the college for pickup. In the case of BB&B, our order was held in the back and they brought it all out when we went to pick it up, so there were no worries about them not having the items in stock. Also, we had some items shipped to the college from Amazon.com. We moved our D across the country last year, so we only had a few suitcases with us on the plane and the rest we shipped to the college or picked up nearby. Hope this helps.
We did run out for step stool though because her room had a storage closet above the garage.