Have there been instances of dormmates stealing other dormmates’ personal belongings? How common is this and how can it be prevented?
At DSs school, the only thing we’ve heard stolen is food from the common refrigerator in the dorm. And the most common item is gatorade with second most leftover pizza. DS keeps whole milk, cheese sticks and sliced turkey in there…he’s never seen any of that missing. Lol.
My daughter had a huge problem with theft her first year at BS. Her roommate stole clothing and other things. It addition, she had a fleece pullover stolen from a dance. It was very unique so she saw the thief wearing it and confronted her. Thief denied it and since my daughter’s name wasn’t in it, she didn’t get it back. (Thief was later kicked out for showing up drunk at senior dance…karma??)
At another kid’s school, someone was kicked out for stealing his roommates credit card…and one dorm is kind of known for having issues with theft.
Luckily, other than that first year, my kids haven’t had a problem with theft.
Moral of the story - put your name on EVERYTHING!
agree–food in common refrig/freezer is most common stolen item. Esp ice cream. Our student had her comforter stolen after she put it in the laundry. It was a good quality Pottery Barn quilt.
Wow. I can’t believe some of these thefts. DS uses the washers/dryers at school. He’s been known to put a load in before bed and get up in the morning to take it out…he’s never had clothing stolen. Of course, this may be due to all of the 70s band and Mickey Mouse t shirts…who knows. They do have locks on their dorm rooms and a locked safe drawer in their room for wallets, etc. If he were to claim anything was stolen from his dorm room, it would take an army to convince me it isn’t just hidden, because I have seen his room…you can’t find anything in there.
@buuzn03 your post about your son’s room made me crack up! That is so my kid to a T - not to mention that sometimes I swear he’s blind when he’s looking for something. Can’t count how many times he’s complained that someone moved something of his because he can’t find it. Then It takes me about 30 seconds of me digging through his room to find what he’s looking for. Appearantly I know how to find stuff in his room better than he does! I’m actually hoping that if he does get into BS that the daily room inspections will help him control his room better. And help him manage laundry and actually do it before he’s got 3 loads to do with no clean clothes to wear…
@dramakid2 DSs room at home was always so neat…and I never had to really get on to him about anything. But when we were there a few weeks ago, his dorm room could’ve hidden most of Al Qaeda, I swear. And we repeatedly have asked about room inspections…he says his is one of the neatest rooms in the entire dorm!!! WHA!!! I’m questioning the cleanliness standards of those doing inspections while thanking my lucky stars I’m not a dorm parent!
^^^ I will admit at one school we looked at I was shocked at how messy the rooms were. I questioned if there were actually room inspections going on!
Anyway, don’t want to derail the thread. I agree that the thefts listed on here are disturbing. During tours I did think about what would happen if my kid took his bike to school. I wondered how well it could be secured and whether they are targets of theft.
Stealing someone’s comforter sounds especially bold! It’s hard to hide and you would think it would be recognized easily. Very sad.
Kids always left everything everywhere, unlocked and in the open. (I was always stunned by the pile of backpacks, most holding laptops that were piled in front of the auditorium during performances, for example). Thefts were very very rare. BUT DS did have $ taken from an unlocked gym locker (and one of the kids who was a possible suspect was expelled 2 months later for a number of disciplinary infractions.)
Overall, kids were very trusting of each other, and generally rightfully so. Kids who violated the trust were usually discovered. I don’t think this is a big issue at most schools. But I second the suggestion of putting names in things, mostly to avoid mixups. There are certain items that everyone has (dark north face jackets, bean boots) and that even the kids may not remember clearly which is theirs.
Haven’t had a theft issue at either Cate or St George’s. Cate DD never locks her door & leaves stuff all over campus. What can happen however, is they all wear each other’s clothes & then sometimes forget who owns what. Name tags are the solution. St. George’s DS uses his one locked drawer to store… SNACKS. Apparently those can go missing quite easily 
Second @gardenstategal and @GMC2918 … I was shocked at the number of laptops, phones, iPads, backpacks etc strewn about campus. But they all seem to know whose is whose. The food is the kicker…if you want to keep your snack food to yourself, you better eat healthy!!! Lol
All it takes is a bad apple or two to result in issues. Overall, at my kids’ school over the years, it was pretty much was not an issue. Kids leave their backpacks, laptops, bikes around although they should be careful as the campus is open to visitors as well. One of my kids had a year when several things were stolen out of the dorm room including money. The rooms don’t have locks. A few years back the school did add lock boxes for each student built into their dresser to store valuables.
Food theft from the dorm fridges is definitely an issue.
My DD never locks her dorm room and has never had an issue. She thinks it’s a non-issue there because it’s such a huge infraction to even enter another girl’s dorm room without permission. I personally think it has more to do with the size of the school…approx 175 with half boarding. Everyone knows what everyone else is doing!
yes: money, jewelry you name it.
Last year there was a big issue with bikes being “borrowed” and not returned. They would eventually turn up elsewhere on campus but it was very frustrating. The problem was addressed by faculty last year and it became a bigger, more punishable offense. Consequently, there haven’t been as many unauthorized “borrowed” bikes this year.
A few colleges (and maybe one boarding school if I remember correctly) would have old, inexpensive bikes painted in some bright color all around campus that were free for the borrowing. Hop on where you find it and leave it at your destination for someone else to borrow. I like that idea.
I have only heard of one incident from DS – a stolen backpack (perhaps misplaced?) – which led to dorm inspections , but that was a while ago. The dorm rooms have locks and I believe they have a safe, though I don’t know that it’s in use. I think you use the common fridge at your peril.
I do feel vindicated in buying the cheapest comforter/bedding set for DS – comforter cover was ripped and (resourcefully) held together by safety pins by about October – definitely not at risk!
My nephew had a couple of favorite and distinctive shirts stolen when he was at BS. About a year later, he was looking at the school’s new view-book and (you guessed it) a boy in a photo was wearing HIS shirt. Case solved and that kid got caught - my nephew’s name was in the shirt!
E&R laundry was the biggest “thief” during our son’s BS stint. At the risk of conjuring the dreaded laundry thread, know that the laundry beast is real and indiscriminate. One semester of laundry service was enough for our son to decide that it wasn’t worth it. Those machines are hungry.
Very true, @ChoatieMom! My laundry-averse son told me at Christmas that the laundry service loses things, so he does his “important laundry” that “can’t get lost” himself. I suspect that he sends all the dress clothes to E&R, with the “important” things being favorite socks and workout clothes.