Freshman Orientation 2008

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Notre Dame
1

<p>Hello everyone… As a parent of an incoming freshman and first and only child to attend college, as you can imagine I have millions of questions and would appreciate any input!! </p>

<li><p>My husband, son, and I are flying into SB on August 21, and my husband and I are coming home on August 25. (Staying at the Waterford Estates Lodge, never stayed there, but could not find anything else close to ND). Is this enough time, or should we plan on having our son there sooner? </p></li>
<li><p>Health insurance. What have most of you done about medical insurance. We are in Calif. and have an HMO, it covers him for emergencies out of state, but not for regular sick visits, etc. </p></li>
<li><p>Domer dollars. How much do most of you put on your child’s card? </p></li>
<li><p>Work study. Does that earned money go into their student account or into the domer dollars? </p></li>
<li><p>Did any of you just purchase the sheet sets, etc. , offered by ND or did you bring them along on your flight? </p></li>
<li><p>For those living far away, how far in advance do you purchase flights to and from home?</p></li>
<li><p>How much stuff did you bring with you on flights or did you just purchase upon arrival in South Bend? </p></li>
<li><p>Laptop advice? Any advice here is appreciated. </p></li>
</ol>

<p>Any other advice or pointers sure would be appreciated!!! Thank you!!</p>

2

<p>When reading my responses, keep in mind that I am a sophomore, former Frosh-O Staff member from New York, so I think I have a pretty good grasp of most of this stuff. </p>

<ol>
<li><p>There's really no reason to get there any earlier than the Wednesday before Frosh-O. Technically move-in is Friday, most dorms will let you in Thursday, but none will let you in Wednesday. So if that date falls in that timeframe, don't worry.</p></li>
<li><p>Don't really know much about insurance, but I do know there is health services on campus that is paid for by tuition, so your sick visits go through there. Any meds and stuff of that nature will have to go through insurance, pretty sure.</p></li>
<li><p>I have yet to ever have a Domer Dollar to my name. But then again, I have the laundry service, and I know most people use Domer Dollars for laundry, so take from that what you will.</p></li>
<li><p>Work study goes into a personal bank account, I think. Contact FinAid and they'll let you know.</p></li>
<li><p>I bought the sheets offered "through" ND (they weren't actually - those brochures are approved by ND but not produced by them), and they turned out OK. But in retrospect, I would have preferred to buy sheets when I got to ND, to be assured of higher quality. That goes for pretty much everything. You can buy whatever you need in the South Bend area - in many ways it very much caters to collegiate needs.</p></li>
<li><p>My father and I made it a point to purchase no later than a month in advance. Once you get inside that timeframe, there was frequently a jump in price. Don't be a helicopter parent that schedules their kid's flights to and from home for the whole year before they set foot on campus. Many people choose to do service seminars over the breaks, or visit friends/roommates, etc. Take things as they come.</p></li>
<li><p>See 5. Most everything can be purchased once you get there. and the bookstore, while a bit on the steep side for anything with the ND logo on it, actually has other school supplies pretty cheap - pens, desk lamps, printers, paper clips, things like that. Note: Every student has a 1000 page print quota every year that is already paid for. My printer was pretty useless this year, as I didn't print off of it once. If you've already paid for the quota, might as well use it.</p></li>
<li><p>GET A MAC! I'm incredibly biased, but I just love my Macbook Pro. OIT is great (in most cases), regardless of what OS you're running, and Macs are just easier to set up, maintain, and use, in my opinion. Also, nowadays, they tend to be faster, more efficient, and they appeal to the multimedia mindset of college students these days, I think. Music and video editing is very easy, and presentations look gorgeous on Keynote (Mac's answer to Powerpoint). That being said, they are definitely an investment, as they are a bit more pricey than your average Windows PC, although you are definitely paying for a higher quality product. Let others weigh in on this too, though.</p></li>
</ol>

3

<p>ND fan--see my post in the Back from Frosh O thread.</p>

4

<p>Thanks Notre Dame AL and kevdude for your responses. It is nice to get answers from both a student and a parent. I cannot tell you how excited we are and proud of our son!! </p>

<p>I am a little confused about the domer dollars, though. Is this ID card also used for the flex points with the meal plan or is that separate? I guess I am wondering what comes out of the money from the scholarship, grants, work study, etc., from the financial aid package and what is paid for with the ID card? I hope all that makes sense!!</p>

5

<p>The ID card has your meal plan, flex points, and domer dollars, as well as giving you access to the dorms. It's one of the most useful things you can have on campus.</p>

6

<p>Thanks kevdude, that really cleared things up for me. Maybe we will see you at the orientation! Can't wait! (Neither can our son, I am sure he will be relieved to be away from his overly anxious parents!!) LOL!</p>

7

<p>Welcome to the ND family! I bow to kevdude and other students with superior knowledge, but will share our experience as fellow parents (we also flew in from the West Coast):</p>

<ol>
<li> August 21 (Thursday) arrival is perfect. Being allowed into the dorms earlier than Friday may differ by dorm. Our experience was that only marching band and ROTC were given their dorm rooms earlier than Friday. There is no reason to try and get in early on Thursday anyway, IMO, because Friday is when the Frosh-O staff are geared up to help you move in. It is a fun, welcoming atmosphere, and part of the ‘going to college’ experience. I highly recommend it. On Thursday, Frosh-O staff are less available being busy with planning meetings and getting their own rooms organized and you won’t get the same warm, fuzzy experience as moving in on Friday (again, JMO). </li>
<li> We did not buy additional health coverage. The health services facility at ND has worked well for us, so far at minimal additional cost (had to pay a lab fee once).</li>
<li> My son uses Domer Dollars primarily for laundry and incidental food purchases. They have stations set-up at orientation for easy deposit via credit card. I think we put in $100 at the start of freshman year, son kept track of his expenses and then we added additional by credit card deposit throughout the year, as needed. They make it very easy for parents to make a credit card deposit so you can start small and adjust if needed. :)</li>
<li> Can’t help you with work study. My son works on campus, but it is outside of financial aid and his earnings are direct deposited to his credit union account. As an aside: I highly recommend the ND credit union. They have a branch on campus in LaFortune and have ATM’s (no-fee for members) all over campus. Again, they make it very easy and are set up at freshman orientation to process new accounts. You will get info from them over the summer.</li>
<li> We purchased our own sheets (get twin XL). But, it is very easy to buy what you need in South Bend on Thursday and Friday (and Saturday!) if you have a car rented. The stores are full of ND students and parents. Not knowing this, we pre-shipped a large box with bedding, towels and some dorm stuff to the UPS freight office at the South Bend airport facility. They will hold it for 3-5 days in the warehouse. You can calculate the shipping time very accurately and pick it up on Thursday as you leave the South Bend airport or Friday morning. You can not pre-ship boxes to the dorm rooms unless you time it to arrive after your son has moved in on Friday.</li>
<li> The timing of plane ticket purchases depends on whether you think prices are going up or down and is an inexact science anyway as you try to guess your kid’s schedule ahead of time so you don’t have to pay the penalty fees to change the reservation. You just do the best you can. We have made his December return part of his August ticket and done the same for January-May. </li>
<li> The kids never need as much stuff as the moms think they need! :)</li>
<li> I am not qualified to give computer advice except to say get a computer that ND OIT can service under warranty. My son’s Dell had a minor warranty issue that required OIT send for a part, but the repair went smoothly and quickly. Most students would say no need to bring a printer, I think…they just take up limited space in the dorm rooms</li>
</ol>

8

<p>Just to let you know, all ATMs on campus a free for any account, bank, etc. If your kid already has a bank account set up, a NDFCU account is pretty irrelevant. I had one for a year until I realized it was pretty redundant.</p>

9

<p>Regarding work-study: </p>

<p>I work on campus approximately 12-14 hours a week and initially earned the standard minimum wage for students. My pay is directly deposited to my NDFCU account (similar to Greta's son), and I can use this money as I please. I simply write a check to Student Accounts for a given amount and pay off some of my tuition and fees that way - so in the end it is still taken care of. I agree with kevdude that NDFCU may seem a bit redundant, however this is an easy way for me to take care of my bills and manage my accounts payable directly on campus.</p>

<p>You may also find this helpful: Work</a> Study : Office of Student Financial Services : University of Notre Dame</p>

10

<p>3) I used about $200 Domer Dollars over the course of the entire year. I started with $100. I used it for laundry and vending machines.</p>

11

<ol>
<li><p>Some dorms allow you to move in early (this is technically not allowed), whereas others will stick you with fines asd high as $100 a day if you show up early.</p></li>
<li><p>I'm not really sure. All I know is that I'm covered through the same plan as I was in high school. I'm also from out of state, but I don't know what my insurance policy covers.</p></li>
<li><p>I usually put $100-$150 in my Domer Dollars every semester. I don't always use it all, but it's good to have for laundry (cheaper than using cash) and vending machines.</p></li>
<li><p>Sorry, I have no idea.</p></li>
<li><p>I bought my sheets ahead of time at home. You should be able to find them in the South Bend area no problem.</p></li>
<li><p>See Kevdude's answer.</p></li>
<li><p>My parents drive me down at the beginning and end of each year, so I usually bring everything with me.</p></li>
<li><p>Can't really offer much advice, except to note that I'm a PC fan. Also, printers take up space and many (not all) of the dorms have printers in their common areas. I had a printer freshman year but didn't bring it sophomore year and got by fine without it.</p></li>
</ol>

12

<p>Just 'bit the bullet' and purchased my son the Mac Book. He is literate in both systems and basically told me he didnt care which one he had. My one son
(14 yrs old) has a Mac Book and loves it (built in cam/camera and built in text reader-He is dyslexic). He is a computer geek and has never had any issues with it that couldn't be easily rectified.</p>

<p>What ended up selling me on getting the Mac was the rebate for a 3 in 1 printer ($99- so got it for free) and the rebate for either an iTouch or Nano (went with the nano-holds more songs) and got that for free too.</p>

<p>The comments about the graphics for presentations, etc was also a point that swayed me as well.</p>

<p>Now just need to get the Microsoft student program for the Mac when he gets on campus, and thats done!!</p>