<p>Keep it at home, send when needed. I would not send a PDF of any important stuff via email, way too easy to get stolen.</p>
<p>My D goes to school 1000+ miles out of state from home and couldn’t have a car for her freshman year. I mailed her her passport shortly after she moved to campus, so it would not get lost in the move in shuffle and so she would have it to fly home. She wasn’t travelling overseas, it is just an acceptable form of ID instead of a driver’s license at all domestic airports. </p>
<p>I had heard horror stories of students losing their wallets/purses right before travelling home for the holidays and so not being able to get home. I told her to keep it in a different place than she kept her drivers liscense so that she should always have one or the other to come home with.</p>
<p>I would suggest keeping everything at home.</p>
<p>I can’t imagine a circumstance where a college student would need their birth certificate , or even their passport with them when they leave for school. Passport of course in the event of a study abroad. SS card if applying for a job. You can get small document safes at Staples and warehouse stores , but I think it might be wiser to leave the docs at home and if need be , mail them…dorms can be vulnerable</p>
<p>lje62–our oldest went to college an hour from Canada. It was common to go to Canada for a weekend “shopping” trip…and the drinking age there is 18…Almost all of the kids at his school had a passport so they could go.</p>