<p>The only thing that my D used her printer for was to print photos that she used to update a dorm bulletin board. Agree with bbkitty that printers are not a “must take with you” item.</p>
<p>Do students hand in their papers online? Man am I old fashioned.</p>
<p>Yes many profs accept or require papers and projects be submitted online. S took his printer and used it just a few times when the school printers were down or very busy. Having one as a backup is a good idea or roommates could share one and split the cost of ink and paper which S and roommate did.</p>
<p>Second the suit suggestion. D and I had to scramble during her winter break to find one for her. For wrinkle-free suit options, check Limited and Express.</p>
<p>T-shirts do magically appear out of nowhere. 
D came home with a big bag of t-shirts that I’ve never seen before.</p>
<p>My son ended up needing lamps. He bought them locally though. The lighting in his room was very dim and the winter was long, cold and dark . . .</p>
<p>Printers can be helpful. Waiting in lines (depending on the school) during final exam/essay deadlines isn’t fun. And if it rains or slows, you’re not going to want to walk around campus. The majority of my papers have been submitted in paper. If they are submitted online, we still have to leave a copy of the paper in writing for the professor to file with the department. Some professors allow online-only submissions, but, in my experience, that tends to be only for online classes. Sometimes you’ll want to print out notes, too. For $30 for the cheapest printer, it’s often worth it.</p>
<p>Bring something to safeguard you stuff-- lock away your wallet, PC, etc. If you’ll never use the lock/lockbox, don’t buy it… but protecting your stuff is a really, really good idea. Not all dorm doors lock, and even if they do, people sometimes prop them open, let other people in (even your roommate might have guests over that they don’t know), etc. </p>
<p>Lamps. Laundry supplies. Cleaning supplies. </p>
<p>Comfort food. Comfort items (favorite blanket, stuffed animal, photos, or whatever-- no, you’re not too old for that stuff. With that said, think carefully, as things sometimes end up lost in the black hole of the dorm.)</p>
<p>Don’t bring gaudy jewelry or items. Umbrellas or snow boots. Enough clothes. Enough cash. Groceries. Caffeine. Stuff to entertain yourself (books, word searches, coloring books, scrapbooks, journals, sketch books… think of simple, relaxing ways to entertain yourself). A TV and/or other entertainment medium. Alarm clock. Music player or stereo. </p>
<p>Backup hard drive/CD/online backup (back up OFTEN!!!). </p>
<p>Phone, stamps/paper/postcards, and other ways to stay in touch with relatives. </p>
<p>Photos. Possibly a high school yearbook (most people probably won’t look at them, but there’s the occasional home sick day that you’ll want to re-read notes from old friends).</p>
<p>T-shirt quilt if you have one of your high school/childhood t-shirts.</p>
<p>A neutral person to bounce ideas and problems off of-- the counseling center, a good friend, a close relative, or similar.</p>
<p>Financial management skills. Seriously.</p>
<p>A curriculum guide-- plan out what classes you want to take, or you’ll be in college FOREVER. Don’t rely on your advisors to tell you what to do-- they won’t.</p>
<p>Contact info for friends and family-- sometimes facebook doesn’t cut it. A phone call is sometimes what you need.</p>
<p>Learn how to change a spare tire if you have a care, etc.</p>
<p>No matter what you think you might need, if it is big or expensive (printer, refrig etc.) wait. See if your roomie brought one or if you need it. </p>
<p>When my D started college a few years ago, her suite had three refrigerators at first. One got quickly sold. It also had 3 printers, and who knows what else (irons come to mind.)</p>
<p>You would be surprised at what can be shared.</p>
<p>You would not be surprised at what can be ordered online, with inexpensive delivery. So see if you need it. If you do, order it.</p>
<p>Some things you probably did not think about, but should:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>update insurance: check to see if laptops can be better insured with a homeowners policy endorsement. We get all risks coverage for a few bucks per year.</p></li>
<li><p>consider having your new college student be an extra card holder on a parents charge account, for emergencies only. Consider the cost of a quick trip home, and the low limits on some college cards. Then consider the law that was just passed that make it even harder for a kid to get one’s own card. You need to have a level of trust with your kid (but you have that already? ), and perhaps it is better to know they’re living a bit irresponsibly, as shown through the cards, than to be surprised. But the card could be handy in the case of an emergency.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Oh yea, most commonly forgotten move in item? Extension cords…</p>
<p>DD became the “go to” person with her small tool kit, basics of hammer, multi-head screw driver, wrench. And of course duct tape.</p>
<p>Printers are pretty small and depending on the school can be either essential or not. S (just graduated from college)'s school had centralized printing that was free the first year but once they decided to charge it was much less expensive for him to have a printer of his own. He never turned any paper in electronically, always on paper.</p>
<p>I was on this thread a year ago with DS#1. Glad to see it bumped but one of you parents of an incoming freshman needs to start the at-least-as-useful “what not to bring” thread.</p>
<p>My hindsight re: packing after freshman year–</p>
<p>We never thought to bring a printer and DS never needed one. All papers were e-mailed to teachers.</p>
<p>We had been in contact with roommate and were assigned only the room fridge for larger items (roommate brought iPod speakers and TV). Bought a nice, fairly large one, drove it seven hours only to plug it in and find out it didn’t work. Roommate’s parents ran out to buy another one. The great bottom line is we had very little to move back this year. Really only clothing, books, some athletic equipment. (Freshmen with older siblings will figure out that many college kids share a storage space over the summer for things that won’t be needed until the next school year.)</p>
<p>Multi-outlet power strip was used. Didn’t need extension cords–dorm rooms are pretty small.</p>
<p>First aid kit came back unopened.</p>
<p>Didn’t bring a tool kit–figured somebody else would have one if necessary, which it was not.</p>
<p>I’d read but didn’t believe that somehow college kids accumulate T-shirts. So true!</p>
<p>Knowing DS, I didn’t mull over the one-set-of-sheets vs. two-sets controversy. One was plenty for him.</p>
<p>I sent him one eBayed blue blazer which I’m not sure he wore at all. What he <em>did</em> wear and wish he’d had more of is the slightly goofier clothes–the $10 jacket from Penney’s, the cut-off overalls, . . . He did have a pair of khakis, 2-3 dress shirts, and some loafer-type nice shoes. He did wear these, although mostly for game days.</p>
<p>I ended up doing most of the packing to bring him home while he was at a final team meeting. I thought I was brilliant by bringing large lawn-type plastic bags, and it did work out great. Just stuffed the <mostly dirty=“”> laundry into them. Packed everything else in a few duffels. I truly believe when going through it all that he took about three times as much clothing as he needed. He claims he had less than everyone else he knew, but with a little more regular use of the laundry facilities, he could have gotten by with <em>much</em> less.</mostly></p>
<p>We did mark everything with his dorm and room number when moving him to school last August. (Kind of wistful looking at those markings still on at the end of the year!) Many schools will have piles of helpers for move-in, and it’s helpful to be able to dump it all out of the car pre-tagged with its destination. Both moving out and back were done completely with our 4Runner, and not too cramped at that.</p>
<p>Bottom line is if you’re not sure about something, leave it at home. Can always be sent later/bought at school. Just keep in mind that everything you have to lug to move them in (and there seems to be this statistical anomaly of a heat wave at every single college campus on move-in day) will eventually have to be lugged back out.</p>
<p>As for the laptop lock, son use 2. One for his laptop and one for his backup hard drive. He just got replacement keys since the backup pair has disappeared and daughter will be using the same setup for college.</p>
<p>Son’s freshman year roommate let anyone in the room and allowed them to do anything. Comp and hard drive were always locked and password protected if he was away for even a second. He frequently found signs of people trying to hack the password.</p>
<p>Sk8rmom - you mentioned a tall drying rack. What I am looking for I saw in a Bowdoin dorm room (I should have asked while I was in the room) but it was tall with the tripod legs and three (I think) notched arms coming out to hang dry clothing on hangers. I would love to find it. It looked like it would fit really well in dorm setting. have you seen this in your searches?</p>
<p>^ Funny thing. While trying to describe the rack I was looking for I decided to google tripod drying rack and I found the one I have been looking for (for months). It’s called “Hangaway Collapsible Drying Racks”. Unfortunately, they are on backorder with QVC but something to consider checking out. They are well reviewed but have never owned one.</p>
<p>PS Just found it’s “sister” sold at “Taylor gifts” called a “pop up clothes hanger”.</p>
<p>bump - almost time to start packing!</p>