<p>HM…if you want your kid to take less stuff…seems like the Durango would be the choice :)</p>
<p>I was planning to bring the kid and her things in my Camry. Does she really need a van’s worth of stuff? I better took for a list of things to be sure we can make it in a sedan.</p>
<p>You want the minivan for the sliding side doors. Much easier loading and unloading. That said, both vehicles should have more room than you need. Dorm rooms are so much smaller than they looked during the campus tours.</p>
<p>If there are four people in that minivan, those sliding doors will NOT be used for cargo…they will be used for two of the people to get in and out of the middle seat. </p>
<p>Still, I think a minivan is a more comfortable ride than a Durango. And the back opening is likely easier to manage as well.</p>
<p>You probably won’t be able to park on the Fenway. Simmons has a few on campus parking lots and you can get laundry carts to carry stuff in. Then you’ll probably have to hand carry the stuff up the stairs. There may be students who function as helpers. Less is more (except for cold weather and rain gear).</p>
<p>We had an Odyssey that was used for all college move-ins. After 12 years, we put it in the hands of someone who could take care of it: a Mexican mechanic and his wife who live in Canada. We now an Acura MDX, which holds substantially less than the Odyssey. I’d vote for a minivan.</p>
<p>Although I’m sure it was amusing to dorm staff, we rented a U-Haul van (not so “mini”!) for move-in and move-out (two years later) when my daughter attended an in-state boarding school. We own a regular passenger car, not an SUV or anything with a lot of cargo space, and the U-Haul was affordable. My method was to pack almost everything into same-sized lidded tubs (like mid-sized Rubbermaid or Sterilite) that could be easily moved and stacked in the van. Plus, the most heavy stuff, like books & notebooks, went into a bunch of Xerox paper boxes to keep the weight manageable. Of course, the van was not filled to the gills at all. We took all the empty storage bins, except a few she used under her raised dorm bed, back home with us. — Now, If she winds up attending a college as a residential student and the school is one we’d drive to, we’d probably rent a mini-van, too. The hassle would be if we had to stop overnight at a hotel/motel while the van was still packed. Very nerve-wracking. Thankfully, she’s a minimalist too. </p>
<p>Just as an FYI, there is a BB&Beyond very close to Simmons. Probably will be slim pickings at college move in season but I think you can buy in advance and do store pickup.</p>
<p>Yes…do the BBB buy in advance. Your things will be waiting for pick up in Boston. </p>
<p>I definitely can see doing the BBB-in-advance thing if you are flying in from a distance, but if you’re driving anyway and you have room, it saves time and energy to buy the stuff at the BBB near your house (it’s all the same), put it in the van, and drive it up there. Then you unpack, kiss, and leave. You don’t have to make a shopping stop once you’re there. You don’t have to park more than once. You don’t have to wait in line to pick up your things. There are 200,000 college students in the Boston area and I wouldn’t want to have to stand in line with all of them:) </p>
<p>First year we filled up the mini-van with stuff --most came home. Now my kid packs for school in his little car and does just fine.</p>
<p>I agree with NJSue. If driving, you want to bring whatever you’ve bought from BB & B or Target with you. I’ve posted before on what the Target in Watertown has looked like on Saturday of Labor Day weekend.That said I’ve always had to go to a Target or a supermarket or a drug store or Radio Shack for various things upon move-in.
OIder d went to school in Boston and we had planned to bring winter coats up with us for Parents Weekend which was toward the end of October but it was a very early fall … after a very hot summer and start of the school semester and she did need a fleece before then, so had to be shipped up. </p>