Moving in from out of state-Any tips?

Colleges and Universities A-Z Furman University
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<p>My D will be attending Furman as an incoming freshman in a few months. We live way out of state, Connecticut to be exact, and it is a little too far to drive so we will need to fly down.</p>

<p>I have read some great tips already like ordering items online for local pickup but I was hoping that other parents or students that have to fly in might have some tips. It is hard to figure out how to get her stuff down on a flight. Can you send items down in advance to the school? I know we can send some items in advance to the hotel we will be staying in before her move so that might help.</p>

<p>Any advice, tips or "do's and don"ts are appreciated! Thank you.</p>

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<p>We live in northern NJ and were wondering about all the same things last summer. To answer your question about sending boxes in advance to Furman, yes it is possible but I had to call the school to get the information since I couldn’t find anything on the website. Shipping boxes ahead was my original plan and I had already coordinated with UPS and had packed most the boxes. The day before we were scheduled to ship the boxes we had second thoughts about it and decided to drive down rather than fly. And I’m glad we did. </p>

<p>I know it made D feel much more relaxed to have all her things with us rather than sending them ahead to Facilities Services. She was worried that a box of her clothes would be missing or something would be damaged and we wouldn’t know until the last minute. Furman said that we wouldn’t be allowed to get the boxes until move-in day. They do a good job organizing the move but it is still a bit crazy and the morning moves along very quickly. I’m glad we didn’t have to make the extra stop at Facilities Services to get her boxes before moving on to the dorm. There is a full schedule of events planned for the day and it was helpful that we had everything ready to go as soon as we arrived on campus.</p>

<p>Once we started asking around, we found that every other NJ family we knew of drove down as well. It really wasn’t that bad a drive. We went down on Wednesday and used Thursday to buy last minute things and pick up all the items we had pre-ordered from Wal-Mart and Bed Bath and Beyond. Both stores offer great services that I highly recommend.</p>

<p>If driving from CT isn’t feasible, it may be worth checking with the UPS Store to see if they can accept your shipment and hold it for you. Then you would be able to get the boxes a day early if you want. There are a several outlets in the area and that is how we got some of D’s things home in May.</p>

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<p>I’ve driven down from Connecticut to Furman. I did it with a friend of mine, and minus a stop at my house (in the DC area) for dinner, we did the trip non-stop. It took about 17 hours to get from NW CT to Greenville. I’ve heard if you don’t take 95, it can be done in 14.</p>

<p>It is, logistically, a lot easier to drive. You can split up the drive into two days. Try to get past the DC area in the first day, then hit a hotel, and make the rest of the trip the next day. </p>

<p>Here are what I would advise:
-Buy all of the big stuff locally. Pre-ordering and picking up is a great idea.
-Whatever you can’t fit on the plane, ship. You would be amazed at how many packages the Furman Post Office gets prior to students getting on campus. Over winter break, I ordered a massive amount of stuff and shipped it all to campus. You’ll get the mailbox key when you first move into the dorm. I would think that the post office is open on move-in day, but I can’t be certain. Here’s what you would need to do to do this:
[Student Name]
[Furman Student box number–find this on WebAdvisor. Go to Directory Information Maintainance. The box number is listed in the campus mailing box.]
3300 Poinsett Hwy
Greenville, SC 29613</p>

<p>I saw on the website:
Can I bring my belongings to campus early?</p>

<p>Because storage space for advance shipments is limited, you are encouraged to bring with you as many of your needed belongings as possible when you arrive on campus. If you do need to ship items in advance, please address them to your name, c/o Facilities Services, Furman University, 3300 Poinsett Highway, Greenville, SC 29613. All items shipped in advance will be stored at Facilities Services and it will be your responsibility to pick them up when you arrive. </p>

<p>I don’t know if that way would work better. I have no idea where facilities services is. It sounds like this could be a somewhat stressful process. </p>

<p>There are UPS stores in the area. This could also be a good strategy, if you have a lot of biggish stuff to ship. I don’t know what the fees are like. </p>

<p>All of the previous ideas are great. Still, if you can drive, it’s trading two stressful car days for having to deal with the various issues with shipping.</p>

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<p>Grits,</p>

<p>Thanks, the UPS store is a great idea. I will try to find out the closest location they have to Furman. If anyone knows a local location, it would be appreciated.</p>

<p>I agree with you and woody that driving would make the most sense. However, it will be 13-15 hours of “are we almost there?”, which will begin after 2-3 hours. The hotel we are staying at before the move in day is also able to accept packages for incoming guests so that may work too. I really like the UPS store idea, hopefully there is a location near Furman. We plan on arriving on a Wednesday and using the following day to shop for the items that were too big to bring and other stuff we may have forgotten.</p>

<p>I also like the idea of pre-ordering items online for local pickup, great idea. Thanks Grit and Woody</p>

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<p>There is a store finder on the UPS Store website so do a search with Furman’s zip (29613). There’s one on Buncombe Rd. which is very close to campus but I haven’t used that location personally. In May we used the store on Augusta St. because it was close to the downtown hotel where we stayed. It’s in a small shopping center with plentiful parking at the door. I wouldn’t suggest the Main St. store only because you will have a harder time getting a convenient parking space for loading large boxes.</p>

<p>We pre-ordered quite a bit from BB&B and used the Woodruff Rd. store. Start saving their coupons because they will apply as many as possible to save the most money. We also used the Site to Store feature on Walmart’s website and used their store on Woodruff for pick-up. Woodruff Rd. isn’t the closest to campus but it is a major road with every conceivable chain store so we could accomplish everything on our list without driving all over town. The only thing to be aware of with Walmart is that they have a maximum time they will hold your purchases at the store before sending the items back so you won’t want to order too early. All the policies are spelled out online. I had a couple of things that arrived far quicker than expected so I was pushing the time limit. I called the store to explain my situation and they assured me they would not return any of our items. They had everything gathered and ready for us on the day of arrival and had a crew to load our car at the rear service entrance. It couldn’t have been easier!</p>