<p>An external charger and a flashlight in case of power loss. The charger can be used for a phone or a tablet device. When Elon had an ice storm last winter our son was able to charge up even though the power was out.</p>
<p>YES!!! External charger and flashlight!!! I think my neighborhood was the only one in the area that didn’t lose power in that storm. Those are great additions to the list!</p>
<p>@bisouu, I’d suggest let the roommate or friends to be made down the hall that live near campus bring the printer and you buy a refill cartridge at some point (which is probably more expensive than the printer anyway.) Everything you acquire, will have to be stored or disposed of.</p>
<p>The number of practically brand new mini refrigerators, fans, microwaves, foam mattress toppers etc. that are thrown out every spring during move out of freshman dorms would make you cry. If only there was a neat and tidy way of repurposing them for the next year’s crop of incoming newbies but alas… it’s chaotic and inefficient requiring you to be in the right place at the right time to garbage pick. </p>
<p>The external charger and flashlight idea is a good one. Where was that when Sandy took out power for over a week in lower Manhattan a couple of years ago? </p>
<ul>
<li>Small tool box with both a Philips head screw driver and regular one and a pair of regular and needle nose pliers. You never know.</li>
<li>Roll of duct tape. Because it can be used for all kinds of things yet to be dreamed of.</li>
<li>Tape measure and by that I mean one that you can measure your size with when Mom or somebody else wants to send you something and no longer knows what size you are. </li>
<li>carry on sized piece of luggage. Even if you live nearby. You never know when they might need to go somewhere.</li>
<li>send an old cell phone that still works if you move the SIM but has long since been replaced by a fancier one. Because inevitably, your kid’s fancy new smart phone will stop working or get dropped or stolen. Those old work horse phones are better than nothing. </li>
</ul>
<p>Just thought of another one. </p>
<p>If your son/daughter is flying to/from college… get them cleared in the TSA precheck. They will thank you for it: <a href=“TSA PreCheck® | Transportation Security Administration”>http://www.tsa.gov/tsa-precheck/application-program</a></p>
<p>edit: no they won’t thank you for it. Do they ever? But it’s still a good thing. :-)</p>
<p>^Great idea!</p>
<p>The need for a printer depends on the school, some schools make you get a prepaid card to use for printing on campus, others have computer centers right in the dorms with free printing. I do know often DD wished she had a scanner when she moved off campus and it was too late to hunt down a copy machine. </p>
<p>I found sending a ziploc baggie of rice helpful because they eventually drop their phone in water and its either too difficult or to late to get to a store to buy the rice and bag to put the phone in to dry out! </p>
<p>I did find so many of the items stores list as dorm room must haves were never used. Microwaves and extra fridges yes. external chargers and flashlights a must… Oh remind them to keep sweats, sweatshirt and slip in shoes next to bed at all times for those frequent middle of the night fire alarms/drills. DD only slept in yoga pants/sweats because her one dorm had sooo many fire drills.</p>
<p>A few Ziploc baggies of various sizes came in handy eventually .</p>
<p>Add a hammer to the small tool kit, we needed one to loosen the springs from the frame in order to raise the bed higher.
.<br>
Fast drying bath towels, especially if you are using communal bathrooms. They dry fast between uses and in the dryer. </p>
<p>If you find the desks in the dorm room DOESN’T include a hutch you can purchase a folding one at the Container Store. (We found this the case particularly in the newer dorms) They are not cheap but very portable and sturdy, DD uses it even at her off campus apartment. I love the folding bookcases. They make moving and storing them so much easier and gives you that much needed vertical storage. Some are stackable and often on sale this time of year. Hint: use long old shoelaces to tie them shut when moving to avoid pinched fingers. </p>
<p>A 3 ring hole punch. </p>
<p>Command hooks if they are allowed, have had problems with them seriously pulling large chunks of paint off the walls!</p>
<p>A decent vacuum cleaner. Those electric brooms and small dorm sized units just do not work if the room is carpeted . My nephews actually made extra cash by renting out the sweeper for $5 a use. I found that the dorms often only provided 2 sweepers in really poor shape. They often were already in use or just didn’t work. </p>
<p>For the boys especially, my nephews made extra cash by doing mending like sewing on buttons and such. Another way to make money in the dorms is to make a large pot of homemade anything in the dorm kitchens and sell it. I know kids who did this weekly, word got around (and the odor) that homemade cooking could be had for a few bucks. BYOB of course …bring your own bowl. </p>
<p>I love the extra cash ideas! Corse it just gave me the idea to head to the dorm this winter and make my wedding soup for everyone…nice another excuse to visit :x </p>
<p>@MTMajorCook I was thinking the exact same thing re: cooking!</p>
<p>I would select a fridge that has an actual freezer. Many small fridges have a “section” that is supposed to be a freezer. These sections rarely freeze anything. The freezer should be a separate compartment with its own door and then it will actually work. I made my son some meals and froze them and he warmed them up in the microwave and ate them. Even if you aren’t close enough to do this kids can buy and keep some frozen dinners (think Stouffers mac and cheese!) or ice cream in there. </p>
<p>Not sure my boys made use of their microwave/fridge deals enough to really justify the cost. At Pace you could only have one if you rented it through official school vendor, which was convenient because they dropped off and picked up, and we just split cost with roommate. My Rider boy bought a little fridge at Target near campus (fridge only; no microwave) and used it in his dorm fresh / soph year, but we ended up giving it to his roommate at the end of this year, because he is moving off campus to an apartment with a full kitchen. Last summer it went into storage with his other stuff. When I visited both boys, the fridges only ever had a few leftovers and cans of soda, and I don’t know that anything really got refrigerated or microwaved other than an occasional popcorn packet or instant mac-n-cheese. I guess you have to know your own kid. If they have special dietary needs or are off-hours eaters, it might be a great necessity – my boys prob would have been fine without.</p>
<p>As for having a printer, I will say that BOTH my boys brought one and loved having it. Theirs each had a little “copier” feature that was helpful for doing sheet music cuts, etc. I was able to find cheaper ink cartridges online and send them occasionally, which reduced the need for last minute runs to Office Depot. </p>