<p>Thanks to everyone who suggested and talked about reduced rate insurance for our college students going far enough away to college without a car. I wouldn’t have known to ask our insurance agent about that if I didn’t read about it here.</p>
<p>I called this morning to get that put into place. When I asked if Louisiana was far enough away from Iowa to meet the mileage criteria, the recepitionist just starting laughing… LOL. (of course I knew it should be far enough away or I’d be changing insurance companies…)</p>
<p>Too funny about 3 weeks of underwear and socks. I had wondered about that :rolleyes:</p>
<p>On the orientation schedule for kiddo–the move in starts at 9. There is pick up lunch nearby ($10 pp) and things like computer usage meetings scheduled as well as walking tours. There is a reception for parents around 1 or 2 that day. That evening there is a meeting regarding secruity, the campus and surrounding area. The next am there is a convocation ceremony and lunch with families. Then parents are expected to hit the road/be off campus by 2pm-ish.</p>
<p>I am thinking that the night before move in is our last family dinner as move-in day kiddo will likely eat with roommate and other freshmen…there are required meetings, events etc for them starting the first day and that all runs for about 3 days…starting in the ams and evening meetings after dinner etc each night…then social activities etc…</p>
<p>The night of move in we will have dinner without kiddo and then meet at the convocation/luncheon/goodbye. </p>
<p>Had I known we had to be off campus by 2, I would have tried to get us flights out that night to be home late that eveing. Instead we will have the afternoon/evening at the hotel near campus. We fly out early the next am. I guess I should look for somewhere to go for dinner and wine that night.</p>
<p>Have started the weepy thing…
Guess I knew it was coming and I really want to be strong in sending off kiddo without making kiddo feel badly that mom is a puddle. kwim?
For Me it’s a sad end and also a happy launching…I want kiddo to be excited about the beginnings and new horizons…with no guilt about leaving…and still feeling loved.
Keep repeating the truth–It’s not about Me…It’s about launching kiddo into an exciting future. Pass the Kleenex.</p>
<p>“Keep repeating the truth–It’s not about Me…It’s about launching kiddo into an exciting future. Pass the Kleenex.” Fog - you summed it up perfectly!</p>
<p>It’s not just boys who need extra underware and jeans. Freshman year, D1’s laundry room was in the next dorrm, but you had to go down a flight of stairs, go outside, unlock a door and go down another flight of stairs to get there. Needless to say, she didn’t do laundry very often.</p>
<p>Most girls will want some new clothes and accessories after school starts and they see what is popular on campus. I still remember one of D’s first emails informed us that “everyone here has huge black and brown leather purses.” Her floral Vera Bradley was hopelessly out of style on her sophisticated campus. </p>
<p>We will need to have a stop, drop and roll drop-off. My D can’t move into her dorm until 4 pm, and her orientation program starts at 7 pm. She’ll be busy from then on, but my H and I are flying back to Boston for the day on the following Sunday for the Parents Convocation. I figure that we can bring anything we forgot or couldn’t fit in the car then. The whole thing is stressing me out, but my daughter is very self-sufficient when it comes to organizing. Her room is actually neater than mine. (Her clothes must be tired, because they get put away immediately).</p>
<p>ak - thanks for the laugh. I am paying D’s bill later today, so please pass the kleenex when you are done. Lots of well rested clothes here as well…</p>
<p>I’m thinking supplying 3 weeks worth of underwear just encourages them not to do laundry. He doesn’t have 3 weeks worth of anything else… yuk! If he wants to use the “buy more underwear and socks” laundry plan, he can go out and buy it himself.</p>
<p>We have a longer drop-off, with events scheduled the next day, but I still don’t see much opportunity to take DS shopping. I had thought we would take him grocery shopping, in addition to picking up any storage supplies needed for the room, but I’m thinking now we may have to do it without him.</p>
<p>We did that yesterday as well!
DH called from the next room—“OK, so we are sending kiddo to the U, right. Last chance to back out because the screen says this transaction cannot be reversed…” hahaha…</p>
<p>My D’s school wants the bill paid before one of the loans will credit. Fines and fees will be added if it isn’t paid by the deadline, but $1742 in loans won’t be credited till after the deadline. I am expecting that they understand this loan is coming through and won’t charge the late fees and fines on that amount…</p>
<p>It’s not just boys - my D1 has SIX WEEKS’ worth of underwear. She hated doing laundry at school and definitely made everything stretch. By 21 she’d spent so many months of her life at outdoorsy GS camps, 12-hour-day marching band practices, and research field stations that she was nowhere near fussy. This summer her goal was to get her clothes her clothes irreparably filthy and not bring them back from the island. I’ll let you know what I see next week - could be interesting!</p>
<p>D2 has a ton of underwear because she’s just basically lazy about laundry. She vows that she’ll wash things regularly at school. The machines are free there, so that’s not an excuse, and they’re in her building, anyway, if not on the same floor.</p>
<p>All I know about our move-in is that we’ll have access to the dorms starting at 10 on the 28th, and that there is a matriculation ceremony and parent meeting the next day. We’re coming in a day early to have a little fun, and H and I plan to leave as soon as things are over on the 29th (sometime in the afternoon). I think we’ll be plenty sick of each other and that D will be ready to get on with her life. But I know we’ll have a “moment.”</p>
<p>There are great tips on the “move-in day” thread, if you haven’t read it yet.</p>
<p>ExACTly. This is why I’m telling D1 that no, she is NOT going clothes shopping at this point. I will probably agree to a compromise to raise the debt ceiling :D</p>
<p>Underwear: one of my grad school buddies would never do laundry. He’d just buy new socks and underwear when he ran out. Whatever works…</p>
<p>Yet another bedding/bed topper question: When y’all were talking about the order of the layers, I was thoroughly confused why people were saying to put the mattress cover on top of the memory foam or whatever topper. I now realize I was confused because I thought all toppers were like D2’s amazingly high-quality topper, which is essentially a mattress pad with a zippered compartment to hold the memory foam. I purchased that on deep discount at a Linens and Things closeout, should’ve bought several . Could we do a mattress pad on the mattress, then the topper, and then another mattress pad? </p>
<p>One more question that I’m hoping your collective wisdom can solve: we are going on a short family vacation before delivering D1 to college but after flying cross-country. I’m thinking what makes the most sense is to order one of those no-bad-scent doesn’t-need-to-be-aired-out-for-days green-tea-scented memory foam toppers from overstock.com, and have it shipped to the school so that we don’t have even more stuff to deal with. For some odd reason, I can’t get anyone else in the family to discuss the pros and cons of this plan :). Can one of you just tell me “yes” or “no”?</p>
<p>bajamm, you should call the bursar’s office and ask how they want to deal with that. My DS’s school lists the loans as “pending” and you don’t have to pay that amount (unless they don’t come through later, I guess). But you want to make sure you jump through the right hoops and don’t incur any unwarranted fees! </p>
<p>Been kind of weepy/emotional lately myself. :-/</p>
<p>Bajamm, I agree that you should call the school to discuss the situation. When my D had some outside scholarships that didn’t arrive before the tuition deadline, her school waived the late fee.</p>
<p>ST: It sounds like you might just need a beg bug cover and then your combined mattress pad/memory foam topper.</p>
<p>I never in my life thought of dorm room (sort of like “renters”) insurance! It didn’t even occur to me that there was such a thing. Not that I’m so worried about theft, her school is reputedly pretty good about that, but losing things, dropping things, yup, I can see it. Thank you CC people!</p>
<p>I am usually very weepy. My kids say that I cry at a drop of a hat. I cried at my D1s Girl Scout Gold Award ceremony and I bawled at Senior Awards night when she was given a very special award. I even cry during the Charlie Brown Christmas special!</p>
<p>Since D1 is away at camp this summer, I haven’t had the chance to be weepy. She comes home a week from Sunday, then we take her to school that Friday. The week will be spent doing laundry to get the ‘camp damp’ smell out of her camp clothes, and packing her clothes for school.</p>
<p>She is so ready to go to college, and is not anxious about it at all, at least from what I can see. When I reflect back on the list of schools that she was accepted to, I am 100%convinced that her chosen school is the right choice, so I am a little less emotional about the whole thing. She fits in very well with the other kids at the school. She has met a few of the girls on the fh team, and likes all of them. I would be a little more concerned if she ended up attending some of the other schools on her list. The other good thing about her school, is that it is only 45 minutes from home.</p>
<p>This sounds all good now, but I will bring a huge box of tissues for move in day, just in case!</p>
<p>Or your could just zip her up in the mattress pad and not worry about where she ends up sleeping! :-)</p>
<p>I think the covers that come with memory foam are a special breathable material. Since memory foam needs to react with the body heat to do its comfort thing, there is a special type for that purpose. If you want to cover the schools mattress with something to protect from bed bugs, allergens or just its previous life, just get the plastic cover type, without all the padding etc. and drop that on the mattress, then add your topper with the proper style cover. If your topper doesn’t come with its own cover, you can get a breathable mattress cover that is designed for the memory foam mattresses and should be deep enough to cover both the mattress and topper together. </p>
<p>The issue I have had, is that there aren’t bed bug barrier types that are meant for memory foam too, so we will just cover the school’s mattress with the mattress cover, then the memory foam will have the one designed for a topper only. </p>
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<p>Wow, if this actually exists I vote go for it. I can’t think of a reason not to have to drag a smelly, or already expanded one on the trip with you.</p>
<p>Speaking of horrible, neglectful parents, all DS is getting for his mattress is a simple mattress pad and the sheets. No bedbug cover, no foam topper, no new comforter set, no matching anything, no bed skirt. But at least I pre-washed the sheets for him ;-)</p>
<p>Bajamm, I had the same issue/question with DS’ school. When I got his statement (i.e. “The Bill”!) it showed his sub and unsub loans as credited toward the amount due, but our PLUS loan was showing as “needing attention.” I had already done the master promissory note, etc. so I couldn’t figure out what needed attention. Then, just this past Saturday, we got another email from Direct Loan showing the actual disbursement dates to the school – half of it pays on Aug. 12 and the other half on Jan. 3. So now, even though that loan money isn’t actually paid yet, the school shows it as credited to his account.</p>
<p>I screwed up somewhat though and requested what turned out to be about $2,000 more for the PLUS loan than what he actually needed. The school will just credit it to his account for the spring though. Maybe next year we can do this using the school’s monthly payment plan. I just didn’t know enough about all of this as to how much it would cost, etc. but now that I know more, I’ll be better informed in planning for next year.</p>
<p>Just found our DS’ academic adviser and it seems to be a really good fit for him.</p>
<p>As for socks and underwear, hmmm, I’m thinking I need to go buy some more. Since he is in a fall sport, it’s entirely possible he will be showering twice a day, so he probably does need more.</p>
<p>As for “resting clothes,” his clothes really are resting: all his clean laundry is on the bed in our guest room! That’s the room closest to our laundry room, so I will put clean laundry in there. I put away all my clothes, towels, and younger DS’ clothes. DH does his own. DS treats that bed as an extension of his closet! :)</p>
<p>Well we have moved in but not without some unfortunate problems. FIrst problem, my son rear ended a car the night before we were do to leave in a fairly slow speed collision. Unfortunately, since it was on a bridge that was rising, it didn’t hit the bumper but rather the top of the hood, plus ruined the radiator, and air conditioner. My car got totalled but my insurance was great. The next morning we picked up the rental car, moved suitcases over there plus the dog in his crate and we set off. WE got to Huntsville with no further problems. However, soon after we got here, d got pink eye and it turns out she also had a sinus infection. Fine, uncomfortable, but we dealt with it. Then come the cable/internet/phone troubles. First they don’t show up at all on the first day they told us they were coming. Then on day two, they show up, leave, come back and stay until 8:30 at night with no resolution. On day three, they show up at 8:30 am, as our movers arive, finish at 12 noon, and tell us the system will take 45 minutes to get online. At 3Pm, I cal the company and at 3:30pm, another individual comes who says the first people did it all wrong. He works until almost 8pm but does get us a working phone, cable and internet. However, the job isn’t done since all of our outlets haven’t been installed, lines aren’t placed correctly, wires are dangling outside incorrectly, and we have no information at all about our service. One guy tells me they will be here for the last outlet the next day from 2-5, the other guy says next Tuesday from 2-5. This Saturday, I finally got ahaold of someone more responsive and we should get everything done and done correctly on Wednesday from 8-11am. In the meantime, we have bought two used cars- one for d and one for me. D isn’t that happy since she went from a 2004 Hyundai Sonata v6 to a 2004 Toyota Corolla v4 with about 20K more miles on it. I, on the other hand, love my new car- a 2006 Subaru Outback LLBean edition. BUt she does have a car that gets good mileage. We are slowly settling in.</p>
<p>I just paid the first semester bill, as well. </p>
<p>I tried to pay via CC, but the 3rd party offering the college’s on-line payment service tried to tack a 2.75% surcharge onto the transaction. Seriously? I was counting on racking up CC points to spend later, but the hefty surcharge put the kabosh on that idea. I reluctantly paid via eCheck, instead. Bastages.</p>
<p>MMom - Welcome back!! We have missed you. So sorry to hear about the accident. I am glad no one was hurt! The cable/phone/internet woes are very frustrating but probably the most predictable. We never get good service no matter where we are/the provider/etc. We always plan on a hassle… You’d think someone, somewhere, could get it right?! I hope things settle down now that you are in the house and on the other side. I am sure things will pop up here and there…frustrations will arise from missing items, anxiety with new schools, stores, friends, doctors, etc. I am sure you will deal with them like a pro! Keep us posted on how everyone is doing.</p>
:D</p>
. Could we do a mattress pad on the mattress, then the topper, and then another mattress pad? </p>
So sorry to hear about the accident. I am glad no one was hurt! The cable/phone/internet woes are very frustrating but probably the most predictable. We never get good service no matter where we are/the provider/etc. We always plan on a hassle… You’d think someone, somewhere, could get it right?! I hope things settle down now that you are in the house and on the other side. I am sure things will pop up here and there…frustrations will arise from missing items, anxiety with new schools, stores, friends, doctors, etc. I am sure you will deal with them like a pro! Keep us posted on how everyone is doing.</p>