I grew up in Central California where we routinely had 110 degree days in the summer, decades ago, and we had no AC. We just had one cheap floor standing fan.
Hard to get! My son got a classic double which had no A/C, but he survivedš . I am just glad that he wasnāt in a triple.
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We didnāt have AC growing up either, and itās frequently over 100 degrees in that area. We did have a swamp coolerā¦ which cooled nothing, it just made the inside humid 
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Married student housing at Iowa State was old quonset huts erected after WWII to house the influx of GI bill students, right next to the railroad tracks. I think they tore down the last of them around 2000.
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This is one thing I guess, very few can experience. I went to school in a different country. It was a public school in semi rural area. I went there till 7th grade, We had no rest rooms so I went to a near by movie theater to use! So watched a lot of free movies! Though we had no supervision at all, as far as I know no bad thing happened to most of us! Sometimes street dogs wandered into our class rooms! I am proud to say even with all our deficiencies when we went to a private high school with other kids who went to better school, we ruled!
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We used to live in a very hot area, and my understanding was that swamp coolers worked reasonably well with dry heat, but they were pretty useless when there was high humidity. AC was the only real thing that worked with humid heat (and dry heat).
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Our area is usually dry, but I donāt think the swap cooler could cool down the inside more than 10-15 degrees. If it was 110, we were roasting in over 90 degree temperatures inside.
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Yeah, swamp coolers only work in low humidity, and thereās a limit on how much they can lower the temperature by.
Theyāre good for what they do, and theyāre way more efficient than air conditioners, but theyāre comparatively limited.
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My Dās dorm wonāt have A/C and the first few weeks are usually pretty hot. The school recommends putting two box fans side by side in front of the window - one facing in and one facing out - to circulate the air. That will be the first thing we set up during move in, so the whole process hopefully isnāt too hot/sweaty!
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There are some great made-for-windows fans that you can pop in the window and leave them there without worrying theyāll fall out. (And they switch with a button between exhaust or intake.)
My kiddoās dorm doesnāt have AC either so I bought him a desktop fan, but Iām also sending him with one of these window fans from our house to better bring in the night air.
At Berkeley, the first month of school can be warm, but then the rest of the time the vast majority of days have highs in the 60s and lows in the 50s. At least, thatās what my daughter has reported to me after 2 years at Cal.
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My son applied to Living Learning Communities just to guarantee a dorm with A/C. 
Only 2 weeks until move-in day for us! Iāve been stepping back on taking care of things for him this summer (other than that first bill I had to pay, ouch). As expected yesterday he came to me in a slight panic with a list of things that he had to have submitted by July 31st. Iām pretty sure he got them all done, but it was amusing and stressful to watch.
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My D did too, but she was waitlisted for the one she wanted. By the time they opened up a spot, sheād moved on with a non-LLC roommate in a non-A/C dorm. Hopefully itāll cool off after the first few weeks.
Two weeks until move in here also. I think our kids are headed to the same school actually!
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All this talk about air conditioning, and the record summer heat in Arizona, makes me very happy that S23 switched from U of Arizona to UC Santa Cruz. Otherwise weād be doing move-in in a couple of weeks time in 110 degree temperatures.
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And on the flip side, wish us luck: Next week weāll be moving one kid into a dorm in Mississippi, and another into a dorm in Texas.
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D23ās Boston dorm has AC. And we paid the bill, which took some doing. Why canāt the bill just come the old fashioned way and the portal be back up, asks this old lady. We had a few frustrating nights trying to figure out the right spot in the sub-portal to pay that we could access. Now I think we are all set up with our own parental login but it was stupidly stressful getting to this point.
Other news, we did some dorm shopping. She is looking for āclean girl aestheticā and I did not say this to her, but that made me really laugh since her bedroom is basically āclothes all over the floor aestheticā currently - she is agonizing over the right color towels or if she needs a cute throw pillow. I told her next year she will grab a hefty bag and just toss stuff in it and not care at all. Then I found my college scrapbook and showed her my freshman room with the stacked plastic milk crates full of my sweaters. Folded neatly at the foot of my bed - the blanket that we use for our dog 30 years later!
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Thatās a cute story:) Here we all are a year after the common app opened and we are all talking about dorm stuff- where did the year go?? My son keeps telling me āDonāt worry about it mamaā when I ask him if he wants help buying stuff for his dorm!!! So I got the bedding and am letting him order/ manage the rest with his roommate! This isnāt easy for me to step backā¦ā¦BUT I know it will all be okay and heāll get/ figure out what he needs when he doesnāt have it:) Good luck everyone!!
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iāve not heard of clean girl esthetic. interested! iāll look it up.
My daughter and her roomate - who lives 2 hours away - met up last week for the first time and did some shopping.
she was so excited to meet her and said āMOM!! itās like we are the same person!!!ā hahaha. reality will hit soon iām sure and the roommate honeymoon phase might fade away ā but i am thrilled she is so excited to be going to her in-state school.
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11 required courses for his first semester. 18 credits. He will be a busy boy!
What college even lets (let alone requires) students to take 11 courses in one semester? Wow, Iāve never heard of that before. Sounds like most courses are 1 credit and some are 2? Thatās worst than HS.
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