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<p>Yep. And the old-fashioned way would be to just get some deposit slips and mail them in with a check to the bank.</p>
<p>Re banking: The Bank of America branch in Collegetown has closed. Many students – including my daughter – find M&T to be convenient, especially if it has branches near home as well. M&T has a branch in the Straight (Willard Straight Hall, which is home to dining facilities and the offices of many student organizations) and an ATM in one of the student centers on North Campus, where the freshmen live (I can’t remember which one). I see no point to the existence of CornellCard in an era when every student on campus has a debit card linked to their checking accounts, but perhaps others disagree.</p>
<p>Re housing: Dorm life for freshmen is usually good to excellent. Some of the nicest dorms are in the area reserved for freshmen, and that neighborhood also has two large dining halls with an almost unbelievable variety of food. Dorm life for upperclassmen is a mixed bag. There is one highly desirable upperclass dorm neighborhood, West Campus, but it fills quickly in the housing lottery, and the alternatives are not very attractive. Housing is guaranteed for sophomores but not juniors or seniors. Most people end up living off-campus at some point (or in fraternity or sorority houses). Parents: At some point during your child’s career at Cornell, he or she is going to call you in October or November and say that it’s time to sign a lease for an off-campus apartment for the following academic year. Your child is telling the truth. As absurd as it may sound, off-campus housing in the most desirable locations has to be rented that far in advance.</p>
<p>Re fees: Cornell charges fees for everything. If they could figure out how to charge you for breathing, there would be an “air fee” on your bursar’s bill.</p>
<p>Re move-in: It’s extremely efficient. Cornell has to move three thousand freshmen into a relatively small part of the campus that has few parking spaces, and it has to do it all in one day. It’s an almost unbelievable feat, but they know how to do it. Two cautions: be sure to put everything into some sort of container and label that container with your name and room number. Things do end up in the wrong rooms sometimes. And if you have anything fragile, carry it yourself. The student helpers are going to throw all your stuff in a large cart and take it to your room by elevator. You don’t want your laptop or a delicate musical instrument treated in that way.</p>
<p>Re bureaucracy: Cornell is noted for its complex and not-always-efficient bureaucracy (i.e., Big Red Tape). But the people are nice. If the “system” screws up your child’s paperwork, a polite e-mail to the office in question will usually result in a solution to the problem. For example, when my daughter discovered that her AP credits had been posted to her transcript incorrectly, a single e-mail to the registrar’s office solved the problem within a day.</p>
<p>Re advising: It’s there if you want it, but at least in the College of Arts and Sciences, it won’t come looking for you. My daughter met with her first advisor exactly once, ijn a required meeting before registering for classes during Orientation. She learned nothing from him that she didn’t already know, and she never saw the guy again. (Arts and Sciences students do not need their advisors’ approval to register for courses.) She has since been accepted into a major and assigned another advisor, whom she has yet to meet. If she wanted help, though, she could get it, either from her assigned advisor or the Arts College advising center. But she prefers to be left alone, and Cornell has no problem with that. </p>
<p>Special note for those of you who live in the Washington, DC area/Montgomery County, MD area: Here is the easiest way for your student to travel home for breaks: <a href=“http://www.cbbus.com/[/url]”>http://www.cbbus.com/</a> Excellent service, excellent price, and no, I’m not connected with the company in any way.</p>
<p>CR2005- not if your Cornell bank doesn’t have a branch where your parents live.</p>
<p>Wow thanks marian for that linK!! i live in baltimore and this will be very useful for me!!</p>
<p>Thanks for the input Marian! I found it very informative and useful. :)</p>
<p>I’m entering the class next year, and was curious regarding housing : I just sent in my deposit today, but I signed up housing online. Will my somewhat late deposit affect my potential room choice?..</p>
<p>thanks marian, i actually happen to be in moco :]</p>
<p>i’m pretty sure i read somewhere that housing would all be considered equally so long as it was submitted by may 1. i dont think theyd penalize you for sending your deposit now… it’s certainly not late</p>
<p>concerning the housing request… i did mine… but certain things like roommate are still changeable. is this normal? will i def get my roommate since we confirmed one another?</p>
<p>I had a bank account with M&T for one year. Ultimately I just found it easier to get cash back using my home accounts debit card whenever I went to target or Wegmans. You hardly spend any actual money on campus, just BRBs and cornell card. Cash is used when you venture off campus, which as a freshman isn’t very often. </p>
<p>Cornell does charge you for a lot of random things, but in most cases you can bursar it.</p>
<p>Yes, my daughter is very good at “bursar it.”
I do see a lot of random stuff on her monthly bills. She tells me it’s easier to put it on her Cornell Card.</p>
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<p>That said, I don’t think it is good to go unbanked. Most of these student checking accounts are free, and you never know when you might need to cash a check.</p>
<p>bank of america has atm locations on west campus and in collegetown. their atms are unique in that you can deposit a check or cash into the atm, it will scan it, and process the deposit immediately. </p>
<p>i used my home bank account for a while and mailed back checks and deposit slips to the bank. i eventually switched to bank of america when i moved to collegetown. BOA has a feature to link your account to an external bank and do bank to bank transfers online. It takes 3 days to process.</p>
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<p>I am pretty certain most banks have this feature. I know for certain that both HSBC and M&T have it.</p>
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<p>Will it cash a check for you though?</p>
<p>cayuga, i dont think thats possible with todays technology, considering checks are handwritten…</p>
<p>not technically, but you could just deposit a check in the atm and then withdraw up to what…$400? whatever the limit is on atms. the balance is immediately updated with your check, but i think only up to $300 is accessible, even though it still is being processed.</p>
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<p>Ah. Wouldn’t work for me, as I only need to cash checks larger than $10k.</p>
<p>You know how we roll.</p>
<p>Yes, the check deposits immediately into your account once you put it into the ATM for BOA atms. Most kids I know have BOA or M&T since they have atms on campus and in collegetown.</p>
<p>Should we parents be booking a hotel room now for move-in time? Do area hotels book quickly?
Also, one student mentioned that we parents should book a hotel for graduation 2013? Is this really true? It seems extraordinary - but on the other hand…</p>
<p>It would be wise to make hotel accommodations for move-in day now…area hotels fill up fast. However, some of the Ithaca hotels have a 3 day minimum for move-in weekend…you might want to inquire about that when you make your reservation. You might also check out hotels in Cortland. It’s not a far drive and rates are lower. </p>
<p>My parents made their graduation weekend hotel reservations when I was accepted. However, they cancelled them sometime during my junior year when I decided to get an apartment for my senior year.</p>
<p>i made my hotel reservations a week ago, and they were extremely expensive in ithaca, about 190 a night for motels…</p>
<p>so i got my hotel in cortland, which was almost 100 dollars cheaper</p>