Hope this helps someone. Overview is that move-in day was very well thought out and went largely smoothly. So kudos to Residential Life for that. But we had a weird situation that can probably be avoided.
My freshman was from out of state (not close). We flew and hired a SUV and driver for a few hours so as to not have to rent a car (we stayed in Midtown). Long story short: we arrived at the designated entrance to RH, had all the paperwork (email confirmation of dorm assignment printed out etc…). The guard said he could not allow a commercial vehicle or an Uber on campus. We showed all our paperwork/explained we had flown and not rented a car and that this was not an Uber.
We again explained and he stuck to his guns. He would not even let us go to the designated parking where parents with their own vehicles were parking. I am sure that Rez life had not intention of something like this happening if there was a mandate to not allow commercial vehicles on campus. But it was a bizarre situation. We got out and made multiple shleps with all the stuff to where there were golf carts. I mean walking blocks and blocks. Not being allowed to enter and park was surely a mistake.
So if by chance you are planning on doing anything similar, I would contact residential life and ask for an email that you can print that clearly states the vehicle you are in will be allowed to park where people wth their own vehicles are allowed to park on RH freshman move in day.
@next2167 I’m so sorry that happened to you all on what was surely a stressful day to begin with (dropping your child at college)! Thank you for the tip, it sure does seem like something that could be avoided now that people know to call and work that out in advance. I hope the rest of your student’s year went much more smoothly! I’m going to share this tip on the new parents Facebook page.
I hope it helps even one person! Again, I am confident Rez Life would not be on board with what happened to us. It was an over vigilant person at the entrance, no doubt.
Weird. Especially because many people may rent a vehicle If their car if I can pick them off to hold all of their child’s belongings. I get that it’s probably a security thing, but you had the paperwork.
I think the big difference was that the car was hired with a driver. It may have had livery plates which is a big difference than renting a car. Cabs are not allowed on campus. And I’ve seen many kids moving in/out and dragging their suitcases and bins to their hired cars by the gate. Even as a parent, I’ve been asked to show my ID and they’ve scanned it when I entered the campus.
So while some may have the luxury of hiring someone to do their driving and they may have all of the paperwork, it made no difference if the car had livery plates. Security did their job.
OP here. Do we have to make it about “some have the luxury of…” Unnecessary and I did not criticize security. I merely pointed out what had happened.
@next2167 – yeah, kind of a stupid dig from mom the chauffer ^^^. Thanks for trying to save others the trouble.