<p>Remember the photo you have from their first day in Kindergarten? Take one on their LAST DAY OF SCHOOL TOO!!!</p>
<p>Only some banks have cancelled the Visa Buxx program. There are still three banks that offer it. Do a search on Visa Buxx.</p>
<p>A piece of advice that applies to only a few families:</p>
<p>If your family lives in a major tourist destination, make sure that your kid does not wait until December 15 to buy a plane ticket home for Christmas. </p>
<p>A college friend of mine whose home was in the Virgin Islands was stranded in glorious New Jersey one Christmas for just this reason.</p>
<p>My bank (US Bank) still offers the Visa Buxx cards. My son uses his all the time.</p>
<p>thanks for the Visa Buxx info.the card my S had from Bank of America was discontinued.</p>
<p>On the medical insurance front - get your child their own cards (medical, dental, pharmacy and vision, if they're all separate). I know we had two cards - one for husband, one for me. No problem when I took the kids to doctors and even after they were able to drive on their own, the insurance info was on file. </p>
<p>Flash forward to daughter being on winter term in New Mexico this past January and she got sick. Without a prescription card, one of the chaperones wound up paying the whole amount (luckily it wasn't too much but it was much more than the co-pay) and it was a hassle to straighten it out.</p>
<p>So the moral is: get your college kids their own set of cards!</p>
<p>I agree with Fredo. I even got a card for my highschooler for summer programs and weekend trips with school. Fortunately he hasn't had to use it.</p>
<p>Re: credit cards.
I have made this recommendation on other threads, but here goes again. Consider putting your child on one of your credit cards with a large credit limit for emergency use only. Our college student is our oldest, and we wanted her to be able to get emergency plane tickets, pay our bills, etc, if something bad happened to both of us. We had an old credit card with no annual fee that we had never cancelled, but never used. We added her as a user, and threatened her with death and dismemberment if she used it for other than the intended purpose.
She was 17, and not able to get her own credit card or bank account when she left - we are on both of her bank accounts - the school and the home.</p>
<p>This thread is so helpful....any other recommendations?</p>
<p>Medical insurance cards and auto insurance cards: make copies of these and any other important documents your student has at college (in case they get lost). Remind the student to bring the health insurance home during breaks and in summer.</p>
<p>Dentist: get your student on a June and Dec. schedule for twice-yearly visits.</p>
<p>Pharmacy kit mentioned above: this is really needed. Your child WON'T have the needed items when he/she gets sick at school. </p>
<p>Car: if the child gets a car at school, get ready for repairs before it is needed. We now have the name of a good repair shop and my H has talked to the owner. They call us with repair estimate and take our credit card. We also have the name/number of a towing service that can also unlock car doors! My D had not dealt with repairs herself before and needed some help.</p>
<p>bumping up. very good thread.</p>