<p>What do parents do for storeage when students come home for the summer? My student is going to USC in LA. We live in North Carolina.</p>
<p>My S went in on a storage rental with 2 friends. Some places will even pick up and deliver. Although my S does not go to USCLA it seems as if there are storage facilities who advertise to kids at all the schools every spring.</p>
<p>All three summers between school years we have rented storage space for our daughter’s excess stuff. So much of it just didn’t need to come home.</p>
<p>She is at school in GA and we live in NJ, so while not the same place as CA the process is the same.</p>
<p>I just googled storage facilities near the school and started contacting them to get prices and availability. The one thing to remember is that this idea is not just your own…space may very well be at a premium at more popular and closer locations. This is what happened the first summer I tried to find a place. I waited too long and most of the in-town or very near places were already booked. In some respects that actually worked out though, because the place we did find turned out to be super clean and cheaper because it was further out. Subsequent years I simply put in my request in September when we picked her stuff up for the following May and have always had space.</p>
<p>For just my daughter’s stuff, a 5x5 space is perfect. She has a few furniture pieces, a bicycle and quite a few of the plastic totes that stack up nice. I pay a little extra for climate-controlled as a lot of what she stores is art supplies that can be sensitive to changes in temperature or humidity.</p>
<p>I pay the entire storage fee up front so there’s no bill to remember to pay. Its cost me about $150 each summer to store her stuff.</p>
<p>Starting one month before move out in the spring several storage companies will be advertising on campus. Your students RA in the dorm will have the specifics. Just make a reservation and the storage company will bring a personal size crate to a convenient location near the dorm. Your student will have a day or two to load up the crate. Then it will be picked up and taken to storage. The company will deliver the crate for the fall semester. The whole thing costs about $300. It is very easy and convenient. Two students could share a crate, especially if they are rooming together in the fall. One of these companies is called box to go. I do not recommend getting your own storage. The above system is fantastic! Did it for many years with DD and DS.</p>
<p>I think it’s probably best to pay for storage, since the entire situation is businesslike. It will have an insured back-up and you can be sure the stuff will not be touched while in storage.</p>
<p>That said, I wonder if your student has close friendship with another USC student whose family lives nearby? If you’re talking about a stack of boxes, perhaps someone’s parents will do the kindness of storing the friend’s belongings over a summer, if their house has storage space. These would be the same kind of great parents who might let your child come over for Thanksgiving, if it’s too far to fly home to North Carolina. Not every family is easy-going and generous, but some are!</p>
<p>Students from cross-country should really try to make friends with some local students. We actually encouraged our son (cross-country student in California) to get to know people from the area, as well as out-of-towners like himself. If the friendship develops through the year, well maybe asking a big favor (like storing boxes for the summer) will become a possibility. A family home in a reasonably safe, secure neighborhood might become a possibility here. If the friend is also storing boxes over the summer, it just means “more” boxes to that family.</p>
<p>If not, paying for commercial storage is the best fallback. Sometimes students group together to cut costs for a storage locker.</p>
<p>I have to agree with the others, renting a storage locker/unit is probably your best option. They charge by the month and depending on the size you can usually get a pretty good deal. I did a quick search and found that there are quite a few facilities in LA, check it out: [Los</a> Angeles self-storage - SelfStorage.com](<a href=“http://www.selfstorage.com/self-storage/california/los-angeles/]Los”>20 Cheap Storage Units in Los Angeles, CA (from $21))</p>
<p>I would also try and rent sooner rather than later as Im sure prices go up when a bunch of students are looking to store their stuff for the summer months. Good luck!</p>