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<p>From what I read on the internet, twin beds are 75" and XL are 80". Vandy says their beds are 78". Yet everyone (including Vandy) says that twin fitted sheets work fine, which doesn’t make much sense unless a fitted twin sheet will stretch 3". I wonder if the Vandy beds really are 75".</p>
<p>Perhaps someone who is still there can measure it? I was thinking to buy XL. The idea was that too long is better than too short… until I read @Go9ersjrh’s post above saying the regular twin sheets fit even with a mattress topper.</p>
<p>I think the reason that the regular fitted sheet fits is that the beds are not very thick. The mattress topper added between 2 and 3 inches. Sheet are designed for at least an 18 inch mattress.</p>
<p>So…the mattress is not very thick…does that mean it’s not very comfortable? Maybe I should buy one of those mattress topper you guys have been talking about. I wasn’t planning on doing it but now think that would be a good idea. We have not used a topper before. Is it for added comfort or circulation or…?</p>
<p>4beardolls - The mattress topper is for comfort. I went ahead and did it since Vanderbilt student’s will be sleeping on dorm mattresses for 4 years. With that in mind, I figure it was worth the $100. The one I bought was a memory foam style topper. S loves it. You could also wait until your student sleeps on the bed to see if they find it comfortable. Then you can order online and have it sent or bringing it at Parent’s Weekend.</p>
<p>I don’t use a mattress topper at home on any of my beds. The dorm mattresses aren’t bad. They are just institutional grade. Maybe some of the students can weigh in.</p>
<p>I bought the XL memory foam topper, one from Sam’s Club for Duke son and later for Vandy son from Bed Bath Beyond, but we drove there. They last about four years before being discardable, and even when they get tired out…they are useful to wrap in a roll up tightly bound with an old belt or Bungee cord and thrown in a closet corner for friends who sleep on your room floor as guests. Foam toppers (not egg crates!) but memory foam in 2-3 inches deep are perfectly good items to order online and then to pick up from Target or Walmart in Nashville if you are coming a long distance. Target is pretty close to campus and what they sell is likely equivalent to any. Memory foam toppers make sleep and settling into that twin bed much better. You will want one or two Bungee Cords to bind it up to store it at the end of the summer so pack a couple of those. Bungee cords are your friend also for compressing linens, sleeping bag, blanket etc in cars. Your student will need a sleeping bag if they go on Alternative Spring Break. But you have time to mull that over. Student Amazon Prime is worth a great deal to many families of college students even with the rate increase that arrives December 2014.</p>
<p>I think you’d be crazy to not buy some sort of mattress pad.</p>
<p>The beds are definitely longer than standard twin, but only by a couple of inches. Twin sized items will be a little short, and Twin XL will be a little long. It doesn’t really matter either way, both work. I would make sure fitted sheets are designed for a taller mattress. A fitted sheet designed for a short mattress can be a pain to stretch over the longer bed and other bedding.</p>
<p>From foam topper to bungee cords to sleeping bag, Vandy parents are so helpful.
@Faline2, did you buy for your Vandy son the XL sized memory foam topper? and did you buy him the XL sheets?
I just told DH about the mattress size discussion we are having here and he said that when we toured the Vandy dorm, they said that the beds are XL. It sounds like from @SoCalDad2’s post above, the beds are actually in between the two sizes. Then maybe both regular and XL would fit. I just wonder which one fit better.</p>
<p>I think Pancake’s statement is accurate–the length is in between. For a taller person I would do the XL set, for a shorter person…a Twin memory foam will be long enough. And because dorm mattresses are much less fulsome than storebought mattresses, regular twin sheets may indeed be plenty long, even with the extra 2-3 inch memory foam topper (which BTW has it’s own little white cover). I purchased XL sheet sets for college. However some old childhood camp twin sheets made it to college and also worked. For certain a regular top sheet is adequate. Basically, you are OK either way. Show up with one set, and send a second set by mail if you want later on.<br>
I have two other Must Buys I always promote. </p>
<p>A. A full sized towel that dries fast (the towels from home can stay damp) which is not enjoyable. I bought the Aquis brand…you do have to look at Amazon or online for full length…the size to put in your golf cart or for your hair drying is smaller and easier to find on the racks. They are really the same microfiber towels I use to dry my hair fast or the towels you use to absorb water when cleaning. My sons really liked these towels despite the lack of plushness/luxury. After all you are walking down the hall anyways and there is not a lot of room for towel hanging in your room. They dry thoroughly between showers. </p>
<p>B. A desk lamp that is full spectrum light bulb that you can find at Verilux or its equivalents (get on the website and sign in and they will bother you with about four discount offers a week) We also bought a standing full spectrum light bulb study lamp that could be adjusted up and down in height for their rooms–as there is usually at least one place to sit to read/study besides desk or bed in a room even if it is one chair shared. If you put your desk under a bed it is downright gloomy under there. And if your bed is going to be raised? Do you want to read up there? Where will you put your phone for your alarm? They sell these gizmos that kind of screw onto your bed frame with just enough room for an alarm clock or phone charger. The kid who is on a raised bed will need to check the time and of course their TEXTS up there.</p>
<p>oh…and one of those box of rocks to absorb odors they sell at places like Bed Bath Beyond to put next to your laundry bag and used tennis shoes in between
laundry days. And at least one of those multi cord power surge things…with longish cord…3 foot is too short.</p>
<p>I completely smile when this comes up every year…XL or L? eggcrate or memory foam? etc. The funniest thing I recall on CC was way back in 2005 before colleges took applications online. Duke son’s applications were 6 stacks of printed out papers-- put into six hand addressed manila envelopes…and parents were online here debating “staples or -----paper clips?” It was a puzzling decision to make as the stack included photos(!), resumes, short answers and essays on different pieces of paper. We all imagined our kids’ application papers scattering and being lost without being bound.</p>
<p>A fun thread would be “things I put in my son or daughter’s room that they didn’t want and I found 9 months later in its original packaging”. Keep it simple. With Amazon Prime, you get two day delivery on things and no real need to get it all right until they settle in.</p>
<p>I’ll start. Boys do NOT want the cute pack of microwaveable plate/bowl and utensil sets they sell at Target for dorms in July. They are not going to wash anything more than a coffee mug if that.</p>
<p>Just checked, the Road to Vanderbilt says twin sheets. A regular twin memory foam mattress topper and sheets worked for my son without any problem. I think that both we’ll work.</p>
<p>@Faline I didn’t think about bungee cords. We rolled the mattress topper up and put it in a trash bag and then in the storage unit. We bought several storage bins all the same size so that we can stack them during the school year and store them in parent’s basement. Also easier to transport when they are not in storage with stuff in them.</p>
<p>I should have asked more questions about moving out. I was able to limit S to 2 checked suitcase to bring home. We carried on a trumpet, flugelhorn and guitar. Thank goodness my parents live 4 hours away from Nashville</p>
<p>So what did we conclude about the linens and mattress cover?reg twin or xl twin</p>
<p>See post above. I can confirm that regular twin works. Others have used xl. The school says regular twin in “The Road to Vanderbilt”.</p>
<p>Can anyone give advice relating to off-campus housing? Need to find housing for my son who will be going to grad school there. We’ve never been to Nashville before and will only have a few days to arrange something on our visit a few weeks from now. Any good or bad experiences? </p>
<p>I know lots of VU grad students who have lived in The Grove. It’s pricey unless you have a roommate. Very convenient with nice amenities though. S lived in The Barbizon which is just a few steps from the law school for 3 years. Not awful, but not especially nice. It’s owned by Vanderbilt and is very convenient. Have also known kids who lived in Village at Vanderbilt on 21st which is nicer than The Barbizon. Good luck!</p>
<p>Did most of you buy a copy of Newcomer?
What kind of portrait did you use for the Commodore Card? Casual or formal? DS has a graduation portrait of him with suit and tie on. Is that too formal for the Commodore Card?</p>
<p>How much cash do Freshmen spend on average? They have full meal plan and no cars. With the Commodore card and debit card, how much cash do they really need?
I am trying to decide if we should open a local bank account such as SunTrust for DS so he can access ATM without paying fees. However, if cash is not needed very much, maybe he will just use his current debit/ATM card and pay fees on the infrequent withdraws.
What do most students do with banking situation?</p>
<p>our kids got accounts/credit cards in their names with USAA which didn’t have ATM charges…that is the military dependent option…that they got “grandfathered” into having access to…just in case this is an option for readers. It is helpful for your son or daughter to begin to establish a solid credit rating by paying their own credit card bills with their own cash flow if possible, even with very modest use of a card. Much of what they needed from us came in boxes from Amazon prime after they sent us links to things they had picked out and required. </p>
<p>Vandy “recent grad” son was denied having his very low credit card limit raised much —as his first job salary was deemed inadequate in comparison to his rent and expenses by his bank. That was somehow a surprise to him. He wanted to buy a mattress and to charge it. </p>
<p>Personally glad he is experiencing “limits” and getting some very specific lessons on how far a salary stretches and how much things cost. </p>
<p>During college semesters, we listened to a reasonable need or projected need each semester and deposited checks in our sons’ accounts --as well as communicating with them on the Commodore card balance vs time left in the semester. By making the question of cash deposits needed a semester to semester discussion, our sons learned to present financial requests to us via email couched in terms of thoughtful line items and modest estimates. There were a couple of occasions that each son failed to give us notice of checks suddenly needed for things like Alternative Spring Break that were annoyingly tardy re communications with us, but they learned to project and to be persuasive instead of reactive. We did fund each son’s trips to visit a college friend’s family far away or a beach trip or NYC pleasure trip with college friends a couple of times. </p>
<p>They can’t earn cash every summer due to some internships being unpaid or paying just enough for rent. But a summer paid job while living at home or with others sharing rent can provide a great deal of the extra cash needed the following year.<br>
Lastly, there are a hundred ways to do this “right” while teaching good personal finance habits. Just sharing.</p>
<p>4beardolls;</p>
<p>Our D just completed freshman year, and most of her spending was related to the Commodore Card. Restaurants, bookstore, taxis, laundry, printing etc around campus took the card. There is also some "natural selection’ towards restaurants that take the card when kids are going out to dinner in large groups. She did use Amazon Student Prime quite a bit for incidentals, and that account was attached to my credit card. So, she spent real cash as follows:
<p>Spending off the card seemed to come in waves–first three weeks of school, then final exam weeks. What we did, which seemed to work well, was to start her off with some cash, then we checked in with her at the end of Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Spring Break to see how bank balances were doing. (I refused to micro manage the spending, I felt like that was a big part of being a freshman.)</p>
<p>And, in typical fashion, anytime we were in Nashville, Dad managed to slip her a $20…he called it her “carrying around” money. Dads are good for that kind of stuff. </p>
<p>S made at most 3 atm withdrawals and they were before he flew home so he would have cash for the trip. He used his commodore card and a credit card. In reality he spent very little for extracurriculars. </p>
<p>We did get him a SunTrust account. With a certain amount of money in the account, there is no charge.</p>
<p>Well, we have all been very quiet lately! Now that graduations are over, new schedules are chosen, and the countdown is getting shorter, just thought I would check in with everyone to see how we are all doing. We are trying to get started on cleaning out S’s room. I really wanted to go through everything and get rid of what we don’t need. I really have the urge to start shopping but I’m holding back. He, of course has no interest in shopping and would love it if I would just do it all myself. We need to find a middle ground.</p>