<p>Get vaccinations done. If you have a D who will be getting the HPV vaccine in CA ( and possibly other states) the price shoots up after the age of 19.</p>
<p>We loved “the Naked Roommate” by Harlan Cohen (sp) and read it together cover to cover the summer before DD’s left for school. It is full of conversation starters and tons of humor as well as sound advice from Harlan and college kids across the country. Borders has a whole collection of “first year of college books” and I am sure there is one out there for everyone.</p>
<p>missemily: If the meal plans max out at 19 meals/week, it’s probably because there ae only two meals/day offered in the dining hall on weekends (brunch and dinner). I guess it’s silly to open the dining hall for breakfast when most students won’t roll out of bed until lunchtime.</p>
<p>If your D needs to eat more than offered on the weekend, maybe you can just give her cash to use for groceries or meals off-campus.</p>
<p>Oh! I hadn’t thought of that…thank you! We are planning for her to stock some food in her room for when (late night/early morning) she is hungry or needs to eat and the dining hall is closed. </p>
<p>Does a medical power of attorney from one state (Alaska) have validity in the state where my child attends college (Washington)? I will be seeing my kiddo in a few weeks at her college and figure we should do POA. Any thoughts or knowledge on this?
Thanks.</p>
<p>I especially want my entering freshman to have an ATM so he will never find himself in a situation, e.g., with an impaired driver, where he won’t be able to get cash for a cab. We will also give him a credit card on one of our accounts so we will be able to monitor.</p>
<p>That, plus don’t have sex, but, if you do, use a condom.</p>
<p>BTW, I read the face book page discussions for one of the schools he is considering. There was a thread for incoming regarding personal habits, and it was an eye opener to see how many said they drank already and that they smoked other substances than tobacco.</p>
<p>Aside from the behaviors themselves, you can see the poor judgment of youth who don’t think about saying you drink or use drugs will not only be there for people who read it today, but will likely be there forever.</p>
<p>Another reason for the 12 and 13 meal plans is that many students eat breakfast in their rooms every day, it’s easier to have cereal and milk than to go to the dining hall. Depending on the layout of your daughter’s campus she may need more food for the dorm room and fewer meals on the plan. To add to the what do college freshmen need, make sure they have a bowl and spoon!</p>
<p>missemily,
If your daughter has a fridge and microwave in her dorm room she’ll be able to supplement the food plan. </p>
<p>Our son devoted one whole shelf in his closet to a couple of plates, bowls, utensils, and a lot of non-perishables like cereal, cans of soup, easy mac, crackers, tortilla chips, trail mix, dried fruit, hot cocoa mix, and I don’t remember what else. He kept milk cheese, mayo, fruit juice, and so on in the fridge. This is another kid who needs to eat a lot, especially when he’s working out or doing sports. He was fine.</p>
<p>Make sure they know what to do when they are sick, both major and minor illnesses. What does their health insurance cover? Can they use the campus health center? Be sure they have a supply of over the counter cold/flu medicines and a thermometer. H1N1 hit college campuses hard this year. </p>
<p>Have the alcohol discussion numerous times before they leave: on top of the numerous alcohol discussions you have already had with them. Know the alcohol policy of their college yourself. Our D’s school does not have a forgiveness (I can’t think of the correct term at the moment) policy if you call 911 for a friend in distress due to alcohol poisoning and have been drinking yourself. We had several conversations about doing the right thing even if their are consequences.</p>
<p>And talk about sex (shudders) even when they remind you that you’ve already had that talk.</p>
<p>Wildwood888, not exactly what you were asking for, but one of the most important things you can prepare your child for is that most likely they will not be the big fish in the sea, and they may not have the same high GPA that they had in High School.</p>
<p>When we were in college, the dining hall was often the only place to eat, and you could only eat there if you were on the meal plan.</p>
<p>Now, there are more choices. </p>
<p>Your daughter may be better off with a smaller dining plan plus some extra money (enough to equal the cost of the most generous dining plan). This way, she has more freedom to eat what she wants when she wants. Dining halls still have limited hours, and it’s very common for students to be unable to use up even 14 meals a week (because their classes, activities, or jobs may conflict with the limited times when the dining hall is open). Some kids have trouble using up even 10 dining hall meals a week. They end up buying food elsewhere and not using all the meals they have paid for. So you may as well anticipate that and choose a smaller meal plan but supplement it with extra money.</p>
<p>If it turns out that your daughter’s schedule permits her to eat more dining hall meals than she has prepaid for, this is usually not a problem. At most colleges, students can just pay cash for the additional meals. My daughter, a junior in college, is not on a meal plan but eats in the dining halls frequently. She simply pays for the meals with her debit card.</p>
<p>An unrelated topic: If you are sending a young man to college, make sure he understands that the civilized young man does not permit his female friends to walk home alone late at night. Late at night, there tend to be intoxicated students on campus, who may hassle a young woman walking alone. Couples and groups are rarely hassled.</p>
<p>missemily, what happens is that even the big eaters tend to get sick of the school food and they want to eat off campus (with friends that will also be eating off campus.) Once you know where she will be attending you can ask kids here at CC if the college board is busy. My older son is at Carnegie Mellon, and everyone said he should sign up for the smallest possible meal plan with the most possible flexible dining dollars. He still had trouble spending it. (It helped that he had an apartment style room and ate cereal for breakfast at home.)</p>
<p>look at the price differential. At D’s school the difference between unlimited and the smallest meal plan available for frosh was less than 225.00 dollars a semester. Since her school is isolated and not in walking distance to off campus eateries we decided to go for unlimited for peace of mind as it included late night hours as well.</p>
<p>Do I get a MPOA in the state we live or the state child will be attending school? For the FERPA, where do you get this release? From the specific school or is that another internet form?</p>
<p>REgarding the power of attorney issue (medical power of attorney)…if you don’t do this, and there is an “urgent matter”, what happens if, lets say, you’re in the hospital and you don’t have this paper work?? I have had the hardest time finding the right document online and can’t find enough good information.
thanks</p>