Soon...she's off to college...any ideas

[Nanc]

I have a couple of girls. 18 years old and almost 3 years old. My 18 year old will be going to college this fall in a town that is about 90 miles away. Not too far, but far enough that she needs to be well prepared for being on her own. She will be living in a dorm. We have purchased a larger dorm size fridge and a very small microwave. Some odds and ends like a decent bathrobe, rug for her dorm floor, etc. I'm hoping I could benefit from your suggestions on what you think is a necessity and what is a waste of money.

Thanks
Nanc

[lightning1966]

Will she and her roommates have their own bathroom, or will they have to share a bathroom with a whole floor full of girls? If she has to share, one of the most valuable things we had in college were these little baskets, mine was heart shaped, but there are other shapes as well, for carrying her soap, shampoo, etc, with her.

[cata5]

I remember (but barely- it was sooo long ago LOL) that we had dry erase boards on our door so people could leave messages if they came by when we were gone. What about music/tv/alarm clock or is that way too obvious? Lots of pizza coupons...
One of the best things we had were loft beds so we had more floor space. Those we had to build ourselves. Not necessary but very nice.

[chippers21]

A warm fuzzy blanket.
A prepaid phonecard.
Lots of reminders that she is welcome to come home for the weekend any time....

[dcumba99p]

Given the tendency of so many college students to rack up major credit card debt, the most "frugal" thing you can do is beg/plead/whatever with your child to stay away from credit cards. I read an article this week about an student who had 14 credit cards and $20,000 in debt as a sophomore!!! I can't imagine what I would do if this was my child.

My children are three and three weeks, so I don't mean to sound "preachy", but I do work in the financial services industry and have witnessed this major problem.

[sweetiris]

I was in the dorm last year and you would be amazed at how many people steal other people's stuff. I thought that maybe this was just bad in my dorm, but found out it was like that all over campus and at my friends schools.
So it's probably a good idea for you to get her a small kind of chest or box that has a lock. She can keep her extra money and prepaid phone cards in it. People just LOVE to steal those prepaid phone cards!
An alarm clock with batteries for when the power goes out.
Some older dorms have problems with the power blinking out everyonce in a while (usually because of too many people using too many appliances at once).
If she shares the bathroom with the whole dorm floor don't forget the shower shoes (I did!).
And Lots of rolls of quarters are always useful!!!!

[kat]

My eldest daughter just started college this year, so I know what it's like to send them off.

Good things:

A locker - there's a place for a small padlock on the front & she can keep anything inside that might "grow legs" & leave the room while she's not looking. I got one at TRU when they were changing over to Amazon for $7.xx - it has three shelves and can be either hung on the wall or placed directly on the floor. (She wasn't entirely thrilled with the football theme, but we just peeled off the decals & now it's just a light blue.)

Laundry bag - the kind with a drawstring. They stow well under the bed & don't take up a lot of room when they're empty.

Surge strips and UPS - when she moved out she took a couple of surge strips so she wouldn't have to worry about the computer and all of the other electrical stuff running at the same time (she'd been forwarned that brownouts are normal in the dorms). This Christmas, hubby gave her a UPS - much better if you have to worry about the electricity going on the blink.

Phone cards, toilet paper (might sound funny, but no one but us thought to pack any) rolls of quarters for laundry, fast food gift certificates, WalMart or Target cards (depending on what's nearby) & grocery store gift certificates are also good - but remind her to keep these in the locker!

A basket for bath supplies (the one we got could just hang over the shower so she didn't forget it in the bathroom like her roommate keeps doing & then she loses all her stuff!) - and don't forget those shower shoes!


The bad:

A plastic hamper - it took up too much room on the floor & didn't fit in the closet so it wound up going out in the hallway & being taken by someone else.

A 13" TV - too big in the room. They have to have the computers since it's pretty much a requirement for classes, so instead I got her a TV card for the computer & she just hooked the cable to the computer. She doens't watch a whole lot of TV anyway & this way she can be working on a paper with the TV taking up a corner of the screen.

Closet organizers - I don't know what I was thinking when I let her buy these boxy things, but they didn't fit in the closet or anywhere else so know they're in my son's room (oh well - at least they're getting used somewhere). I think it's better to move her in & then buy things like this locally so that you're sure they'll fit.


I'll ask my daughter if there was anything else that was a particulary good or bad buy & let you know!

[elf64]

tuck away some free samples of the basic first aid/otc stuff for her to have in her room bandaids to tummy stuff.
if you know which school/dorm she will be in find out the bed size i ended up useing my top sheet taped to my bunk till i could buy the longer sheets that fit.
watch were you put things in the dorm room i made the mistake of haveing stuff under the sprinklers(yep someone set them off and things got wet)
stuff to clean her room
look at her room at home for what she likes around her if she has poster on the wall at home she will have them at school.
i learned that the laundry room was another place where things grow legs (bras go missing so do jeans)so i learned to bring a book and get the maytag massage(sit on the washer)
if she brings her bike a good lock.

[weepy]

Don't forget twin extra long size sheets. They have them right now on clearance really cheap at Target ($3-$4 per set!) if you have a Target near you. And a mattress pad-those college mattresses are disgusting no matter where you go!

She should call her roommate (if she has one) and find out what the roommate is bringing-that way you won't end up with 2 microwaves or two rugs, etc.

And I have to totally agree with the locker idea-people steal from everyone in the dorms-including clothing out of the washers and dryers. Things just seem to get up and walk away!

[bethie_alane]

just graduated in dec '99 so its all fresh to me ::

DEFINANTLY want shower shoes, aka flip flops, for the shower!!!!!!

need a big laundry bag, roll of quarters, detergent, and lessons on how to separate colors (dyed all my panties pink the first time i did my laundry on my own)

a shower caddy to take stuff with her to the hall's bathroom

perhaps, contact paper or some cloth liner to put in the drawers just incase the dorm is falling apart

people in college don't dress up either, a good pair of relaxed khaki's go with everything

good walking/running shoes for getting around campus

back pack

bulletin board and tacks to hang up photos, flyers, important info

AND AN OPEN MIND!!!!!


happy UGA graduate who just got accepted to grad school

[dancema]

Check the fire regulations at her school. I know we couldn't have any electrical cooking appliances in our room. We could only blow dry our hair in the bathroom. The school had a big fire several years earlier and they were very concerned about fire safety.
A wastebasket will be helpful if the school doesn't supply them. Lots of tylenol and aspirin. I was an angel in highschool, but once I hit college I let loose. (I was still better than most, but I did have a few hangovers)
The best thing you can do is make sure she knows she can call you no matter what. Even if she calls you for advice and disregards it, it is better than no call at all. I know I drove my mom nuts asking for advice and not using it. I am just so thankful she was always there.
Best of luck to your daughter. College is definetely a great experience...good and bad...

[Jaxxie]

The biggest thing i can add is: don't send your child off with anything you hope to see again. My daughter left for college, my mother bought her all kinds of stuff, comforter, new clothes, you name it. What came home, if it came home was either badly stained or destroyed. Sadly her 1st semester there, her roomate thought that whatever daughter had, she could use. And she came home with about 3/4 of the clothes she left with.

they had a magna doodle on her door for messages.

Make sure she has a phone with an answering machine, because they seem to NEVER be in their room..LOL Trash bags, they use them for everything..LOL

A first aid kit, with cough syrup and tylenol.

The college she went to sent the parents home a gift basket flyer. I bought a few of them and she loved it, they were surprises. The one basket was fresh fruit, the other was a pizza party, the last one was a giant cookie.

And please remember the first semester is the hardest, the grades aren't what they were in High School, they are finding that staying up late and partying is sooo much fun, but they will adjust and grades will go back up.

The one thing my daughter did say was this, in High school you get up so early you think you will do the same in college, so she scheduled all her classes to begin at 8 am. She said it was torture, and all classes after that she didn't schedule until atleast 10 am.

My daughter came home from college with her navel pierced, the top of her ear pierced...and (sigh) a tatoo. Very small in the middle of her lower back. But once they turn 18, their body is theirs, you just get the luxury of paying the tuition. LOL

Make sure you have copies of her drivers license, birth certificate, medical card, and class schedule.

My daughter just graduated college Jan 31, with honors.

Please remind her...that when at a party, to never let her drink out of her sight, and if she does, get a new one, and to never walk campus alone at night.

It also helps when your in the college town, look around at the stores that are close. You can buy her gift cards to the grocery store, the walmart, wherever. And again, write down the numbers on the gift cards in case they get lost or stolen. My daughter was 5 hours away with her first college so we could not hop in car for a quick ride.

Tissues for yourself as you drive away from the college leaving your child to fend for herself for the first time, and for the bill of college tuition..LOL

[bigredmonster]

When I trotted off to the university 45 minutes from my parents' home, I discovered that stuff like floppy disks and bottles of cleaning supplies DIDN't grow on trees - LOL

Probably the most useful thing my mom provided was a secondhand microwave and a new dorm fridge, bigger than the cube-sized ones. Also a small plastic filing cabinet, for me to organize the loose papers that seem to accumulate.

The most *appreciated* things my mom provided were occasional deliveries of homemade pound cake loaves and other special goodies, plus permission to raid her pantry any time I was home! This included Tupperware - she was really a sweetie! Also an old ice cream bucket full of wild bird seed because pets were forbidden and watching the birds have breakfast on our window ledge made it easier.

Until your daughter gets into the dorm and finds out whether stuff like TP is provided, how private the bathroom is, if there is a payphone on each floor, etc most of your purchases will be hit-or-miss. Gift certificates to Target or Walmart or some other mass merchandiser may be most helpful to acquiring the laundry/domestic type things. But stuff that would be universally useful includes: cheap plastic plates and cups, inexpensive eating utensils, multipurpose cleaning fluids, big bottles of ibuprofen and/or acetominophen and cold remedy, basic first aid kit (I like mine in a tackle box), handheld vacuum, lightweight wall-mount full-length mirror, microwave popcorn envelopes, individually packaged bags of her favorite tea (I learned to always keep a few in my backpack), a big but not top-of-the-line bookbag (leather ones disappear...), particle board RTA bookshelves (I propped my bedframe up on them one semester to maximize floor space), drawer full of basic office supplies (they are always overpriced or out of stock at the college bookstore), a reliable battery powered alarm clock, extra bath towels & washcloths, some sort of walkman to block out noise while studying/typing a paper, earplugs to block out noise while sleeping, plenty of highlighters, throw rugs, and a clip-on canister of pepper spray or mace or whatever (I wore mine daily on my backpack and carried it in my hand every single time I went somewhere alone at night... it only takes one wacko)

Money wasters include: new matching sets of sheets & towels, ceramic/glass dishware, expensive appliances like phones or coffeemakers with all bells & whistles, big plants (she'll find someone to get plant cuttings from), luxury comforter (it'll get spilled on), halogen lamps (too big a fire hazard for a dorm), and duplicates of anything she could borrow from the dorm's front desk or office (they frequently have sporting equipment, fullsize vacuums, cooking pans, board games, and lots of other stuff you can check out for a deposit and a student ID).

You'll get plenty of requests, I'm sure, but it does help to ease your mind to be prepared! For your own peace of mind, remember that one of the best things to learn at college is the depths of your own resourcefulness. I didn't learn to utilize the bus system 'til Dad refused to loan me his car, but then I decided it was really worth the fare. You don't have to provide every little thing to be a great mom - just the fact that you're encouraging her to go to college says that you are. And don't forget to do something new and wonderful for yourself so when she comes home for a visit, bubbling over with new experiences, you don't feel left behind.

Best of luck weathering all the changes to come!