Getting Your Student Ready for College

For many people, the summer months exude a vision of sunny beach days and family vacations; however for anyone with kids who will be attending college in September, summer brings lengthy “to do” lists! It is a bittersweet time for parents of high school graduates whose children are opting to further their education away from home on a college campus. The excitement of the graduation season fades as more and more mail is arriving daily from their future collegiate home. Dormitory information, roommate assignments, computer access information and move in schedules begin flooding mailboxes everywhere as June rolls into July. In addition, the college town banks are emailing and snail mailing a multitude of financial services to your new freshman from student checking accounts to credit cards. Finally, there are “all in one dorm packages”. For a flat rate you can purchase everything your student could possibly need and have it waiting in their room. Everyone wants to make your child’s transition to college as easy as possible or so they want you to believe, so proceed with caution as you review all those mailers. For the past decade, I have been busy every summer outfitting someone’s dorm room or off campus apartment. It can be an overwhelming and stressful proposition for both you and your child. The reality that they are leaving home begins to set in for you both and there are a wide range of reactions to that reality. Some can’t wait to start the shopping process, others could care less and still others are in procrastination mode. They want to make decisions about what they need to bring, just “not right now”. I was never quite sure if what I perceived as laziness was in actuality an indication of their own unsettled feelings. Whatever the reason, at the end of the day, the dorm rooms and apartments always came together and were well equipped by the time we left campus! My experiences with my own four children has led me to offer some suggestions for dealing with the college move in process. First and foremost, do read all the information that the school sends throughout the summer. It will help make move in much less stressful if you know what to expect upon arrival. Probably the most important piece of information will come from the school’s Computer Services/IT department. It will give you all the information you need on getting your student connected to the College computer network. Trust me, having Internet access in their room may be the top priority in their minds. Their Facebook and email accounts are their lifelines to their old friends. So knowing what you need to get them online should be a priority for us Moms and Dads too. The worst scenario is having a great looking dorm room with no internet access! So be prepared and know what kind of computer hook ups you will need for your student’s computer. If you would like to see more suggestions for getting your child settled at college, check out my Top 10 tips for what you need to furnish a dorm room at Celebration Ideas Online.