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College Tips
for Parents |
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Common College
Housing Mistakes
By Shannon Bennett
Shannon Bennett is currently a college student. Her article
discusses housing on and off campus, miss-information, living with
close friends, and other items college parents should be aware of.
Incoming college students are in for a great many changes. Among
the things they will need to adjust to await the heavier workload of
classes, the exposure to new people, and the windfall of freedoms
and opportunities that will become available.
The biggest change of all, however, is the move away from the
comfort of home. This step toward independence and adulthood may
strike some as liberating, others as terrifying, and to all an
inevitability.
Careful planning should go into the choices made to establish that
first living space away from the comforts of home. The following are
the five most common mistakes to be avoided in settling your student
down in his or her first self-run home.
5. Domestic misinformation
This seems obvious, but it is astounding the number of first year
students bumbling around the laundry rooms in any given campus
community trying to figure out how to wash their own clothes. Even
worse, there are always those who push forward with the confidence
of battle scarred laundry veterans and ruin an entire load before
the end of their first week.
Make sure the basics of domestic living and self-care are covered
with your student, preferably long before the Big Move. This
includes, but is not limited to laundry care, dish sanitizing, and
the proper way to use a plunger.
It wouldn't hurt to go over the basics of food preparation either.
An alarming number of dorm accidents occur when someone who has
never so much as boiled water decides to become a master chef.
4. Underpacking
Many parents feel perfectly secure leaving their student tucked away
after a lengthy orientation that seems to have covered every angle.
A pricey meal plan may have been purchased to cover food needs, a
bag of quarters put next to the hamper for the many vending machines
on campus, and a neat stack of composition notebooks and three ring
binders is proudly awaiting the start of classes.
However, unanticipated costs begin to arise almost immediately.
Forgetting to pack cold medicine or to set aside gas money can
quickly create a pile of expense for your student that she may not
be able to cover.
The cost of living may be cushioned by what's available in campus
communities, but make sure your student has something to land on if
an unanticipated need arises.
Also, be aware that your student might need to buy a meal outside of
campus once in a while. Meal plans are a good investment, but they
won't cover everything.
3. Overpacking
That said, most apartments and dorm rooms are not designed to house
every possession your student had in high school.
DVD collections, clothes, toiletries, etc. should be skimmed down
before moving so that your student's future living space is
navigable.
2. Skipping the Dorm
There is a reason that a large chunk of universities across the US
require that first year students live on campus. If your student is
attending one of these colleges, the choice has been made for you.
If not, it is important to consider the perks of transition that a
dorm provides. It is a safe community with an ever present Resident
Assistant to settle domestic disputes and help your student ease
into his or her new way of living.
It is also an environment constructed entirely of peers and
activities to give your student a solid opportunity to make friends
and find the right niche to fall into.
A car is expendable on larger campuses, since most things are
available within walking distance, and your student will be more
inclined to explore campus in his downtime.
1. Living with a close friend
This one may come as a surprise. However, statistics in campus
housing communities almost always report at least 90% of requested
roommates ask to be transferred before the end of the year.
Your student's first instinct may be to live with someone familiar,
but with the exception of siblings, who have already experienced
sharing a living space, this decision often destroys the friendship
between the future roommates.
It is best to either leave the rooming choices to the university's
placement procedures, or to live with an acquaintance. This way,
your student remains free to expand as an individual rather than
feeling that he must share every invitation with his roommate.
Tension won't run as high between strangers. Preventing home-drama
will save a lot of stress and distraction for your future student,
who needs to be able to focus on his new home, and, above all, his
education.
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