First time college go-ers

For those of you that have kids heading off to college for the first time, the summer tends to be made up of lots of planning, certainly from Mom's perspective. The logistics of getting from home to college are probably the most covered topics. How are you going to get Johnny and all of his stuff to college? How is Susie going to get all of those shoes there? Do you ship everything? Ship some? Buy some there? Will everything pack into the back of the car? Do you ship the bike? Buy a clunker? Us mothers are doing all of this stuff in our heads, trying to figure this all out. Your kid is thinking about their roommate, maybe about the room set-up, should they "loft" their bed? If you're anything like me, I needed a "visual" so I could help my kids think about storage, after all, everything that they bring to school has to fit in this approx. 9 X 12 foot space. Good news: More and more schools are providing pictures online of the residence and even the dorm rooms, some are providing measurements too. All very helpful information. This is much better than when you got the visual the day of arrival.

But there are some other things to think about. Here are suggestions of a few things that are some of my takeaways that you don't hear much about:
1) Look into tuition insurance. You never know what life brings: mono, death of a loved one, depression, the list goes on and on, so if a child has to "stop out" for a period of time, like a semester or quarter, you're covered! Having that insurance is a safety net.
2) Money conversation BEFORE they go. Most likely it's the first time they've had to budget. Discuss allowance, what you as parents think that should cover. Who's paying for books, dry cleaning, entertainment, their vacations...
The colleges have meal plans and "cards" (like credit cards) that take care of basics. Every college is different, some have you write a lump sum check and your kid uses it as a debit card kind of program, others charge you for the meal plan up front and whether or not your child has eaten all meals they have paid for, you don't get the money back (some have programs where the leftover money rolls into the next semester, but may not roll into the next year,) read the fine print. Some of the cards take care of laundry, others you need good old fashioned quarters. Fine print!
3) Now that your child is 18 they're considered an adult, but you as a parent have expectations. Discuss with them checking off the box with their college that you as a parent get sent their grades, if that's included in some of your expectations. No joke. You may be picking up the tab or some of it, but as far as the school is concerned that's a privacy issue. I know several kids who started struggling with college and all of that freedom and if their parents weren't getting their grades they had no way of knowing there'd been a change...it's not high school.

I'm sure you'll hear loads of tips from your network of friends that cover Twin XLs, buying storage bins there or shipping them, going online and ordering and then picking up at Bed Bath and Beyond or WalMart, wherever, at the store close to the college, rather than paying for shipping. Computer/ printer conversation, telephone plans...

~Beppie