If you’re like most parents of new college students, you’re dreading loading up the car or cars to take your student to school. I get it. You’ve probably seen the size of the room your son is moving into, and wondering how he will put his entire life into ninety square feet. Actually, you probably can’t.
Packing for college is both art and science, and few of us get it right the first time. We rented a minivan to take our daughter to school for her first year, complete with a hand truck to take things to her second floor room. We arrived on campus and after being directed to her residence hall, just opened the van doors, and fifteen student athletes took everything out (except the hand truck ) in about five minutes. The real challenge came when we started unpacking what she brought.
Our daughter is very good at packing and unpacking. Consequently, she decided to unpack virtually everything before heading to orientation. What surprised me was that there were several things we thought she wanted (or needed) that she simply refused to keep. She didn’t want:
a set of bed risers;
the tower fan;
two empty under the bed containers for “stuff;”
several jackets for colder weather;
her favorite partridge in a pear tree (okay, that wasn’t exactly true);
a small area rug;
a back pillow;
a lamp to clip onto her bed frame.
The list went on and on. We left the campus carrying quite a few things the two hundred miles back home. And besides that, I ended up at a big box store that day to buy a one cup coffee maker, extra hangars, and two more surge protectors. I didn’t mind missing part of orientation, but I distinctly remember my wife asking our daughter if she needed any of these things days before we left for campus, and she said “no” every time.
You know what? This happens to most of us, because our students don’t really know what they need, and often won’t know until they roll up to campus. Sometimes, they see another student with an item and realize how useful it is, or finally decide that Dad really knows what he’s talking about. Only them will be buy a better desk lamp. It really doesn’t matter.
You might save a little time and irritation by looking online at suggested lists of things to bring to college like these:
Big Future Off to College Checklist
The college or university might send your student a list, too.
My only advice is go with the flow. Let them pack what they want and have you take back what they don’t. But if you’re smart, you’ll keep those discards close by. You never know when they’ll be called for.