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If you haven't done so already, get a moisture trap (like you use in storage units) to help with odor and possible moisture build up. Should keep his things from smelling musty too.
Just sent him a dehumidifier - after he told me that the pipes in the hallway & his room have constant condensation on them & the "environment" in the basement, including his room, feels "damp".
One of the moms (of his next door neighbor's triple) had her husband run out and buy a dehumidifier on move-in day. Should have done it back then.
'College thing'? Are you sure it is not really... Off to Elementary Summer Camp! (bags of toiletries and necessities)
WoW, this is an enlightening thread (and explains the total inept 'knowledge-of-responsibility' / practical 'How-To' of the (6) college hires we recently added... for $70k / yr and expected to manage $10m international budgets for overseas factories)
Why are you assigning such projects---"manage $10m international budgets for overseas factories" to recent college grads with little actual experience. News Flash--you, supposedly the head hombre, need to match skills and experience to the job, not just expect the most for the least and act like you're doing them a favor---another News Flash" $70K, while good for entry level, is nothing for such a job. Hire the right person for the job
All but one are still driving their PARENT'S cars
How do you know so much of their personal business, and why do you care? Would you think better of them if they drove expensive, flashy cars they are in debt for? Maybe they are trying to pay off their student loans----there again, 70K isn't that much one can go piddling through it, to somehow show "personal responsibility"?
I guess not too many kids these days get sent to Dairy Farm Boarding School at age 12 (with a single knapsack) and a SWIFT kick on the 'be'-hind. How many have been doing their 4-H project books and managing cash flows and production expenses? (Apparently very few).
By age 25, I had been caring for my parents for 7 yrs, and had 30 more yrs of that to go...
I don't recall my own kids asking for anything (financially or materially) after they left at age 18 (Had already been in college 3 yrs). Many of their peers (Homeschoolers) were running businesses with payroll and employees by age 16. I honestly cannot think of ANY (boys) who were allowed to drive parent's cars after age 16. (or who would have even asked to do so...) girls... sad. they had lots of crashes and 3 locals from our small youth group were killed in rural auto accidents (commuting during college / mtns / ice / dark steep.).
College saw mine grow up a lot! (buying furniture & appliances (from thrift stores) and buying houses / duplexes to rent to roommates, investing, developing and running businesses with classmates (raising funding and getting business loans and forming LLC's ). They quickly realized that employing others and building businesses and cash flows was far more 'wealth building' than working for wages and expecting to make a living. By Graduation they were really eager to GET out of the confinement of SCHOOL (i.e. a huge time sink and money pit (tuition and books) for them). Grad school was later funded by their investments and selling their companies for profit and taking a few yrs off to travel and go back to school on THEIR terms.
They (like me) are VERY disgusted with the quality of profs and informed(?) engaged (?) cohorts... College is currently NOT a very good value or experience in USA. It has been diluted to something even less than 'continuation of public HS' (tragic)). My kids are pursuing international schools for their next grad course work (as am I).
Yeah, like, maybe send your kid to Italy? Or North Korea? I understand education there is really quite "enlightening" , as long as your kid stays out of prison---oh, but you raised your's perfectly, right?
Mine went with NOTHING but their OWN $35 car (off our policy since day one) and a few bucks in their pocket. They grew up FAST...
Yeah, my parents sent me with a few bucks, some jeans and flannel shirts, a guitar, a brain, and lots of curiosity and ambition (that they gave me). No car. I got a $120 car a couple of years later.
Everything worked out fine. I grew up fast, made some mistakes (mild drug use, low grades), *fixed the mistakes*, and graduated with double honors at what was then considered a leisurely pace of 4 years and one semester.
Why would a student need medical insurance? The tuition at most major universities includes free health care at the campus health center. Maybe not, at a small private schools. I got good emergency care at my university health center. But I suppose you're talking about being ready for anything, some extraordinary emergency not handled by the campus doctors? Parents today seem to worry about a lot more contingencies than parents when I went to school, or even than my own siblings, whose kids finished college just a few years ago. I'm not used to this way of thinking.
Back in my day (1971-1975) we didn't have a lot of things but we did have emergencies. Every year one or two students would attempt suicide, a few more would come down with a serious GI illness or something else requiring hospitalization (one had a brain tumor), and quite a few would have fractures from playing sports or just being a careless jerk. Carry some sort of catastrophic health insurance and have a signed parental release.
Bringing back this thread to see how the OP's son did during his first year. Hard to believe I'm now headlong into shepherding my third kid through his college search. Boy, how time does fly!
OP, any lessons learned you want to share with newbies now that you've joined the ranks of experienced college parents?
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) girls... sad. they had lots of crashes and 3 locals from our small youth group were killed in rural auto accidents (commuting during college / mtns / ice / dark steep.).
