Ahira's Hangar

I know some of us have been through this process at least once (such as myself, MsMary, and Aliantha) - I thought we could toss advice at Menolly - things we wish we had known beforehand.

For me:

* the dorm room mattress might not be the size of the mattress you have at home! technically they are both twin, but the dorm my older son lived in had these hugely long matresses that needed special sheets! (so much for saving a bit of money and having him take sheets from home! )

* your kid will only need about half of what you/he packs! the second year my kid took only about half of what he had the first year, and he had a lot more room and was much happier! weed through the packing mercilessly!

* the exception to the above is towels! if your kid packs two, throw in an extra. if your kid packs three, throw in an extra, if your kid packs four - well, you get the idea

* crocs make great shower shoes, and yeah - if your child shares public showers with other students, you will want him to have shower shoes to avoid shared skin infections!

anyone else have any pointers?

Avoid beer bongs

parents do not need to supply the beer bongs

On a serious note, call your kid often. They are unlikely to call you. They'll be too excited/busy/forgetful/lazy/whatever. And they may not always answer or return your call. But it doesn't mean they won't appreciate hearing your voice.

Thanks for this, Duchess!

We know about the "twin extra long" sheets; it's what the bunk beds at the sleep away camp Beorn attended over the summers have. I appreciate the reminder, though.

The meal plan at Beorn's school, even the most expensive one he is required to get as a First Year student (NCF doesn't refer to them as freshman through seniors), only covers about $10/day in food, at no discount off paying cash for the meals. No all-you-can-eat options are available either. I am thinking it is a good thing I got him the cookware and kitchen sets for when he went to school over the years. He has been approved for a single room via the Student Disabilities Services Office. If he gets a single in the typical FY dorm, he will have a huge room with a private bathroom, but he has to go to a different dorm (not very far, but not all under covered walkways should it rain) to use a common kitchen. Most likely he will get a room in an apartment style dorm, where he shares a bathroom with another single room, and shares a living/kitchenette common area with two other rooms for a total of four students in the "apartment." Each apartment can be co-ed, as well, with the bathroom areas gender matched only. If he goes that route, I foresee a lot of growth and adjustment for my only child aspie.

I know for the standard FY dorm, things with "open" elements, such as a toaster, are not allowed. I need to find out if a toaster will be allowed in the apartment kitchenette. One of the things Beorn enjoys making is the "egg mcmuffin" for breakfast using my toaster. If that is allowed, I can see him eating a good breakfast between the toaster or a bowl of cereal, and saving the meal plan for another option each day.

The apartment style dorms are usually for upperclassmen, but apparently a few of the apartments are reserved for FYs, so he will be with others making the adjustment to college life at the same time.

Cambo, hyperception is planning on getting us all used to using Skype. I hate using my webcam, but I'll do so for Beorn.

As far as beer bongs and other such paraphernalia goes, I most likely am being naive. But I foresee more it being a problem to Beorn if others have such in his common area, than me worrying about him owning anything of that sort. We shall see.

My older son stayed in the same sort of dorm set-up I got when I went to college - two kids to a room, with a ginormous communal bath.

My younger son will be in a dorm suite - two kids in each room with every two rooms sharing one bathroom. So four kids per bathroom rather than more than twenty!

I think it all just depends on the age of the dorm. Michigan has mostly ancient dorms, and they had the Honors College at Ball State in the oldest dorm on campus set sort of off by itself.

Eastern Michigan, Western Michigan, and Central Michigan all must have built their dorms about the same time, because they all have the similar suite layout.

My younger son gets the same meal plan I did - thirteen meals a week - two a day Monday through Saturday and one on Sunday. Since he will only be about ten miles away I expect him coming home for meals/food raids periodically.

My older son had three meals a day at Ball State, but he was limited by his meal plan on how much he could "spend" per meal.

The sweetest food set up I have seen is at Western Michigan - with their deluxe plan you can get up to 99 meals per week all you can eat, with sack lunches on top of that if needed. And they had GOOD food! Stir fries made to order in front of you like Mongolian barbecue, sub shop set ups with freshly baked breads, pizzas made to order, etc. etc. Both of my kids considered going there just for the food!

*nodding*

When Beorn visited the western state schools, SD made a point of us eating at all of the cafeterias as well. I have to admit, SD's alma mater, and the one Beorn strongly considered besides NCF, Western Washington University, had the best food service of all the campuses we visited. They also offered all-you-can-eat and the food was also very good!

I can't speak to food questions. My kids' college has one cafeteria for the whole campus and *every*body complains about the food. Also, there were no meal plan options -- it was every meal, all-you-can-eat, for everybody. But meal plan choice is one thing that gets sacrificed when the undergrad student body numbers less than a thousand....

Magickmaker tried just about every possible living arrangement -- double, single, double as a single, and a university-owned apartment with three friends. The apartment -- a townhouse, actually -- had a kitchen, but I didn't see much evidence that the girls used it. There was still a lot of complaining about the cafeteria.

There ought to be a page on the college website for Residence Life. They'll have a list of what he can and can't have in his room. You might have to dig for the info. Oh, and they may e-mail a lot of this info to Beorn, so you might remind him to keep checking his e-mail this summer for stuff from the school. Batty missed a couple of deadlines by being cavalier about reading e-mails from the school. (It's a wonder that child *enrolled*, let alone *graduated.* )

Places like Bed, Bath & Beyond will let you order stuff online and have it shipped to the store closest to campus. Might save you some room in the car if you get certain things shipped. Also, Hollins had a sidewalk fair on campus during orientation week for stuff the girls forgot to bring from home -- bed risers, posters, etc. (Psst -- concrete blocks are cheaper than bed risers *and* give the kid more storage room underneath the bed. Moving them sucks, tho, so buy 'em when you get to campus.)

That's all I can think of offhand.

I'm almost positive NCF insists their maintenance people make the beds in to lofts, but we'll double check on that. I may be mixing them up with UF's policy at this point.

There is a page on the website which lists what is allowed in the dorms, but it seems very restrictive for dorms which come with a kitchen. That is why I want to follow up on that.

Thanks for the info on Bed, Bath, and Beyond! That may be a terrific option.

Ball State sent us a flyer from a company they work with that allowed us to order the weird size bedding and have it drop shipped there. Also, you could sign up (and pay for) "care packages" of goodies, hot chocolate and stuff like that to be sent to your kid for various holidays and during finals week.

Luckily, my younger son is only going to be something like ten miles away, so even if he forgets things, no biggy. The food there is notoriously awful, so I expect him home for pantry raids regularly.