As students prepare to begin or return to college, making sure they have everything they need to be successful can be challenging.

But now as you wipe the sweat from your brow and pat yourself on the back — your child is going to college! Then it dawns on you. What should they bring with them? Where should you shop? What do they need? What don’t they need?

Relax. While packing your student for college may feel like an overwhelming task, it doesn’t have to be. In fact, you might even have some fun with it.

We’ve compiled the ultimate packing lists for residence hall life, classroom and studying needs and personal items they should bring along  — so that you can get your student off to school and ready to learn! Each list offers tips and tricks to ease the headache of the big move.

• Residence hall packing list
• What your student should have for classroom and studying
• Personal items to pack for college

Plan and prepare
before you run out to your local stores and buy everything they’ll need, first wait for more information from their college — or visit the college’s web site for further information about what they’ll need for school.

Common sense tells you to begin by making a list of everything they will need. Combine your own list with that of the college, as well as the list of things others may have advised you that they’ll need.

Then, survey your house for these items. Save money by making sure you don’t already own something similar.

Lastly, if they’ve gotten their roommate information, they should discuss what each has to bring –- no need for multiple mini-fridges or TVs when space is already limited.

If they’ve lucked out with a huge dorm room, you both have much more liberty in deciding what goes with them. One piece of advice: Don’t overpack! They’ll end up being stuck with stuff they won’t use, and it will take up precious space that can help keep them organized.

Ready…Start….Pack!

Regardless of their room size, here are some must-haves, in no particular order:

• Computer/Laptop. If it’s at all possible to buy one or borrow one, do it. Most colleges have pretty good computer facilities that students can use for free, but they’re often crowded and noisy, and not in their own room. If you have a choice, opt for a laptop. They can bring it to class, the library or outside, and can have more options of where to work.
• Extra socks and underwear. Doing laundry is expensive and a pain. Students can always rewear jeans and sweaters more than once, but clean underwear and socks are a must!
• Flip-flops. Using communal showers equals foot fungus, an unattractive yet common problem in dorms.
• Climate-appropriate clothes. If possible, try to pack only what they’ll need for the season and climate they’ll be living in. There is usually not a lot of room for extra clothes, especially bulky sweaters or excessive shoes. They can always trade clothes at home during winter or spring break.
• Storage bins. Stacking things is the way to go in their dorm room. A variety of storage bins are available at most stores.
• Group games. Board games, cards and video games are a great way to make new friends and are perfect for breaks and downtime at school.
• Home reminders. Bring things that remind them of home, such as a few pictures or posters. These things will make homesickness –during those first few days or weeks — that much easier to bear. With photos and personal touches, their dorm room will feel more like a home and less like just a dorm room.
• Dictionary and thesaurus. Although most computer programs have a thesaurus built in, the paper versions still have many more options.
• Lamps. Get a cheap halogen or desk lamp — most grads still can’t part with theirs. But before you go out and buy one, make sure their college doesn’t consider certain types a fire hazard.
• Clothes hamper. They will need something roomy and something they can easily carry when it is time to do laundry.
• First-aid kit. Just in case.

*****

Sarah Schupp is the founder and CEO of University Parent Media in Boulder, Colo. UPM publishes print and online guides for parents of students at universities and colleges in 38 states. Online at www.universityparent.com

Here are my TOP 5 picks for those “test driving” sites.

1. Smart College Visit-The educated way to visit a college campus and your one-stop site to find everything you need to know before the visit. With parent-to-parent stories, Smart-See-Smart-Do campus evaluations, travel tips and a place to search for the perfect hotel accommodations, Smart College Visit is committed to providing you with all the information you need to prepare for that all-important college visit.

2. YoUniversityTV–Make a stop here to preview campuses, get a campus map, and view user submitted videos of campus life. The videos are more than campus tours; giving you a picture of life in and around the college.

3. University Parent–Connect with the college campuses and download a college specific brochure with information about the surrounding area: hotels, off-campus housing, and storage facilities. Read what Sarah Schupp, the founder, said about her site:

University Parent-Your Parent Resource

4. College Week Live–This site is actually a “virtual” college fair site which is great for chatting with students, admissions officers and faculty. You can also direct-link to college websites through the college fair hall. Their spring college fair is coming up on March 24-25 and campus reps will be in attendance to answer your questions.

5. Collegiate Choice–These DVD tours are videotaped college tours. Each tour is over an hour long and gives you an excellent idea of what a campus tour is like. Use this resource to narrow down your college tour choices. They are especially helpful when you are looking at campuses that require travel and enable you to see all types of campuses throughout the country. This is what Cliff Kamron had to say in a recent guest blog post:

10 Things we learned from videotaping 1200 college tours

UniversityParent.com partners with colleges and universities across the U.S. Our mission is to help parents easily find university and visitor information.

To this end, we have developed print and online guides for over 100 schools that provide detailed information on everything from where to stay when visiting your student, to a helpful list of frequently requested phone numbers. The university provides us with school specific information, such as: academic calendar, campus maps, articles about campus resources, managing finances, student life and tips for parents. To find this information, please visit, http://www.universityparent.com/online-guides and select your student’s school. You’ll find links on the left sidebar to the topics mentioned above. If you don’t see your student’s school listed, please email me at sarah@universityparent.com, and I’ll work on signing them up! If you’d like to download a PDF of the print guide, please visit: http://www.universityparent.com/downloads.

We also build a visitor guide with the help of the local convention and visitors bureau and the chamber of commerce. Our intent is to help parents easily navigate their student’s new community. If you’re planning a trip to your student’s campus, or want to send a birthday gift, check out the guide on the right sidebar. You can even book hotels right through our site!

We are working on building a community of college parents through our Facebook Fan Page, http://www.facebook.com/collegeparents and through our Twitter account, http://www.twitter.com/4collegeparents. Parent participation in the community helps us determine the types of issues parents are concerned about – and we try to address these on UniversityParent.com.

We hope these resources help nurture your connection and involvement in your student’s college experience!

About UniversityParent.com:

When the time came for my parents to visit me as a student at the University of Colorado, their anxieties heightened. They wanted to know where to stay, dine, and shop for last minute items they felt I couldn’t live without. They also wanted to know what activities they could do, or places they could visit while my orientation schedule kept me busy.

Although my campus offered a wide variety of useful information for visiting parents, we quickly learned that it was not compiled into one all-inclusive resource for easy and convenient use. My parents’ personal experience of a void of comprehensive information is what sparked this venture. The idea of producing a University Parent Guide began as my senior project through the Leeds School of Business Entrepreneurship Program at the University of Colorado, Boulder. After graduating in 2004, I pursued University Parent Media full-time. The University Parent Guide is now available at over 100 campuses nation-wide. This guide may not have been available when my parents needed it, but it is now! We hope you find it useful.