Preparing New College Student for College Life

Getting Ready for Living at College

If you are a parent or guardian of a child who is going to college this year for the very first time, I am sure that you are both proud of your student, and worried at the same time. To help your student be better prepared for college life, and to alleviate your own apprehension, it is a good idea to create a “things to do” checklist to go over with your new college freshman.

College life is not really the same as living on your own outside of college, but it is vastly different than living at home, with parents close by to help you out of every jam, or urge you on when you are slacking off. It is important for parents to do their best to make sure that their college bound student is aware of several factors of college life that are different than living at home, including safety measures, financial awareness, and legal issues. Most teenagers take their parents’ protection for granted so much, that they don’t even realize how much their parents are guarding them from trouble, until they become independent and find themselves in an awkward or worse, criminal situation.

To offset the possibility of such an event for your own new college student, here is a checklist of items to cover with them thoroughly before they are on their own.

College Financial Issues

Although most parents focus on the large picture when it comes to college finances, such as, “how we are going to pay for tuition, room and board,” it is actually the day to day expenditures that can get a college student in trouble more often.

To keep this from happening, here are the things that you should go over with your new college freshman:

Checking account: Teach your student how to maintain a checking account, and what fees they can accrue. This is an easy way for students to quickly run out of money, and once out of control, is quite difficult to catch up.
Credit cards: Having a credit card is a new experience for most college freshmen. If you allow your student to have a credit card, you can start by giving them a card that you load a limited amount of money on, and once it is empty, is not useable. This stops them from having too much debt on a credit card.
Budgeting: Sitting down with your college freshman, and explaining how much the day to day essentials cost, and how to budget their money for extras is a great help to them. Most teenagers are very impulsive, and the move to college will require thinking more about where they should spend their money, and where they shouldn’t, than they are used to doing. If they haven’t been paying for their own toiletries, laundry, or food, they will not have a clue as to how much it costs.

Safety and Security on Campus

When a college student lives in a communal situation on a college campus, they will have to share a room with at least one other student, and often more than one. That means that everything that they own will be exposed at least to this one other person, and if the other person is not responsible, possibly to everyone who walks by the doorway to their dorm room.

This is an important fact to consider when a college freshman goes to school for the first time. Deciding what to take with them, what to leave at home, and how to secure their items at school are a huge factor. To help with this issue, here is a checklist to go over with the new student:

Theft Prevention

Take only household items that you cannot live without. Do not take all of your favorite things from your room, unless you literally have to have them with you for comfort. This will cut down on packing, and having your favorites disappear mysteriously.
Start out by not trusting your roommate. While they may be a perfectly wonderful and trustworthy person, you do not know that for sure. It is best to leave expensive jewelry, accessories, and toys at home unless you don’t mind if they are stolen. Only take things that are replaceable unless you literally wear them 24 hours a day, and never take them off.
If you do have to take expensive items with you to college or irreplaceable items, then figure out a way to secure them in your dorm when you are not there.

Personal Safety

College life should be perfectly safe, but because college is filled with young adults, it is impossible for the college or university to control the behavior of all of its members. In addition, there are always predators in society that prey on vulnerable young adults.

To avoid any problems with personal safety, you should review safety procedures with your incoming college freshman. The following tips will help keep them totally safe:

Dorms have resident advisors, older college students, grad students or staff that live on each floor or in each section of the dorm. These resident advisors are there to help sort out issues between residents, and keep the dorm safe. If your student has an issue with their roommate or a fellow student in the dorm that they cannot work out themselves, they should talk to the resident advisor.
Avoid walking alone long distances, especially at night. All colleges have excellent security departments that will escort students at night from the library to their dormitory. Most colleges have brightly lit phones that students can use to summon the security to them. Students should not be ashamed to ask for help from security. That is what security is hired to do.
Females are at extra risk, but all students should be aware of date rape drugs. Students who drink alcohol, and most students do, should get their own drinks from people that they know well or the bartender, and not leave their drinks sitting on a table when they walk away. Date rape drugs can not be tasted in alcohol, and it is better to pay for another drink, than be unsure of what is in the one you have.
If a student goes on a date with someone that they have just met, they should set up a safety call with a good friend. Tell that friend if they don’t call, then the friend should call security. This is a good system to keep safe in new situations.
Students should trust their instincts. If they feel that a situation is not safe, then they are probably right.

Staying Healthy and What to Do if You are Sick

Going to college is much more rigorous than high school, as it should be. To do your best in school, it is important to stay healthy. This means eating right, getting exercise, and plenty of sleep. Although dorm food is much, much better than it was even ten years ago, it can be difficult to eat healthily when you are at school.

Encourage your incoming college freshman to focus on eating fresh food, a lot of fruit and vegetables, and keeping carbohydrates at a minimum. Eating a lean diet with protein and fresh produce will keep energy up, and your student will avoid gaining the freshman ten.

Getting regular exercise will refresh the mind, and body, and control stress levels. College students can exercise on their own, or join an intramural team and meet others with the same interest.

If a student does get sick enough to miss class, most schools will insist that they go to their medical center to get seen by a doctor or physician’s assistant. In this way, college is a little more like work, professors will need to see a doctor’s note if too much classes are missed.

Legal Issues at College

Most students start college when they are 18 years old or older. This means that they are a legal adult in most parts of the world. Being an adult legally means that you have adult responsibilities legally, and while that gives a student many privileges, it also can mean more severe consequences for bad behavior.

Research the local laws regarding age of majority in the locality where you live, and where your college freshman will be spending his college life.

College is a Learning Experience

College is a learning experience for both parents and students. By preparing incoming college freshman for their new life at college, they will have a happier, and more fulfilling college career.

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