On most college campuses, students start out by living in a dorm. Many universities require students to live on-campus during their freshman year. Plenty of students also stay on in the dorms for their sophomore year, and by junior year they are ready to transition to an off-campus apartment.
On some campuses, a shortage of dorm space requires younger students to move into college apartments. Students are not only forced to adapt to life away from home, but they are also responsible for furnishing their new off-campus apartment.
Parents of college students can help make transitioning to off-campus apartment life easier for their student with these simple tips:
- Help your student furnish his or her apartment with second hand furniture from home. Surrounding themselves with familiar items can make students in apartments feel more comfortable.
- If your child doesn’t know how to cook, now is the time to pass along those simple family favorites. Teaching your son or daughter to make the “basics” in their own kitchen will help with transitioning to off-campus living.
- Suggest decorating ideas for the apartment. One of the most exciting things about moving into an off-campus apartment is the ability to create your own “space.”
- Help your student outfit the kitchen by providing duplicates from home. There’s usually no need to spend a small fortune on dishes, pots and pans or flatware. Let Mom upgrade her dishes and give the kids the old ones.
- A great housewarming gift is a box of cleaning supplies. Most students are not going to run out and buy those. Getting back the deposit when they move out will depend largely upon how clean they’ve kept their place.
With a little help from Mom and Dad, transitioning to off-campus living can be a breeze.
Do you have any other tips to help parents and students start transitioning to off-campus housing? Share your tips with us below in the comment section.
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3 Comments. Leave new
I do think living in a dorm my first year of school would have been easier, but that was not an option for me. However, with my parents help I adjusted to living on my own pretty quickly. I will say this, having my Mother purchase the first set of cleaning supplies as a “reminder” that you have to clean up after yourself now, was great!
I wish I would’ve given my daughter my old dishes so I could’ve upgraded! We did buy her new ones, but they were the malamine (sp?) kind, so they wouldn’t break easily. While we were moving her into he first off campus apartment, we did go out and buy her all the cleaning supplies (and toilet paper!) she would need for awhile…I didn’t figure she’d do this on her own with her roommates!
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