There are very few times in life where you’re stuck living with complete strangers in a box-sized room on a floor with complete strangers living in similar box-sized rooms in a building with complete strangers living in box-sized rooms on different floors. The adjustment can be rough. Having the right electronics can help, as this guide from BMW of Freehold shows.
Laptop Computer. You want your college student to be able to send you emails, don’t you? Although universities are equipped with state of the art computer labs, having your own laptop computer for doing research and other school work makes the academic adjustment easier. Laptops are also a good way to spend a quiet evening watching movies or playing games (as opposed to loud evenings doing what college students do). Laptops, as you know, don’t work without a power source, so be sure to include a surge protector to plug it into along with an Ethernet cord in case your kid’s dorm room isn’t equipped with wireless. (Although, a college dorm not equipped with wireless might be grounds for transferring to a different school.)
TV/DVD Combo. There’s only so many hours a day that your little baby can spend studying, going to class, reading, and writing home. If the aforementioned laptop isn’t in the budget or doesn’t have the capabilities for DVD viewing, consider a TV/DVD combo. They’re inexpensive and portable. Portable DVD players come with a rechargeable battery, but battery life is limited. The last thing your homesick college student needs is for the power source to cut off right when E.T. is about to phone home, so it’s a good idea to include a power cord and an extension cord.
Music Devices. Remember when you moved into a dorm room years ago and had to lug up boxes full of 8-tracks/cassettes/albums/CDs? Remember how you wanted to rock out to some Manilow but were afraid the entire floor would make fun of you and beat you with soap wrapped in a pillow case if you did? Those college inconveniences are a thing of the past. Chances are your kid has an iPod or mp3 player loaded with music that makes you want to beat yourself with soap wrapped in a pillow case. What he or she might not have is a nice pair of noise-canceling headphones that fit into the music player or the DVD player. Dorm rooms can be noisy. Sometimes an escape from the noise that doesn’t involve leaping from a third-story window is a plus.
Miscellaneous Electronics. You don’t want to see all the pictures your kid takes with the digital camera he brings to college, but you will want pictures of him doing things that aren’t entirely stupid. It might also be a good idea if Junior cracks open a book on occasion. Book opening becomes more effective when accompanied with light, so feel free to mix in a desk lamp or one of those bed lamps that clips on to the head board (to enable studying by osmosis once he falls asleep after three minutes of reading).
Before embarking on a pre-college electronics shopping spree, check with the school on dorm room policies. Your kid may also want to speak to his roommate, before they’re arguing about snoring and leaving boxers or the floor by day four of college.
