Off to College!

The next few days will see thousands of cars, trucks, vans, and rental trailers pull up to college dormitories….and be unloaded into student rooms. The Director of Residential Life at the University of Missouri-Columbia says today’s college students want to have the comforts of home in their dormitory rooms. But Frankie Minor says there are two things students should make sure they bring along—that many forget. One is a power strip with surge protector. He says students are taking 20 to 25 electrical appliances to their rooms—which were built long enough ago that they might have only two outlets. And Minor suggests packing a small tool kit–which might seem unusual—until the student needs a pair of pliers or a screw driver. What NOT to take—generally, pets. There might be some variations, campus to campus, but generally no dogs…no cats….no birds. Fish are sometimes okay, maybe gerbils or hamsters or non-venomous snakes. But he says it’s good to check with the roommate and with others on the same floor first. One other thing some students have to go out and get after they get to campus the first time—an alarm clock. And something that students often have to learn to use—an iron and ironing board.