Important Conversations

Below are important conversations to have as a family before college begins.

Student Safety

• Encourage your student to always travel in groups or use a campus escort service after dark or early in the morning. He or she should never take short-cuts, jog, or walk alone at night.

• Encourage your student to share his or her class schedule and phone list with you and other friends.

• Help your child study the area around the campus and the college neighborhood. Identify potentially dangerous areas and where the campus emergency phones are located.

Tips for Students Living in Residence Halls

• Remind your student that he or she should always lock doors and windows at night.

• Remind your student not to leave valuables such as wallets, laptops or ATM cards in plain sight.

• Encourage your student to get to know his or her neighbors and not to be shy about reporting strangers who are loitering and/or engaged in illegal activities.

Healthy Advice for College Students

• Make sure your student knows his or her medical history. Make a written list that includes inoculations, hospitalizations, allergies and diseases.

• Make a list of your student's existing medications and medication schedule. Get extra prescriptions and identify a pharmacy near the school for refills.

• Make sure your student has health insurance. He or she should have an insurance card and understand when to use it. This insurance should be over and above what's covered by the student health service.

• Encourage your student to visit the school's health facilities whenever he or she feels sick, physically or emotionally. Discuss the importance of preventative care and counseling services.

• If your student has a chronic illness, find a local specialist before classes begin in case of an emergency.

• Send a small medical kit with your student to college that includes band-aids, gauze tape, thermometer, aspirin and/or ibuprofen, antacid and anything else that specially applies to his or her medical needs.

• Discuss the symptoms of the common cold and flu and how to treat them. Stress that if your student has a temperature of more than 101 degrees for more than a day, he/she needs to go to the student health center.

• Stress that many illnesses in college are directly related to lack of sleep. Pulling "all-nighters" and not getting enough sleep aren't helpful to good health or good grades. Headaches are often a signal of too much stress.

• Talk to your student about sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) such as HIV, herpes, chlamydia, syphilis, gonorrhea, and hepatitis. Students who practice unsafe sex stand a good chance of contracting one (or more) of these diseases.

Student Finances

• Develop a budget prior to school starting and stress the importance of maintaining that budget.

• Help your student create a plan to handle everyday expenses.

• Determine who will supply the spending money and how frequently it will be sent. Discuss what will happen if your student runs short of money.

• Establish a bank account in the town where your student will be studying. Find one that has a good relationship with the school and with students. If your student has a checking account for the first time, teach him or her how to set up and maintain a checkbook.

• Make sure your student understands how to use a credit card in relation to his or her budget.

• Emphasize that proper use of a credit card can help your student establish a good credit history.

• Remind your student that over-charges and late or missed payments can cause severe damage his/her child's credit rating.