First Gen American asks:
What’s in your college packing list?
My sister drove DC1 to college otherwise we would have had a different list.
I think with these there are a couple of ways to do it. You can either 1. buy the minimum and give your kid a credit card and instructions on how to use amazon/target/walmart account or 2. read all the college packing lists online and pick and choose.
Necessary items to bring:
- Summer clothing for 2 weeks of wear (include two weeks of underwear)
- Fall/Winter clothing for 1 week of wear (include coat)
- Towel
- Toothbrush/toothpaste/floss/etc.
- Credit card
- Cash
- Cellphone
- Extra long twin sheets. (Needed for night 1 and the local big box stores may be out.)
- External battery and cords
- (depending on dorm situation): A box fan. (May be needed for night 1 and the local big box stores may be out.)
Optional items that can be bought/sent as needed:
- Laptop and cords including surge protector
- School supplies.
- Bedding
- Pillow
- More towels/washcloth/etc.
- Soap: Laundry/shower/etc.
- Laundry bag/basket
- kleenex
- Flip flops for shower
- Bathrobe
- headphones
- Dress outfit for formal/semi-formal events (business casual/business also ok)
- swimsuit
- umbrella
- foldable hand-truck/cart (for getting packages from the mail room to your dorm room)
- gochujang (DC1 is out, but it costs $18 on amazon for a $4 bottle!) and other snacks
- mini-sewing kit/safety pins
- thermometer
- first aid kit
Grumpy Nation: What was necessary to bring for college?
Grumpy Rumblings (of the formerly untenured) 
June 14, 2024 at 2:43 am
The shower caddy we sent never got used.
We should have sent kid with a suit for career fairs. He has one now.
He had one Tupperware container that he used all the time which wasn’t expected.
The rest of our list was similar to your essential list.
Oh and coat Hangers. The dorm didn’t have any in the room.
My son’s roommate brought tons of food and drink. Tea bags, snacks, etc. we packed none. Although I did send packages from target periodically.
June 14, 2024 at 6:14 am
ha! Yes if you have formal clothes you will need coat hangers!
June 14, 2024 at 7:33 am
I went to college in the dark ages when Amazon only sold books. So I brought everything non-perishable I was going to need before winter break, but it was like two suitcases and a box. The college bookstore had paper goods and there was the local Kmart for everything else. Warm clothes, bedding, a computer, a bathrobe, and a laundry bag were about it! I don’t even remember if I owned an umbrella, but I do remember the bookstore selling out regularly whenever it rained hard. Mostly it snowed.
June 14, 2024 at 9:31 am
Me too! (#2 went to a driving distance school so was able to go back and forth from home as needed, whereas I went home at winter and summer breaks and my school offered very limited storage.)
June 14, 2024 at 3:03 pm
YMMV on this, but I just brought the quilt off of my bed at home, extra towels/washcloths from our bathroom, etc. It was actually kind of nice to have things that reminded me of home. Also a framed Van Gogh print.
June 14, 2024 at 3:07 pm
A very nice service my undergraduate dorm offered was, if you’d be returning next year, which I always was, you could store some stuff not needed for the summer in their basement.
If you don’t know whether yours offers that service, ask. It saved me a lot of hauling back and forth in my undergrad days
June 14, 2024 at 3:17 pm
My undergrad allowed 5 boxes. DC1’s allowed more, thankfully.
June 14, 2024 at 3:40 pm
Hmm, I don’t remember how much stuff my dorm allowed; it’s been a while (BS 1982) since I went to Purdue.
June 17, 2024 at 8:17 am
Our dorm system offered the use of a “pine box,” which was a steamer-trunk sized rough pine box with a lid. You could store as much as you could squash into it — books, clothing, bedding, athletic equipment, who knows what.