Reply to Practical Advice for the Parents of Rising College Freshman

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Well the applications have been reviewed and my DC is excited about one of his choices and is about to put a deposit on his choice.  So now it is time to think about how we manage the practicalities of his college years.  I wecome advice on what parents of a new college Freshman should know such as:

How do we decide which meal plan--set number of meals per week, Flex Dollars, or a combination?
My DC will have personal expenses in addition to tuition., books, room and board--how is reasonable for us to contribute and how should we do so
Should we add our son to a credit card?
How do we continue to get access to his academic performance in real time?  And Should we?
What other practical advice would you give us? [/quote]

Professor here.

Meal Plan: if you can afford it, get a larger one first semester and scale back later. The kids are always hungry. Flex dollars are helpful and allow them to switch plans to eat with friends and at different locations (which helps socially).

[/quote]

Disagree with the meal plan advice. Check with your university and see how their meal plan works before making a decision. At my daughter's school, you can NOT scale back. The meal plan you pick at the beginning of the year is the one you're stuck with for A YEAR unless you want to go bigger. Advice at our school is to buy the smallest and you can always increase it. You cannot, however, go smaller until sophomore year.

Join your child's college parents' Facebook group. They can be a solid source of experienced advice for you regarding your kid's college. Of course there is some disagreement on things, but you can usually figure out the majority opinion on best dorm (if choosing is an option), best meal plan, whether most kids have cars, how much they spend, which clubs their kids enjoy, etc. Joining the parents' FB page was the best decision for me. My daughter is a junior and I still find it valuable. Good luck.[/quote]

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