Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:FWIW. Get up early. Drive. Unload stuff. Quixk check to see if need an ergency Target run. Hugs all around. Then a nice dinner and hotel for the parents. Leave next morning, without going back to dorm.

This ^^

Agree completely.

Anonymous wrote:FWIW. Get up early. Drive. Unload stuff. Quixk check to see if need an ergency Target run. Hugs all around. Then a nice dinner and hotel for the parents. Leave next morning, without going back to dorm.

This ^^

Our son goes to school in Louisville, which is a 10-hour drive. We did two nights. Drove one day, stayed in hotel. Unpacked for dorm the next morning. Spent the day setting up, going to Target, etc. Had dinner with him and said goodbye. We left the next morning.

We've moved two kids into the dorms so far--both were about a 4 hour drive away, with a scheduled move in time around 8 am.
In both cases, we drove up the day before, had a nice dinner out and then went to bed.
The next morning had breakfast and moved them into the dorm.
With kid #1 EVERYONE was moving in that day (they had staggered time slots by birth month) so it was really crazy and crowded and we were grateful to get out ASAP--plus our parking pass was only valid for about 2 hours. Then we just drove home and he was busy with all the "welcome week" activities and getting to know his roommate.

With kid #2 it was fall of 2020 and his dorm had move in staggered over the course of a week, but our kid had the first time slot. So it wasn't crowded or anything, but we were still limited on time because they wanted people to not hang around indoors.

I'd plan to arrive the day before move in, if possible.

I have 2 in college and both were given specific move in times.

We always stayed the night after move in and left the next morning. We take the kid out to breakfast and get on the road.

We do the same routine for both. One goes about 3.5 hrs away and the other goes to school in NY but luckily, their schools start a different times.

In my experience, watching my kids and their friends, most parents leave right after move in or the next day (in either event, don't definitely plan on seeing your kid after move in; they are off to make friends and get on with college life). We always stop by for one last hug, though.

We arrived late afternoon two days before move in, as we needed to spend one day picking up move-in items.

Good luck. I'm a dad, and readily admit I was ready to cry like a baby. It's very emotional, but you gotta hold it all together for the kid.

Anonymous wrote:This is our first kid and I need to book a (non-refundable) hotel ASAP. Is there an ideal number of days to arrive before the move-in day?

Do parents leave town immediately after move in? Or should you plan to spend that night in college city? I have to assume that there will be scheduled bonding activities for the students as of DAy 1 and we don't intend to interfere with that.

We've all been to this city many times so don't need to stay and "explore." We'll be driving and it's 10-11 hours drive

Depends on when your kid moves in. If it is early, then the night before. But either way, not more than 1 night, and if it is a day trip, then just do the round trip in a day. They don't want to be with you once they are in the dorms.

If they need stuff, that is what preparing beforehand is for, or Amazon.

Anonymous wrote:FWIW. Get up early. Drive. Unload stuff. Quixk check to see if need an ergency Target run. Hugs all around. Then a nice dinner and hotel for the parents. Leave next morning, without going back to dorm.

A 10-11 hour drive and then all of this? No

Anonymous wrote:FWIW. Get up early. Drive. Unload stuff. Quixk check to see if need an ergency Target run. Hugs all around. Then a nice dinner and hotel for the parents. Leave next morning, without going back to dorm.

Unless you want to leave in the middle of the night, it is not possible to drive 10 hours, unload stuff, and make a target run, all before dinner. And leaving in the middle of the night and doing that all in one day is a recipe for everyone being short tempered.

Does your DC's school have any family orientation programming? I'd check on that with admissions. Our DC's college does that. We moved our DC in on a Wednesday afternoon, there are separate student and family orientations on Thursday (so you only see them that day for dinner, if you choose), and then a goodbye breakfast on Friday. Then, ugly cry off and on during the drive home.

Anonymous wrote:FWIW. Get up early. Drive. Unload stuff. Quixk check to see if need an ergency Target run. Hugs all around. Then a nice dinner and hotel for the parents. Leave next morning, without going back to dorm.

Depends on the school. My DC's large state school assigned move-in times to control the numbers. If your DC's move-in time is early in the day, you'll have to leave the day before if it's a 10 hour drive. So I agree with PP who says stay two nights.

Anonymous wrote:Given that it will take all day to drive, I would arrive the day before move in day and leave the day after. So two nights in a hotel.

+1

FWIW. Get up early. Drive. Unload stuff. Quixk check to see if need an ergency Target run. Hugs all around. Then a nice dinner and hotel for the parents. Leave next morning, without going back to dorm.

Given that it will take all day to drive, I would arrive the day before move in day and leave the day after. So two nights in a hotel.

This is our first kid and I need to book a (non-refundable) hotel ASAP. Is there an ideal number of days to arrive before the move-in day?

Do parents leave town immediately after move in? Or should you plan to spend that night in college city? I have to assume that there will be scheduled bonding activities for the students as of DAy 1 and we don't intend to interfere with that.

We've all been to this city many times so don't need to stay and "explore." We'll be driving and it's 10-11 hours drive