If your kid is going to school in a large city with public transportation, some subway or bus cards. My kid in NYC is always really grateful for these.

Or, a gift certificate to Megabus or a similar company for a bus/plane ticket home or so the student can visit a major city an hour away.

And, of course, the famous pre-paid Visa card so she can spend her heart out at the bookstore

A gift box of her favorite (late night) snacks/drinks

An iTunes gift card. Kids seem to need music plugged into their ears while they study these days.

SHOWER SHOES!

oooh or a body pillow

A 'husband' pillow -- you know, the kind that's a backrest. Also, school banners and flags, and anything with the school mascot/logo on them.

A nice robe

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mini fridge.

Lots of schools sell these for $25 at the beginning of the year, recycling these from departing seniors. Most are in good shape, at least if your kid gets to the sale early. The best part is, you don't have to fit a mini-fridge into your wagon/SUV with the tons of other stuff headed for college.

When our power went out for two weeks, we bought a mini-fridge to hook up to the generator. I still use it upstairs for bottle water, soda, etc. It is invaluable. All of my graduation gifts (to those who want it) will be the mini-fridge. It pays for itself in convenience alone.

I agree a fridge is invaluable and convenient, no argument here. But for the college student, is it more convenient to get this invaluable fridge from the college Environmental Club's recycling sale, or to shlepp it up in the car with the boxes of sweaters?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mini fridge.

Lots of schools sell these for $25 at the beginning of the year, recycling these from departing seniors. Most are in good shape, at least if your kid gets to the sale early. The best part is, you don't have to fit a mini-fridge into your wagon/SUV with the tons of other stuff headed for college.

When our power went out for two weeks, we bought a mini-fridge to hook up to the generator. I still use it upstairs for bottle water, soda, etc. It is invaluable. All of my graduation gifts (to those who want it) will be the mini-fridge. It pays for itself in convenience alone.

Anonymous wrote:Mini fridge.

Lots of schools sell these for $25 at the beginning of the year, recycling these from departing seniors. Most are in good shape, at least if your kid gets to the sale early. The best part is, you don't have to fit a mini-fridge into your wagon/SUV with the tons of other stuff headed for college.

Underbed storage boxes are very helpful, 'tho they don't make for a very festive birthday gift. If your DD is going to school in a cold-weather climate, she might love flannel sheets. And a more sentimental suggestion -- framed family photos. To my surprise, my sons and their roommates actually liked displaying these little touches of home.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A nice, warm comforter.

And a really good pillow. Not the ones that are 2 for $5!

Mattress toppers! These are about $100 but they go a long way towards mitigating the effects of that 2"-thick dorm mattress.

Also, decent quality sheets. Your kid certainly doesn't need the 700-thread count Egyptian sheets. But sets like Bed, Bath & Beyond's "Bed in a Bag" feature really itchy, uncomfortable sheets that will look like half the other sheets on the hall floor. So get some decent sheets on sale. First, though, check sheet sizes - many, but not all, college dorm mattresses are "twin extra long."

A power strip and extension cord

Check the dorm's rules on electrical appliances first.

Then, an electric teakettle is a great thing for a tea drinker to have - my DD has one in her dorm room. Cuisinart has an electric tea kettle that you can program for different water temperatures, depending on whether you need boiling water (black tea, ramen) or lower temps (green tea). Then we got her a selection of loose teas, like jasmine, ginger-ginseng for colds, black teas for the morning, and such.

For coffee, there are some cute machines that make 1-2 cups. I'd skip the Keurig because of the expense of buying the pods, unless you plan to keep your kid well-stocked in Keurig pods. Dunkin Donuts sells a bag of ground coffee for $8 or so, which lasts a while and which most kids can probably afford.

Ditto on the tool kit recommendation - someone gave one to DD and it's been invaluable.

Printers are cheap these days. You can get a perfectly good $70 printer, or a $200 printer that does PDFs. Just be sure to tell your kid not to let everyone on the floor use it, or at least to start a pool where people contribute for using the printer, because printer ink is expensive.

Anonymous wrote:A nice, warm comforter.

And a really good pillow. Not the ones that are 2 for $5!