Thank you all - these are incredibly helpful suggestions. I’m taking notes!!
In keeping with posts about food - I would recommend cutting down on the meal plan if possible. D generally only ate once a day in a dining hall. In fact- she hasn’t had a meal plan since freshman year- and buying her own food works out cheaper for us. Of course, she is in the city - so there are a million options, this could be more challenging in a more isolated campus
Check with your program regarding “required” dance/studio wear BEFORE you buy it. last year, Wright State switched to all black for every dance and studio class (yep, acting too). Some kids didn’t find out until after they’d cut the tags and washed all their newly-purchased college wardrobe items.
Those of you who are accustomed to Amazon Prime, BB&B, etc. may already be aware of this option (I wasn’t): just yesterday I found out there is an Amazon pick-up/drop-ff location a block away from Cincinnati’s CCM campus. I picked up brochure (made of actual paper with complete sentences printed inside) that outlined their services (they’ll hold items for 14 days) and they offer a 60-day (?) trial for Amazon Prime “Student” version - may be something to look into. Also, under construction across the street, is a brand new “urban” Target store (looks nearly complete from the outside). I’m not sure how this translates to other campuses, but for CCM it couldn’t get easier.
You may want to invest in some sort of lockbox/locker type thing for valuable items. In S’s freshman dorm, nobody locked their doors (it was a 24/7 roving swarm of theater kids, as far as I could tell) and roommate “lost” his key multiple times throughout the year. A few valuable items disappeared. Not sure S would have thought to lock up the dress shoes, though.
^^One of S classmates had her LaDuca’s stolen last year! I just dropped D2 off for CMU’s summer program and emphasized USING the LOCK we purchased for her dance locker. CMU provides lockers right outside studios for kids to keep their dance clothing and miscellaneous other items. The year D1 attended, she said people would just leave their bags, unlocked, in the lockers. Apparently some laptops walked off last summer.
I second whoever mentioned checking about dance wear and dress code for acting classes. Hartt has a pretty strict all blacks policy for acting classes and I think also for Ballet, but is looser for tap and jazz dance classes.
Re: dance wear and dress code - you can do your best to inquire in advance, but sometimes even that doesn’t do it. D had a dance instructor sophomore year who waited until the first class to advise everybody that cotton dance clothes were unacceptable class attire! He wanted “shiny stage wear.” The alleged idea was tor them to learn what looked good in auditions, etc. - I suppose this was part of the almost constant drilling on auditioning in every single class at CAP 21. Some of these kids are working their way through school and weren’t happy to have to go out and buy new stuff. One idea: Discount Dance Supply, an online company - they’ve saved the day more than once, and the prices are great.
Again, on the subject of “locking up your valuables”. If your kid is like mine, you’ll get “the eye-roll” when you “advise” locking stuff up. Despite our best warnings, S felt that WSU was “above all that”. The kids tend to think that no one would want their stuff. We as parents know how much stuff costs - sometimes they have no clue and think that because these things were “handed” to me, they must be handed to everyone else as well and therefor have “no value” to others. Someone else mentioned stolen LaDucas. Here’s S’s dance shoe story:
S spent a large part of his formative years at CCM Prep. Towards the end of the year, signs were prominently posted in the dance wing stating something to the effect of, “Remove all items from lockers. Locks will be cut off on X date”. As we were driving home from WSU at end of sophomore year (an hour away), S remembered that he hadn’t emptied his dance locker. I said he better drive up there tomorrow and go get his stuff, “They’ll cut the locks off”. He said, “they’re not like CCM. WSU doesn’t DO that”. Hah! Two weeks later he went back and found that the locks had been cut off and everyone’s remaining items were in a pile in the Theater office. S got back his dance belts, dance wear and worn-out ballet shoes. What was missing? - the Jason Samuels Smith tap shoes and the hip men’s raincoat. He had the pleasure of paying for their replacements.
Oh, and it only takes “a minute” for your bike to disappear - even if you leave it right outside the library door and just run in to pick something up.
I just ordered a 3 pack of Masterlocks from Amazon 
Don’t forget the laptop lock to chain the laptop to the desk…my older D used it for 4 years at NYU, then MT D used it for her 2 years in the dorms at Molloy/CAP 21. Apparently, nobody locks their dorm room doors anymore, and laptops can grow wings and fly. D’s brand-new cell phone was stolen at an off-campus party sophomore year – she “just put it down for a second.” Even with phone insurance, it was an expensive lesson!
Wow this is really eye opening. I hadn’t even thought about the issue of theft. D has two pairs of LaDucas she will be taking with her and I would be furious if they “disappeared”. Locks and locking trunk are now added to our shopping list!
I also bought a small lockbox for things my daughtermight need while there like her SSN card.
@sopranomtmom - I should insure the LaDucas; they’re more expensive than the cell phone, LOL!
My D and roommates rented a storage unit the summer after freshman year as they could not move into their apartment until August. My D could fit all but her bike so she stored it at a friend’s apartment close to campus. Well, the apartment got broken into over the summer and her bike was gone never to be recovered. Apparently, this is very common. Breaking into college student apartments over the summer months is more common than one would wish. The only thing of value not taken was my D’s friend’s laptop because out of impulse, he had stuffed it under his mattress as he didn’t need it for his overseas trip. Another roommate in the same house did not have anything missing as he remembered to lock us his room. For whatever reason, the thieves decided not to mess with it and try to open it. Police investigated but nothing was recovered and the kids found it this was not at all unusual on college campuses, sadly.
If you’re going to rent a storage unit, please make sure all the stuff to be stored is in plastic totes. Some of D’s friends used a storage unit over the summer and the storage place had a sprinkler malfunction – a lot of their stuff was ruined by the water because it was in cardboard boxes.
Trust me, I know how trusting our kids can be. If they are opposed to locks and lock boxes, I would certainly suggest that they at least put things out of sight when they leave valuable stuff in their rooms. Dorm room thefts are basically acts of convenience, so making it harder for them to just grab and run helps a lot.
Kids may not want to say that they don’t trust their new roommate, but I have always stressed that you don’t know about the roommate’s friends that will be in and out of the room!
My son has a file cabinet with a locking drawer with room for bigger things… his camera, etc.
Any 2019’ers still hanging around? I cannot believe they’re JUNIORS!
Holy moly mother of pearl!! How did that happen so quickly?
I also came here to humble brag and to lay this bit of info in here in case some new parents or kids are doing some backreading … everyone in this thread probably knows how crazy my D’s audition season was. Basically, get knocked 10, get back up 11 … oh and make sure one of those times when you’re knocked down, you’re at Millikin at the dance audition and you break your foot. :))
She has grown SO MUCH in the last couple of years … so much so in fact that she’s starting her junior year off with leads in not one, but TWO mainstage, faculty directed musicals. I think I cried like a baby when she called with this second casting - and I fully expect to sit in the audience and ugly cry too. She’s come so far and worked so hard - she definitely doesn’t deserve this. But she totally earned it.
Dreams people, don’t give them up. :-h
WOW congrats to you both!! Mine is a Senior?! How is that possible?
Yay! @KaMaMom That’s amazing! I love to hear about our CC kids thriving… especially after dicey audition seasons! So glad to be on the good side of that. Now we can sit back & offer sage advice to the next round of comers. What are the shows? Also, we had two Western Mich MT’s in our community theatre summer musical… I was producer/costumer. They’re both Sophomores?
My kid was not cast in any of the fall productions at WSU… because he is working in a professional production at The Human Race Theatre Company. He’s loving the experience, and because he’ll be finished 10/1, he’s excited to have lots of time remaining this fall to focus on classes & personal projects. Happy & thriving.
@MTmom2015 … 1776 & Heathers. And that’s kinda why I posted her success … she had so much (I don’t want to say failure but …) NOT success during the whole audition season, but she’s a plucky little thing who keeps her head down and works hard. She got shut out A LOT and she’s doing just fine now.
And yay for your boy!! How exciting!!! I just can’t get over that they’re all in their 3rd year (and 4th year in @bisouu 's case!) of college! This time has flown by.