<p>The only time we came to help D move in or leave school was the original move in and the last move out at graduation time. She was lucky in that her dorm had storage areas so the kids didn’t have to schlep everything back home after the end of the school year.</p>
<p>She is so lucky that she graduated before the strict regulations on baggage were in force!</p>
<p>My son, at college 3000 miles away, handles end of the year storage and heading home on his own. We flew out with him for freshman convocation and move in and that has been it. He is now a junior and just had to move out of his dorm and store most of his stuff for 6 months since he is studying abroad now. I did give him the name of a storage place that I had priced. But in him handling this on his own, I now have no idea what he has out there and the condition of his clothing, linens and bedding etc. After sophomore year I decided to tell him to donate his towels and comforter and bought him replacements to go back with at the beginning of junior year. We pay for an extra bag when he flies out at the start of the year and back at the end.</p>
<p>When I was in college I was dropped off and picked up every year (car ride away). H was a plane ride away and always stored things for the summer. I know that my kids (both a car ride away) <em>can</em> and would do this themselves if they had no other choice, but we do enjoy helping out with end of the year moving. Maybe because it’s one of the times we still come in really handy! But if logistics dictated and I was a plane ride away AND it was easy/affordable for me to take the time to do it, I probably would. Sometimes what happens is that there’s little time between finals and needing to be completely out of the dorms/housing - it can be a challenge.</p>
<p>I go to school about 15 hours away by car, and drive down with a friend just for safety. They help me move my crap into my apartment, and then my parents pay to fly them home. My parents did it the first year in the Carolina sunshine-never again for them!
My parents certainly didn’t want to move my crap in and my friends are more than happy to help and go on a mini road trip.</p>
<p>When I first read this my reply was:</p>
<p>No they ALWAYS bring back more PEOPLE than they left with!!!</p>
<p>Seriously. My home is shrinking and shrinking!!</p>
<p>Went with daughter that is 3000 miles away for initial move-in, we all flew but after that she has done it all on her own. She graduates next month and she is handling all the move-out stuff and fly home. Both sons I moved-in and move-out every year. Put their stuff in storage or bring back home for the summer or for older son’s leave time. He gets a month usually in the summer. So they move the heavy stuff, and pack and I SUPERVISE. (or as sons’ say boss them around!!)</p>
<p>And the deciding factor on my schlepping them around is whether I want to visit their campus or not. Both son’s attend schools I love to visit. I love to explore their campuses and surrounding areas. Daughter also agrees, she loves to visit her brothers. The day after she arrives home she is up leaving to visit both of them until they get sick of her and ship her home!!</p>
<p>I have enjoyed spending the time and all the fun we have had setting up all their stuff and meeting all their friends, attending ball games and meeting up with other parents we have gotten to know. For spring break the kiddos got all their roomies and friends and the rest of us here at home (including their friends from home) all met up at Walt Disney World for a week. There was more than 20 of us. It was a blast!! </p>
<p>So needless to say they are all waiting for us to make our way up there for move-out. The party has already been planned. Several of their friends from home will be travelling up there with their trucks so it will be easier and more hands to lift heavy stuff. So I won’t have to drive, I’ll just go with one of them.</p>
<p>They spend more time socializing and everyone gets to meet each other when they have spent so much hearing about the others. It has made for some interesting friendships, to say the least!!!</p>
<p>Between my 5 kiddos and all their friends its ALWAYS a party with us!!!</p>
<p>I was always so sad that they were leaving for school but now that they are all coming home (one by one) and bringing more friends with them I am in HEAVEN!!!</p>
<p>I have 3 weeks left and have been re-arranging beds so I can sleep more bodies. I am sooooo excited, been waiting 4 long years for them to all start coming home AGAIN!!</p>
<p>YESSSSSSSS!!!</p>
<p>Kat
my shoe is gonna be soooo small!!!</p>
<p>I think it depends on your family dynamic. My H takes his job seriously of driving S1 to college each fall, then bringing him and all the stuff back this time of year. S has no car at school, is graduating too, but H does this every year.</p>
<p>After soph year, S stayed on campus to do research. Had friends help him move to summer housing. H went back in the fall alone to help move S to school year housing, both on campus. It is his thing. I know better than to comment or complain. Will start routine w/ S2 this fall.</p>
<p>We moved S home after freshman year (left a lot of stuff in relatives’ basement outside the city). The moving our of his city campus is really hard and requires not just parents but extra hands as well. That year he was on crutches post-surgery, too. After soph year he stayed in his place, so no moving necessary. He keeps the place this year, too, which is good since after we moved him in this past fall we said he better stay there forever because we were through with the moving. Until next May… With D we helped with all the moves since it was only a 4 hour car ride away and we didn’t mind helping. Our kids have cats, which adds another dimension. (D’s was legal, WildChild’s not so much…)</p>
<p>At the end of S’s freshman year he handled getting a storeage place w/o contacting us. Shared the cost with some other students and a junior with a vehicle provided the transport.</p>
<p>This year S (now a soph) has found and rented an apartment starting at a time when he can move his stuff into the apartment before the dorms close.</p>
<p>His stuff, his job.</p>
<p>Timely thread…
DH is planning to go out and get S1 (10.5 hour drive), load up some stuff and haul him to Boston, where he has a research gig (but no place to stay yet). He can leave some stuff in storage in his dorm. I suspect he had way more than he needed in his room this year, so we may be bringing some stuff home permanently (unless S2 hauls it off himself in a year). The big question is whether S1 can leave his bookcase there. If he can, that measn we don’t need to take the minivan! </p>
<p>We like going out to see his campus and the area, so I don’t begrudge the trip.</p>
<p>DH and I each did the move-out thing ourselves, though we were both able to leave most stuff on campus.</p>
<p>DH and I helped S1 and S2 move into the dorms when each was a freshman. Haven’t lifted a finger since. S1 moved from dorm to home ( first summer) to college apt. to off campus house and will shortly be moving to apt. again on his own. S2 will move from dorm to off campus house next month. They both have pick-ups trucks at their (instate) schools and friends to help out.</p>
<p>The fact that my school is instate often makes little difference…it’s about an 8-hour drive from my hometown. Yay California! :)</p>
<p>Usually, though, we stop in Modesto on our way to & from my school. We have family there and it’s about 2 hours from school, so it’s a nice place to rest both ways. Winter Break a friend and I drove to Modesto, stayed the night, and drove all the way to LA County the next morning. :)</p>
<p>I could probably move out on my own. The only reason I really will enjoy having my parents there is because they don’t get to see my campus often, I miss having them around, and because I can’t fit my bike in my car.</p>
<p>Our family dynamic is the same as The Mom. We do the pick-up and drop-off every year. School is only an hour away. S doesn’t have a car. The first two years, everything fit in our car. His third year he moved off campus and we rented a U-Haul because of the furniture, which basically came out of his room at home and will go back into his room at home this summer. He usually gets rides with friends for holidays but his stuff wouldn’t fit for move-in and move-out. Younger one will be six hours away, but treatment will be the same. H loves road trips and likes helping people move too. It brings back memories of his youth. I expect he will be pitching in at every move they make, even after college, as long as they let him. I frankly enjoy the cleaning. Very satisfying to clean an empty place, either coming or going.</p>
<p>Yes, H does the college dropoff/pickup because he wants to. Will add that it is a 14 hour drive to S1’s school and will be only an 8 hour drive next fall for S2. Personally, I don’t want to spend that much time driving, but he doesn’t mind it at all. He enjoys the time alone w/the each boy, so I just step back and let him go. Oh, and he doesn’t let anyone else help drive. What can I say???</p>
<p>Our son is only an hour away, so the first year, I picked him up. He and his roommates did all the moving. After the first year, he has had a car on campus, so he does all the moving in and out himself.</p>
<p>Since S went to college 3000 miles away, he handled it all himself, every year. I don’t ask the details so I avoid stress.
We helped move D with a car freshman year and again helped her move out at graduation. She was 500 miles away. She handled it herself in interim years.</p>
<p>My parents moved me in and out all 4 years. I was only 1 hour from home.</p>
<p>DS is 5 hours from home. We moved him in and out freshman year, and in again the beginning of this (soph) year. But now he has a car on campus. Whether or not we help him to get home depends on how much stuff he has to bring home. We thought we were going to have to go to campus with the SUV because he can’t fit his stuff and his fridge in his rather small car. But it turns out he’s living in his frat house next year, so he might be able to store some stuff there and not have to bring it home, so we might not have to pick him up after all.</p>
<p>Haven’t read all of this thread, so forgive if this is a repeat.
My dad drove 5 hours to pick me up sophomore year. It was raining. I had about 1/2 of my stuff in suitcases and such and the rest was just all over the room. Dad had to carry everything down 2 flights of stairs (sorority girls chiming “Man on the floor” all the way) and try to load the pick-up. I don’t remember what I was doing (hugging the seniors good-by?)
He never said a word about it.<br>
It was his one and only “Qualifies for Sainthood” moment in 18 years of short-tempered “toe the line” parenting. Next time I’m home I’ll have to ask why…</p>
<p>This year, D is staying near her school for her summer internship. I’m trusting that she, her friends, and her boyfriend will be able to get everything moved to her summer apt. She’s been pretty OCD about her “stuff” and brought a bunch of stuff home at Christmas that she said she didn’t need anymore.</p>
<p>Her younger sister already called “dibs” on the entire cargo space of our mini-van. Ha…D2 offered to ride the 7 hrs to college in her sister’s car (“Shotgun!”), so that we’d have more room for more stuff in the van. haha. I told her that wouldn’t be necessary, sis is coming home at the beginning of the summer for a visit, not at the end. 
Back in the dinosaur ages, it was the annual event for my mom to take me/bring me home from school, but that was only 2 hrs away…</p>
<p>After frosh year move in our son moved off campus and handled all room logistics by himself. Maybe because we began gradually cutting the cord in 6th grade. By hs senior year we allowed him to attend overnite coed parties weekends. We knew the friend he socalized with and we relatively comfortable with the decision knowing that in a few months he would be totally on his own in college with students we knew nothing about.</p>