<p>Thanks for the advice, everyone. I am happy to read about the HSA as I know him (and he was at boarding school and never figured it out-- strange, he wants to do Math 55 but can’t figure out how to do laundry to save his life–I hope he becomes rich or finds a mate who has the desire to be a “mom” as well…). I suppose I could say “no way you have to do it”-- but he is a boy and probably wouldn’t care until someone else complained (sigh…)</p>
<p>Glad to read about the bookshelf as that was the one thing I figured would be not pleasant dragging up stairs. Now to find a extra long topper-- or he will have to have his feet off the end!</p>
<p>Etondad, Target carries XL Twin Mattress Toppers, you can order it online and have it shipped to his dorm in August or go to Somerville Target and pick one up when you are there.</p>
<p>Regarding Laundry and speaking as a woman,…do your son and his future partner a favor and make him learn how to do laundry! He will do it eventually when his clothes get dirty enough. Its a good life skill! Just sayin! :)</p>
<p>^^thx. It is even worse than laundry. He will not infrequently not recall if he had eaten–and if so, what he had. all of his socks are black and he has all of his shirts come in two different colors bc both go with khakis or jeans. </p>
<p>Luckly for him he wore a uniform for his secondary school but now he could be all lost if he and we hadn’t decided to make stuff idiot-proof.</p>
<p>But we’ll try the do your laundry for at least as long as his mother can stand it! :)</p>
<p>We bought the x-long topper at Bed Bath and Beyond (with a coupon of course.) I highly recommend Bank of America - they are convenient to the Yard and everywhere in Boston. They give a nice student package - free checking, credit card, etc. Also, you may want to think about bed risers to store stuff so that stuff can be stored under the bed.</p>
<p>YAY, here! DD just finished her last exam of senior year! Juggled apartment hunting, lease-signing, and moving and storage company reservations with studying. We’re both exhausted and ready to celebrate! Wish they had a senior week for parents!</p>
<p>Re: Banking, etc., D had a good experience with Bank of America. She could use the branches on her travels and at home easily. I second the motion to teach Etondad’s son how to do laundry–it may be a decade until he settles down with a woman, and the liklihood of said young lass, or any other partner, assuming his laundry duties is low. (Possibly after the babies come if she’s home anyway?)</p>
<p>My S just emailed me about one of the House’s recent housing videos (this is for Pfho). It is ROTFL funny—You Tube: Hitler gets his housing assignment.</p>
<p>As EAO mentioned, etondad, Target was the place. I had my daughter make a list and then at Parent Weekend we took a taxi to Target and got everything. </p>
<p>When they get hungry and dirty enough and they’ll get things done. I adhere to Rousseau’s philosophy. BTW my daughter says dozens of tourists took pictures of them crossing the Yard to do their laundry. I think it got to be a contest to see who could stay out of photos.</p>
<p>We were most comfortable getting banking account setup before D arrived on campus to know all was “functional” before arriving on campus. There is alot to deal with when you arrive so one less thing to do and I wanted to know she couldn’t run out of funds. Also a good idea to get an emergency credit card if you can swing it for your child.</p>
<p>Something that we did that worked out very well for our family, since we live in California, is to order my son’s bedding supplies, towels, shower caddies, etc… from Overstock.com. It only cost $2.95 to ship, the prices were great and when we arrived at Harvard everything was waiting for us in the science center. We just borrowed a cart from H and easily transported his boxes to his dorm. Also, Staples for school supplies and Target.</p>
<p>Guitars101–Yes, I have been making a list at overstock.com. Looks like a great solution. I was going to ship to family in the area, but it is good to know that I can ship directly to Harvard. </p>
<p>I’m interested in hearing from experienced parents about what students need for personal expenses. Harvard’s website estimates $3,350, which I think includes books. Once you throw in laundry, incidentals, cell phone, an occasional pizza or ice cream, etc., how accurate is that figure? Do you find that your students spend more or less than that? </p>
<p>Feel free to accuse me of penuriousness, but we give our daughter $1000 per semester for books and personal expenses and she has not spent the full amount in any of her four semesters so far. We cover her cell phone under our family plan, but the other items you list are her responsibility. She is not interested in clothes or acquiring things so this is manageable for her. She prefers to spend her disposable income on experiences whether it is going to Chinatown for dim sum or Harvard’s discounted tickets to the Boston Ballet.</p>
<p>“My S just emailed me about one of the House’s recent housing videos (this is for Pfho). It is ROTFL funny—You Tube: Hitler gets his housing assignment.”</p>
<p>etondad - my D had sent us the link for this earlier this year and it is hysterical! We have watched it several times.</p>
<p>if your child come home from school one day and said that all the local scholarships foundation that he/she applied to won’t give him/her any money cuz he/she received quite a lot of money from H already? D just found out from school counselor. D was upset at first cuz she put a lot of effort and time applying to those local scholarships. And when she applied, its not like she knew that she will be accepted to H. Her FA consist of parent contribution, student contribution and term-time job. D was hoping to get enough scholarship to at least cover her term-time job for the first year but alas no help there. A couple other classmate had the same deal. Its strange because this never happen a few years ago or even last year. So this is the first time that scholarships are given to kids who probably will get more than they need. We already know of a few who basically has either 0 contribution or just their efc. D is so over the “small town” mentality but she did say, “oh well, I got into Hahvard.” :)</p>
<p>^ That’s the reverse scenario to having your aid reduced by the amount of outside scholarships you’ve received. The idea is laudable - trying to spread aid around to those who need it most - but it would have certainly been nice to let applicants know up front if there’s a threshold on the amount of aid that would make them ineligible for the scholarship.</p>
<p>D2 looked at applying for one scholarship and was told that her GPA was too high - students with > 3.5 GPAs were ineligible! Again, kind of strange, but I can understand the donor’s interest in spreading the aid around.</p>
<p>The same thing just happened to my S who will be a freshman in the fall. My D received money as her school does not have as strong a finaid program as Harvard. I was a little let down as we really did need to extra to close the gap. The commitee wrote on the rejection letter that they are trying to help some families that did not qualify for as much aid. Oh well…</p>