<p>Out of sight. Out of mind. </p>
<p>If she doesn’t tell anyone, and she doesn’t keep it out in the open, no one will know. I was able to keep medication on the DL because no one knew it was around. </p>
<p>If you do keep a safety box for it, keep it in a hard to reach place. </p>
<p>My kids took everything they normally used to school. Knock on wood, nothing was ever stolen. I did get D1 a small safe to keep her jewelry and passport, but it turned out to be unnecessary. I didn’t bother with D2. Both of them had singles freshman year, and they always locked their rooms. </p>
<p>Re: textbooks. they’re stolen to sell back as used. I thought everyone knew that. </p>
<p>Back in the day (35 years ago or so), I left my backpack in the bookstore rack provided because you couldn’t carry it in. It was stolen. later recovered the pack, and my wallet, but the textbooks were gone. I’m sure they were sold back in the same store they were stolen.</p>
<p>One thing that is key, and mentioned by other posters, is the roommate issue. The student must discuss and try to ensure that his or her roommate LOCKS the door.</p>
<p>My DD had a roommate this summer who, unfortunately, never saw a reason for locking the door when she left the room for long periods of time. After many discussions, roomie still forgot to lock the door on some occasions.</p>
<p>Thus, my daughter had to carry her laptop and other valuables everywhere she went.</p>
<p>Textbooks, to me, are considered very valuable items because of their high costs, and in some cases, books can cost over $150. Leaving them laying around in your unlocked room or library can be costly to the student.</p>
<p>Back in the Stone Age…all of my textbooks were stolen right out of my dorm room. They were on a bookshelf in my room. My roommate’s were stolen too. A week before finals.</p>
<p>Someone once stole my daughter’s backpack (right from under her table at a Qdoba) with some of her accounting textbooks inside. Two days later the backpack magically reappeared with the textbook still inside!</p>
<p>I’m still not sure why the thief didn’t sell the textbooks - just because they’re boring doesn’t mean they aren’t expensive/valuable. </p>
<p>Too much work. </p>
<p>D needed(?) a printer stand, so ended up getting a lockable two drawer filing cabinet. Leaving for a weekend, she’d put valuables in there…</p>
<p>Many (most?) college thefts are thefts of convenience…things sitting in the open just begging to be taken…</p>
<p>This might sound nutty, and it strangely fascinated me: When I looked for a little dorm lock-box that could be tethered to my kid’s bed in BS dorm, I learned the popular ones were about as secure as the lock on tween’s diary. In other words, not at all. You know where I found a secure box?: small handgun safes. How wild is that? With all this conceal-carry regulation happening across the country, there’s a demand for a secure place to stash your handgun when you can’t carry it into a facility (like a school!) or in the house (think: kids!). The problem with the handgun safes is that they’re designed to be bolted onto a car chassis, or something. If my DD winds up in a dorm for college, we’ll have to figure something out. Maybe disguising stuff or hiding places. :P</p>
<p>@sryrstress - The secure meds was a concern for us. We found that Intunive, a non-stimulant, worked for ADHD so there was no need to have the “attractive” stimulant drugs. One little thing to be thankful for. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-92-Qt-Footlocker-Set-of-2/16415912”>http://www.walmart.com/ip/Sterilite-92-Qt-Footlocker-Set-of-2/16415912</a></p>
<p>Here is a reasonable footlocker that no one is going to walk off with. I got one at Walmart for around $20. The website has a price for two. D uses her own padlock on it. It is a nice box for packing for the move and is not heavy.</p>
<p>Leave it at home.</p>
<p>Seriously, if you can, that’s the best solution. I know it’s not possible with things like textbooks and medications, but if it’s really extremely valuable (we’re talking family heirloom jewelry, things with strong sentimental value,) leave it.</p>
<p>It’s also worth it to look into renter’s insurance, just in case. Lots of homeowner policies include renter’s insurance for dependents, and even if not, it’s pretty cheap (we’re talking $10 a month for a decent policy.)</p>
<p>Some of the best advice I got was to buy a small engraver and engrave your name and driver’s license number onto valuables that are durable enough. Think laptop, bike, etc. It can actually help the police identify an item and get it back to you if lost or stolen, because every police station has access to DMV database records. And that number is unique to you, but won’t do as much harm in someone else’s hands as, say, social security number.</p>
<p>But really, this is my 7th year living on a college campus. I’ll tell you from personal experience, it’s 90% crimes of opportunity. There’s a huge spike on move-in and move-out days (breaks included) because people don’t want to close and/or lock their doors between trips. But the same people are totally paranoid about locking their cars.</p>
<p>Make it part of the roommate agreement if you are concerned (tell your student to.) Door must be locked any time you leave the room. </p>
<p>Another big thing to discuss is guests. In my experience, a lot of the time it’s not the roommate who’s the issue, but roommate’s random friend or friend of a friend who wandered through and now suddenly something’s missing. Happens a lot more than you’d think.</p>
<p>All things to discuss BEFORE they become issues.</p>
<p>As far as textbooks go: again, crime of opportunity. Wrap a bag handle around the leg of the chair. Don’t get up from your table at the library, even if it’s “just for a sec,” unless a friend (who you trust) is with you and actively watching your things. </p>
<p>Has anyone had experience with the plastic footlocker @musicmerit mentioned? I’m really not sold on the idea of a safe, actually never heard of college students using them before this site, but maybe a unit that is useful in itself for storage and can be locked makes sense. Putting a lock on it is somewhat of an advertisement that there’s stuff worth stealing inside. But it might give some peace of mind during parties or with careless roommates. Just wondering if that footlocker is a little too portable. </p>
<p>Our kids just put their valuables (including electronics and laptops) in their drawer under their “stuff” (e.g. clothing) when they were going out. They brought only the things they were going to use at campus (no heirlooms or fancy jewelry). No one ever stole anything they know of from their room or person, only when they left their cell phone (and S also left his wallet) untended in public places.</p>
<p>It is pretty big to be carrying down the hall. It fit under D’s bed and no one could see it due to the comforter draped over the bed. I guess her roommate would know it was there and see her lock it. </p>
<p><a href=“Should I bring a safe/lockbox to college? - #5 by musicmerit - College Life - College Confidential Forums”>Should I bring a safe/lockbox to college? - #5 by musicmerit - College Life - College Confidential Forums;
<p>Here is another thread on the same topic.</p>
<p>Despite many warnings, my son doesn’t seem to understand how dorm door locks work. But he didn’t have anything stolen from his room in two years on campus. He did have several nice hoodies stolen from the laundry though. Quite frustrating. Dorm insurance is really cheap, and I strongly recommend it. Get a policy that covers accidents.</p>
<p>As for whether the footlocker is too portable, anything is portable if you want it to be. It’s pretty dang obvious if you see two people hauling a black box out of a room. My footlocker, while it does remain locked to protect my valuables, contains extra supplies for my rooms and things I rarely need. It’s gotten pretty heavy. I doubt my opportunistic thief would want to run and phone a friend for help. ;)</p>