Our daughter starts at Cornell in the fall of 2017. We live in California and will be flying down to help her move into her residence and are wondering how best to go about getting her what she needs considering the travel and distance? Buy everything there? Ship it? Travel with a billion suitcases??
Any thoughts welcome!
Rent a car and buy the big stuff there.
@Nupurs - We were facing a similar dilemma (we live in CA and my daughter was headed to Brown). You can go to Bed Bath and Beyond and get a scanner and scan the items you think your daughter will need. Then you go to a Bed Bath and Beyond near Cornell and all the items will be waiting for you. It was fantastic- so easy. We flew Southwest (two free bags per person) to take all her clothes and bedding that she did not buy from Bed Bath and Beyond.
And look for the 20% off everything Bed Bath and Beyond coupon that comes out sometime in summer!
So you can actually purchase the items locally here in CA and then pick them up in Ithaca? Pretty convenient! Will definitely explore that! Thx for the thought!
Fly Southwest (we flew into Rochester), everyone taking 2 bags (with the second bag small enough to fit back into the first one for the flight home). I second the Bed/Bath/Beyond experience; they are more costly than other places, but it was an amazing greeting in Ithaca with half of them adorned in Cornell shirts and the other half in Ithaca College shirts. She really felt welcomed to town. The Big Boxes were very picked over as far as ‘decor’ (WalMart, Target), but had the essentials (shampoo, etc). Get your liquids in Ithaca so you don’t have to worry about the airport rules.
Also, check out the dump & run – they had lots of very inexpensive stuff to fill in the holes. We’ll be doing the same in reverse after D graduates in May. Anything we cannot pack to bring home in the extra luggage we all take with us will get donated for the fall Dump&Run.
Finally, use the vacuum packed bags – it’s amazing how much can be fit into a suitcase when its all compressed.
Amazon Prime, Target.com, Walmart,com. Have as much shipped directly to school as possible. There is a Target, Warmart, CVS, BB&B in Ithaca and anything or everything can be purchased upon arrival. You can ship a few boxes of Clothing UPS directly as well. You will get shipping instruction when dorm selections come out (Early August).
@Nupurs Yes, you can pick out things at Bed Bath and Beyond in CA and pick up in Ithaca (you don’t pay until you pick up). Alternatively, you can buy things and have the shipping delayed until your student arrives at college.
@3rdsontocollege, thanks for the information. I knew there was a BB&B there but didn’t know about the other stores. That is useful to know!
OP:
We were in the same situation few years back. My D is a junior at Cornell and we’re from CA. We flew JetBlue (Syracuse), back then 2 luggage free check-in and we’re 4 of us. Bought other stuff locally here at BB&B and picked them up in Ithaca. Other stuff the she needed we got it from Walmart. Other stores in the area are Target and Wegman.
@Emsmom1 I’m also flying in from CA and I really appreciate your advice. Is there a risk of BB&B running out of items in Ithaca or do they reserve everything for you? Do you have to bring anything besides the reciept?
Remember --you don’t need everything the first day. Trim the list. Most every parent has the list of “the stuff never opened”.
Okay, so can someone give me a list of the absolute essentials? I’ve been finding lists online but I’m planning to get most things at the dump & run. What should someone from CA bring to Cornell?
@pineappledragon-they reserve everything for you. You don’t have to bring a receipt because you don’t pay until you pick the items up but they do give you a print out of everything you’ve ordered. It went very smoothly for us last year.
Another expensive but convenient option at Cornell : Pre-Arrival
https://www.bigredboxes.com/BRSS_Services
You can also ship from online retailers to this company, as well as items in your home,
and they will bring it all to the dorm on move in day.
We did not try this as we are driving distance, but still we bought most large items locally for 2 kids.
But if we had no car, I would have considered the above service.
You have to check, but most dorm beds are twin XL, so about 5" longer than regular twin. Most dorm mattresses also aren’t very thick, so a mattress foam topper can make the bed more comfortable.
I would get two sheet sets, a few quick dry towels and wash cloths, a hamper, a shower caddy, my D liked her back rest pillow, stock up on some common OTC meds, snacks, water.
Pineapple–"Okay, so can someone give me a list of the absolute essentials? "
I think this site has a ton of the “essentials” buried in various “going to college threads”.
Absolute essentials are what your kid thinks they truly can’t live without minus what the parent knows they can with without. It’s a very small list in the long run. Do not foist your list onto your kid. It all comes home.
Remember that at all times–Walmart is either down the street or Amazon is a click away. Or somebody down the hall has a suitable substitute.
A dorm room is still a finite space. Usually a shared space. Less is better. SO much better. And less cr@p to bring back later.
Think food and shelter. Gotta eat–frig, microwave. Still at Wal-Mart.
Sleep–comfortable. But still at Wal-Mart.
Hygiene? Available at Wal-Mart if you forgot it.
School–got books? Ready to go.
The absolute essential is to buy that “extra” 
A something from just you so they know they know you love 'em!
Cornell’s website suggest bringing your own breaker outlet for your computer as well as a few additional items like mattress pad for a twin xl sized bed, plus under bed storage containers. For those of you who have kids there already, how big are the rooms in terms of how much of this stuff to get…particularly things like storage crates etc?
Do what @blevine suggested. Pre-Arrival thru big red boxes. We live a distance away and I bought all her stuff at my local BB&Beyond and shipped them directly to Cornell straight to her dorm room thru the big red box service. https://www.bigredboxes.com/BRSS_Services
This is very convenient, and all her stuff was waiting in her room for her. We only moved in her suitcases. Very awesome service. We also use them to store her stuff over the summer, so all she brings home is her summer clothing and computer. Everything else is in storage until the fall. Once fall move in begins, they will also drop off the stuff to your dorm room.