<p>^Oh yes, me too. The non-emergency number for campus police here is used for a variety of things, such as if one is locked out of his/her room. Even when my roommate locked me out by accident (leaving my phone and key in our room), I was able to borrow someone’s cell phone, and it was no problem because everyone had been told to put all the different campus numbers (police, escort, etc.) in his or her phone, and most did. </p>
<p>Also, the number for a cab company is a good one. I haven’t had to use that one yet, but with the way Pittsburgh buses are (hint: reliable isn’t a word I would choose to use!), it’s a pretty good idea. This especially applies to a campus in a city or town where kids go off campus a lot, like CMU.</p>
<p>For a campus job, or any job, the employee will need to complete an I-9, and establish both identity and eligibility for employment. There are a number of docs that can be used, but these are the most common:</p>
<p>Original SS card/birth certificate AND photo ID (drivers license/state ID card)</p>
<p>–OR–</p>
<p>Passport (which establishes both elilgibility and identity)</p>
<p>The passport is like super-ID; wave it in someone’s face and they don’t ask for anything else. I’ve found that it whisks me through airport security too, although YMMV.</p>
<p>Do you all send your passports with your kids? I was rather thinking that I’d hang on to those at home, and just Fedex if needed. Mine won’t be getting a job, at least not the first year.</p>
<p>I didn’t initally, but ended up having to FedEx to her when she started to work. She just kept it with her. She actually had to renew it by herself. I bought a small safe for her to keep her documents and jewelry. Knock on wood, she never lost her passport. We’ve had to replace her driver’s license, ATM card, our AmEx card, but not her passport.</p>
<p>Teens are more opt to want things online (scanned, linked, etc). Hopefully with encouragement they will get organized. My big recommendation is to make sure they have a good system for backup. </p>
<p>My son learned that the hard way after almost loosing his IB extended essay draft (no printouts) to a hard drive crash. I think colleges offer ways to do backup, but son’s method is external hard drive. Daughter is more stubborn, only using usb memory stick for important docs (and mailing stuff to herself on gmail).</p>
<p>I’ve also been using isites from Google to make private websites for each daughter, sort of like a digital scrapbook.</p>
<p>There’s a section with some medical information (height, weight etc) at diff ages. A section for firsts, lasts, etc. Neither of them have used any of this yet, but it’s helpful for me to put their info in one place.</p>
<p>Good reminder about passport or SS card for jobs. I’ve had to overnight both to my older kids and it made me very uneasy. My HS senior will be going to a college 90 minutes from the Canadian border AND will work on campus so the passport is a must. </p>
<p>I actually sent my son an e-mail a couple of days ago about a taxi service in his college town and told him to put it into his phone and I got, “MOM! It’s May! Why do I need to know about a taxi service now?!” I was thinking that if I unloaded that information to him while I was thinking about it, he wouldn’t have to figure it out later. One thing I’ve learned is not to count on the internet feature of smart phones when you are out in the boonies.</p>
<p>For all these reasons, I’m quite happy D1 will only be 40 minutes away. It’s far enough away that we don’t expect to see her unless she wants something (or her brother has a swim meet at the University pool!), but close enough that we can deal with anything that arrises rather quickly.</p>
<p>What I’ve found with our Iphones (and I don’t know if this is universally true for all smart phones) is that while there might be a signal for making a phone call, the lag time for pulling up the internet is excruciating. When I’m traveling, I’ll put in the phone number and website of hotel, plane, rental car, etc. so I have that at my fingertips.</p>
<p>I’ve also added addresses of family members (and college kids) so if I need to mail something at the post office, I can package up whatever right there at the PO. At Easter, for instance, I went right from Target to the PO and was easily able to send some stuff out to my daughter in grad school without stopping home.</p>
<p>I am no way organized enough for a binder, but I sent health insurance card, SS card, and bank info (account numbers, etc) in an envelope. D has all important phone numbers on smart phone (nearby relatives, airlines, cabs, etc.) Other than that - she’s on her own. The only emergency call I received freshman year was when she was filling out health history in dr office. You know, college kids are pretty resourceful and can handle a lot on their own. IMO, smart phone is a must!</p>
<p>But, I am planning on writing down laundry instructions for S when he heads to college - along with directions to the nearest dry cleaners!</p>
<p>I think the original binder idea (or folder, or envelope) is an excellent idea. We are free to use it or not or to amend to our needs. Making statements about what we should or shouldn’t still do for our children is personal and there are no rules. I roll my eyes at people who tsk tsk the efforts of others. For me, when I read the initial post I felt, wow this would be a good organizing start off point for us. My son could have used something like this. He is not organized, resists efforts to be so but would have gladly taken a binder with info in it. With the 529 plans you need to document expenses for reimbursement and if he’d had a binder page with an envelop for book receipts it would have saved some room searches!
D is heading out in September and she’d take it, tweak it to her needs and or maybe never look at it, we’ll find out. But it is a good teaching opportunity.
Neither kid has or is getting (on my dime) a smart phone.<br>
BTW, I have a version of this in my kitchen- not the private stuff like SS cards (another location for that) but lists of teams/phone #'s, copies of the list we give the kid who feeds the dog when we’re gone (with penciled notes on past visits), take out menus, bell schedule at the high school, etc. Makes my life easier.</p>
<p>For those of us who live in (and/or whose children go to college in) hurricane-prone areas, having hard copies of phone numbers and some of the other information mentioned above is a good idea in case of power or phone outages after a storm (which can last several days or longer).</p>
<p>Updated contact information from summer jobs, school references, etc. It is a good idea to check the numbers on occasion, for when applications are due. The numbers are generally not on a resume, so I encourage veryone in my family to verify the contact numbers for past emplyers every few years. My old company chargest to verify employment, so I always offer department telephone numbers as well.</p>