<p>Yes, and because we live 3 minutes away, she has told them that we would provide all of the heavy stuff. Really? Bad move! She was being nice but didn’t consider the expense. :(( </p>
<p>One of her suite mates parents can call up any retailer, order it on the spot, have everything shipped express and not blink an eye. We are not in that tax bracket! Lol </p>
<p>Us? We will be bargain shopping…LOLOL </p>
<p>In DS’s freshman year, he (we?) did not contribute much “heavy” stuff because we lived thousands of miles away. We lived farthest from the campus and flied in with 6 checked-in baggages and arranged almost 10 days in New Haven for a shopping spree. (We really overdid it!)</p>
<p>But I believe DS and another suitemate together paid for a rental mini-fridge unit (or two units? I forgot the details) that was delivered to the common room on the day (or slightly after) they moved in. It included the delivery fees and the removal fees at the end of the school year. That was a “heavy” one. If we had to move it by ourself, it would be a heavy-lifting as their suite was on the 5th floor and no elevator is available in that building.</p>
<p>Please be aware that the furniture would require people to move it in. Please ask a few suitmates in advance to help move it in (and move it out at the end of the school year.) This could be more troublesome at the end of the school year. A rumor was that for some suites, at the end of the school year, everybody had left and the “owner” of the furniture had no way to move the furniture out of the suite from, say, the fifth floor by himself! This needs to be planned and agreed upon in advance.</p>
<p>Also, parents: Please make sure that your loved one learns how to clean the bathroom (and common living room.) After a couple of months after the beginning of the freshman year, many suites (esp. the common area) could be in a “not livable” condition - most problems were flies (and some suites even had a rat infection problem!) This is all because the suitemates have NEVER learned how to maintain their living area in a reasonably clean/healthy condition. Many suitemates may order the food/snack and do not finish it and leave some left-over in the common living room. Pretty soon, there were too many flies in the common area that everybody stopped going to the common area (even though a (quite) big screen TV was there!) until the problem was fixed.</p>
<p>DS became the person who helped clean up other’s food leftover in the common living room. His single is next to the common area. If there are flies, some of the flies would likely get into his bedroom.</p>
<p>Wise words from mcat2 about the cleaning. In addition to a trash can for your student’s bedroom, invest in a cheap larger one for the common room…and a big box of trash bags to line it with. It will dramatically increase the odds that food and other garbage will actually be disposed of. Do not underestimate the sloth of college students when it comes to suite maintenance! There is so much going at school on that keeping things tidy quickly becomes the lowest priority, even for the neatest kids.</p>
<p>I found trash bags were always welcome and the last thing thought of. I gave a box every Fall. ; )
My daughter lived close but rented a fridge the first year which was moved in by the company if I remember correctly. The next year, someone provided one, then the last 2, she was away for part of it and then had a kitchen in “swing” near Morse.</p>
<p>I’ve also heard about early leaving by students at the end of the year and someone being stuck with moving furniture. My daughter actually left something she didn’t buy in her suite and we never got charged but I felt we shouldn’t have to move a couch, etc. that was put there by another. That should be talked about beforehand. Some students are more mature than others and this isn’t an issue, but it varies. Some rooms were left trashed by some students, I don’t know about charges. </p>
<p>Speaking of cleaning, D was the first to move out so there was not much cleaning we could do. Stuff was still all over the bathroom and common room. I have not seen anything about a charge. Does that mean the others cleaned well enough when they moved out, or could it still be coming?</p>
<p>DD is staying ain’t Stiles for the next 5 weeks. The common area had 4 lamps, chairs, a futon…I thought it was odd. I guess students do leave things over the summer??</p>
<p>Yes, we moved futon, chairs and lamp to the suite for next year. There have been stories about those things disappearing though. There is a restriction on what you can leave and it should all be labeled.</p>
<p>If you are coming back to the same room, I think you can leave some things, I know my daughter left a lamp and fan. They let you store certain things too, but there isn’t a lot of room in the storage area.</p>
<p>Don’t know how much rules and procedures vary b/t RCs, but in my son’s, students are allowed to each leave a chair, lamp, and shelf in their next-year’s suite. (Also, I think, one futon/couch per suite, but they didn’t have one). This made things interesting as the suite they were moving to still housed seniors who would be staying until graduation. The common room was suddenly made very congested; I hope those outgoing students treated the influx of new stuff with tolerance! I can imagine it was a bit of an inconvenience.</p>
<p>I have a logistical question. My son has been assigned to TD. I have looked at the floor plans and it appears that 8 boys share one bathroom with only one shower and toilet. How does that work out? All my other kids have had communal bathrooms. </p>
<p>Also, I guess bed risers are not practical with bunk beds?</p>
<p>Hi all okay I totally understand the cleaning supplies!!! by garbage cans are people talking about HUUGE ones? my son will be with a lot of guys sharing the common room and, while I am happy to say he knows how to clean, I will definitely try to make it easier by buying bags, gloves and cleaners etc. but any input on the size of the garbage cans welcome</p>
<p>I would think you wouldn’t want anything larger than a kitchen sized trash can, otherwise they might let the garbage accumulate too long. </p>
<p>@ newhavenctmom,
I am sure that the other suite mates would be happy to buy the big furniture if you told them that they could store their stuff at your garage for the summer and if you provided a SUV for transport.</p>
<p>Also remember that there are no elevators. Furniture needs to be carried up the stairs.</p>
<p>Also include tools on your packing list for assembling furniture.</p>
<p>Move out is crazy if because it is like on the last day of finals or so, with no buffer. Since people leave at different days, it does become impossible to move the big pieces to your next suite unless the kids are organized. So much of the furniture gets left behind. Since you are local, it won’t be a problem for you. (Thus if you moved and stored furniture, everyone would buy the furniture for your D’s suite). But it has been a problem with us in CA.</p>
<p>My D left behind a refridge, bookshelves, large clear storage boxes, all bedding etc after the first year. I told her that we didn’t want to keep buying new stuff every year.</p>
<p>@calmomof4 my daughter is in TD and every bathroom I’ve seen has two toilets and two showers for about 12 people. It seemed to work fine according to her–</p>
<p>My freshman year 17 girls on my floor shared one bathroom with two sinks, two toilets, and two showers, so the ratio was higher (and we’re girls), but it was never a problem. Everyone just has to work together to keep the bathroom clean.</p>
<p>How popular it is for freshmen to go home during their first break in October?</p>
<p>D came home her first year, but said she probably won’t this year. It was a different schedule last year. We will be going for family weekend right before the October break. Family weekend was the end of September last year.</p>
<p>I don’t know how many other freshman went home. The October break has only been around a few years, so not much history. I think she had some work to do over the break, and it is probably easier to get that done if she stays on campus.</p>
<p>Hello all. Our son is joining this fall, and I am finding this forum to be a fount of useful information. Thank you! </p>
<p>One question I have is how many days we should plan on being in HVN when we come to drop him at Yale in August. The freshman residence hall entry seems to be 8/22. We are thinking of flying in (from west coast) on 8/20 (so we can have time to do any shopping on 8/21). We are not as sure on how long to hang around in HVN after that. The classes seem to start 8/26. Is it a good idea to hang around until 8/27? Any advice from the veterans…?</p>
<p>We drove in the morning on move in day and drove home that night. Most parents stay for the convocation the next morning. We watched it stream live in the AC at home. Most parents leave right after that. There are no more activities for parents to share with their students. It is time for them to meet other students and find out about all the ECs available. They will tour campus together and plan their class schedules. I would advise you to leave after the convocation.</p>