<p>^Chipping in for the rental is the option DS and his suitemates chose. It helps that at the end of the year, one less item to worry about. The best thing is to have him discuss with suitemates. Just ensure he has his basic items, shower caddy, slippers, eggcrates/topper, laptop, printer. You can always ship whatever else he needs… It will work out just fine.</p>
<p>
I didn’t think he would need a shower caddy if they share a bathroom. Is there any storage in the bathroom for toiletries or TP? If not, his caddy will be a gallon sized freezer bag. When it get’s nasty he can grab another one. I plan on sending him with a box of them. I’m not worried about the personal items but looking for ideas on the common room.</p>
<p>My daughter’s was nice, but we didn’t have a lot of money, and I gave a certain amount and we worked with it. We supplied a fan and 2 round folding chairs, someone else (3 or 4) got a fouton and someone else had a table from a rising sophomore. Later we bought some plants and someone got a used rug from another student. </p>
<p>We also chipped in to rent a fridge.
You don’t have to go crazy and there is time when you are there to see what’s available.</p>
<p>Well perhaps not a caddy, but more of a shower bag.</p>
<p>Something like this should suffice.
[Salt</a> Water Canvas Shower Bag at SwimOutlet.com](<a href=“http://www.swimoutlet.com/product_p/15278.htm]Salt”>http://www.swimoutlet.com/product_p/15278.htm).</p>
<p>Anything common room related should be discussed among the kids. They will figure it out. I’m sure you can still shop for the sales/bargains 
</p>
<p>The downside of a shared bathroom for the suite (vs. a hallway bathroom for the floor) is that the kids have to clean it (or not) themselves. Scary. </p>
<p>I concur with those who suggest letting the boys puzzle through the common room issues themselves. It’s fine to make practical suggestions in the background (“DS, why don’t you offer to contribute the rug, since we have a decent one and can get it there easily”), but let them figure it out. A trip to Ikea or BB&B is pretty much inevitable. Someone will have a car.</p>
<p>I don’t have a problem letting them figure out who will provide what. I was merely looking for suggestions on items as most lists I have seen are for dorms without a common room. Also, I would like to avoid the places you mentioned as I hear they are zoo’s that weekend and I think with proper planning you can avoid a trip to those places.</p>
<p>Major items my son and his roommates brought or bought were a futon, a rug, a coffee table, some extra shelving, a fridge, a microwave, and floor lamp(s).</p>
<p>Kdog044, My son and his roommates ended up buying a bunch of stuff on Craigs List and from “yard” sales the first few days on campus. (this was at Harvard but I assume Upper classmen at Yale sell their stuff as well)
My suggestion to my son fell on deaf ears and it was to ask his roommates what they had to contribute to the common room already hanging around at home. Luckily one of his other roommates did ask the question as in the end, one came with a futon, one already had a fridge, one had a Wii and an x box and along with a flat screen. We lived far away so we ended up buying an inexpensive rug from Ikea and it was all good, over the semester they added to it.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions but I didn’t hear anyone say whether they remember getting an e-mail from Yale about items to bring. Also, is there any storage closets/space in the common room or bathroom? I am trying to figure out where they would store things like TP, Dirt Devil/broom/dust pan, cleaning supplies,bath towels, etc.</p>
<p>My D didn’t have a closet in their common room but did store a broom in the corner. The bathroom had storage under a long counter but no closet. Cleaning it themselves led to a few minor disagreements (no one likes cleaning all the time) but they worked it out.
I remember a lot of shelves, not so many closets.</p>
<p>Somewhere in this thread, I warned parents of previous entering classes to tell their kids (mostly guys) to AVOID buying that used sofa from upperclass guys. There surely will be some on sale and they KNOW to bring them to Old Campus to hawk them to freshmen. Sometimes, they’ll even get women to sell 'em. </p>
<p>RUN AWAY!!</p>
<p>You really don’t want me to get into much detail on the reasons why…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Mostly not. But no major illnesses ensued to I guess if the kids don’t mind it, it is probably OK?</p>
<p>My daughter’s suite bought one cheap last May…but with very new thick slipcovers.</p>
<p>
I saw their bathroom (suite of 6 boys) on Parents Weekend (mid-October) and it didn’t look great. I can only imagine what it looked like in May (though I try not to.)
I like to think that it helps to build their immune systems ;)</p>
<p>^Brave of you! I’m too wimpy to even look, and my kid is in an RC with hallway bathrooms that are cleaned by Yale.</p>
<p>I had a freshman bathroom in the suite and I recall the horror on the face of one young woman visiting me who went in there to shower and turned around and changed her mind. It never crossed our minds to set up a cleaning schedule. “Didn’t look great” would have been an understatement for us.</p>
<p>Oh gosh the thought of nasty bathrooms and showers is gross…
How does the student figure out ahead of time if the bathroom is in suite or on the hall/landing. (Vanderbilt)?
Maybe one of those shower press the button/it sprays it down things and several shower floor mats (to be thrown away afer a few months?) is the way to go??
yuck…</p>
<p>We are flying in and so hope to know what part our student has claimed to provide so we can pick it up en-route to New Haven.</p>
<p>I spent several hours cleaning up D1s suite bathroom during a break from graduation activities. We were trying to get her out ASAP since we had a plane to catch, so I thought it would be a good thing to do the day before as her part of cleaning up (the shared living space was too cluttered to clean up), otherwise I wouldn’t have gone near it. And these were a group of sr frocos, what an example for their frosh!</p>
<p>Recently spoke with a friend who told me that she and another mom and their freshman had to get on the hands/knees to clean bathroom/floors etc of freshman door when they moved in–that it wa just terrible!!
I am wondering what cleaning products have to be brought in and what will need to be done on Move In Day…</p>
<p>Disaapointing to think these dorms/baths etc start the year in bad shape.
For the kind of money spent–surely an initially clean bathroom, floors, windows etc is reasonable.</p>
<p>Freshman Move in Day</p>
<p>OK, a little advice on Freshman Move in Day. We are flying in from out of town, so will have S’s stuff for move in in our rental. Are the parents expected, (or encouraged) to help move in ? I think I remember seeing somewhere that there were students there to help, and they wanted parents to make it quick and “move along”.</p>