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Teach your teen about
budgeting, checkbooks and responsible use of credit.
Watch for all types of scams, from
credit cards, fake college ID's to scholarships.
Be prepared for the cost of the July/August spending -- especially for
that first year -- your teen is starting a new household.
Often, college is the first time
your child will be sick and away from home. Usually it's just the normal
illnesses. Discuss which OTC and other medications work for normal
first-aid and medical self-care. Send your teen off to school with the basics
for fevers, aches, pains and cuts.
Leave a broom or dust mop, dust
pan, and some cleaning supplies for your student's use for the dorm room. --
Though often the only time they will use it is the hour before you arrive for
parent's weekend!
Every teen "hits the
wall" sometime that first semester away -- it's not high school anymore --
support them and care for them -- but this is a journey they must travel alone.
Scrutinize the Bursar's bill
closely. Even colleges can make mistakes.
And for many parents when the goal of college graduation is achieved, there
is a sigh of relief. Yet for a large proportion, the sigh is tempered -- the job
is not over yet, those kids will be moving back home! For how long? A month, a
year? Something for which to be prepared.
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