Hey y'all! Now that I've graduated college, I thought I would update my "College Confidential" series with the perspective of someone who's graduated. I'm going to have these posts divided out in categories and cover everything from important documents to dorm/apartment decor! Recently, we are dealing with the reality of COVID-19 and how that will affect us all as we move on to college, grad school, or adult life. Within my circle of friends, many of them are still expected to attend college in person with certain restrictions. Keeping the situation of the virus in mind, I will try my best to include tips for that.
Post #1: The Essential Documents and other Important Items
Everyone talks about the independence college gives you. There's no curfew, no requirement to eat your veggies for dinner, no parents. This independence makes YOU in charge of your health, school work, free time, etc. While this independence is refreshing, there's a lot of responsibility you might not have had to deal with until you got to college. An important one being essential documents. Here's everything you need to make sure you have:
Insurance Information, Health Insurance Card
Sit down with your parents and understand these documents. You never know when you'll need to go to the clinic and it's better to know what you're covered for then to find out at the clinic or when they bill you.
Social Security Card
Have this with you, keep it safe. Better yet, have it memorized. You never know when you'll need it. I know that I had to present that information when I was elected as a treasurer for a student org and had to be signed on to the org's credit card.
Student ID/Driver's License
Always have these on you. I know that in Austin, if we had our student ID on us, all of out public transportation was free.
Financial Aid Documents/ Scholarship Documents
Along with this, keep reminders set on your calendar for when certain scholarships open. Keep a tab on which scholarships you qualify for and apply for them. I know at my University, so many scholarships would go un-awarded because students didn't know they existed and thus, didn't apply for them.
Emergency Contact List
If you move to a different city than your parents, it's important that you keep a list of people you can call when you need something and your parents aren't within reach. I know for me, moving to college meant that it was going to be the first time I wouldn't be able to celebrate Indian festivals at home, have a contact list of family friends was great because it meant I could go to their homes to celebrate Diwali.
Debit Card, Credit Card, Cash
Having a Debit Card and cash is essential as a freshman. It's always good to have cash of different bills just incase you're in a situation where you need cash and our debit/credit card isn't being accepted (esp for things like org payments). Also, download the Venmo app -> every org I was part of had a venmo account and when you're spending time with friends, venmo is the easiest way to pay people back!
If you're able, I highly suggest applying for a credit card before your freshman year. I was lucky enough to get approved for a credit card by my bank during the spring semester of my freshmen year and so I've been able to start building my credit. Credit cards are essential, but you should only open one if you're responsible enough to pay your card off each month and be able to track how much you're spending (I will have a post about budgeting coming soon). In college, I started working the fall of my sophomore year and one thing I suggest is have your debit card linked to your credit card so that when you get paid, you can also pay your credit card.
In dorm, we were given a lockable drawer to put all our valuables and important papers in. I have linked a lock that I bought to keep everything safe!
That's it for now, the next post will be on medications to bring to college!
Peace and Love,
Srini
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