what to take to student accommodation?

Take him to Tesco, the £6 for 3 meals are a good idea, can you teach him to make pancakes, and fairy cakes.. not a word of a lie , eldest held a cooking master class for the blokes in the dorms....
Most had no idea about sorting washing, how to make mash or jacket potatoes.
They need to see what things should cost , and how to make them.

I'm on year 6 of having DC at uni.
He may get the halls he applies for, or he may get his second or third choice.

None of mine have taken things like mattress toppers. You don't need extension leads. Most unis and halls are very high tech. DSs room has wall to wall sockets, very fast wired internet as well as wifi.
They often get a smart card which can be pre loaded for laundry, acts as ID, key, etc.

They took old stuff from home ( I had hoarded old pots, pans and bedding).
The traditional trip to IKEA is fine if you don't have spare stuff or can easily afford to kit them out but not essential.

Over the summer teach him not just how to cook but how to choose and buy food on a budget, how to do laundry and make sure he knows how to manage money.
Incidentally uni laundries seem to have humongous machines where everything goes in together and comes out grey. No iron has ever been used by a student.

Go to charity shops for plates and glasses. Everyone else will have Ikea and they get stolen. Pink flowery china plates don't.

How much cooking and what sort of cooking does he do? One good kitchen knife a chopping board and a wok will be enough for some people. Green food colour - if your milk is being stolen colour it green.

My niece went to uni the day after her 18th birthday.

I bought her a weekend bag and then packed it as a 'bag of necessity', pinching the room of necessity from JK Rowling.

It had emergency chocolate
tooth brushes - cheap pack
toilet roll
noe pad
photo frame
flip flops (if you don't have your own bathroom at uni you wear flip flops in the shower)
vouchers for a couple of supermarkets
spare mobile phone (on offer for £5)
hat gloves and scarf - they go when it is warm but don't come home until it's cold.
memory stick.
first aid kit.
sewing kit.
paracetamol.
antihistamines.
bottle opener.
corkscrew.
tin opener.
shampoo.
soap.

Oh and a clothes drier too if there's likely to be space in the room - saves on tumbler drier costs

I'll copy the list of what we took last year:

Bedroom:
Duvet & pillows (plus covers)
Sheets and mattress protector
Blankets
Clothes
Mirror
Stationary
Toiletries
Hairdryer
TV & ariel
Photos
Basic first aid

Kitchen:
Oven trays (watch out - 2 of the 3 we took were too big for the oven!)
Pans
Bowls
Plates
Knives, forks, spoons
Water bottle
Oven mitt
Glasses & mugs
Tupperware boxes

Bathroom:
Bath mat
Towel
Toiletries
Electric toothbrush
Flannels
Cleaning products

I think thats all, but honestly don't worry OP! Often people take too much rather than not enough and its a total pain loading and unloading!

Clothes hanging rack that fits over the top of a door as there is never anywhere to hang wet towels (of course I know they belong on the floor really).

Blue Ikea bags - excellent for laundry and good for under bed general storage.

Yes to the clothes airier - DS was insistent that he didn't need one. I bought one anyway and he took it back the first time he came home for the weekend.

The mattress topper was very welcome - he has a small double bed but all of his bedding is double as he will be able to use it again when he moves into his student house next year.

If they take a printer make sure they can wire it up - DS's halls don't support wireless printers.

Nail clippers Otherwise mattress topper and don't spend too much on anything - it will probably be binned when he graduates. A cheap but effective desk lamp is worth the money - DS's room only had an overhead and quite rubbish light fitting.

Sounds pathetic but I did get DS a cushion with picture of our dog ( well same breed but looked like our dog ) for his bed. I am sure Snappy snaps could get you a cushion with a photograph of the cats on it which could sit on the bed. ( This is how rubbish the Basilisk family are - cushions with dogs on them )

Re extension sockets / cables - get your DS to check in the accommodation info as to whether these are allowed. Some universities ban them, presumably on the grounds that students overloading them is a fire risk they would rather not take.

Campus tours outside of organised open days / accommodation days often don't include going inside student accommodation, but the accommodation office should be able to answer queries on size of beds etc. (Or give reassurance to those suddenly panicking, post saucepan purchase, that the university might have gone mad and splashed out on induction hobs for every kitchen...).

I would agree about the mattress topper and also decent pillows. DS didn't get his until a few weeks into term and they've made a huge difference to his overall well-being. Sleep is so important for them.

how to explain to the cats he's gone for a while...

My car moved out when I went to university, but came back every time I was home.

USB multi charger.
Lock & seal Tupperware boxes of different sizes.

Agree with pps that space may be an issue. Ds is in a flat with 7 others and they have one food cupboard each (small), one drawer, one larger cupboard for pans etc and one shelf each in the fridge.
Clothes arier is very useful as university dryers are very expensive (connect laundry are bandits).

I'd second putting money away or on a gift card for now. Wait until you have his accommodation confirmed before you buy anything so you have a better idea what he will need and how much space/storage there will be. At DS's uni, different halls have different size single bed sizes, none of them standard (they did tell you beforehand). DD randomly got a double bed in her flat - all the rooms where the same size but 2 had double beds, 2 had singles. They both got sent official lists(what they need) and unofficial lists (what they want) from the student union/mentors. Plus it's exciting doing the post results day trip to Ikea/Wilko/Primark to get everything

I would also suggest taking a tape measure! Whether they need a mattress topper, clothes airer, shoe rack, guitar rack (looking at you DS), having a tape measure is handy to work out what will fit.

Both mine found a clothes airer invaluable (not just drying washing, but just keeping towel aired etc) - but does depend on space - my dn's room wouldn't have had room.

Extension cable / 4 or 6 socket thingymijig

Door stops

Print some photos out so can personalise the room

Make an 'emergencies box' - first aid, screwdriver, scissors, needles and thread

Tin or airtight box to keep in room, for biscuits / other goodies

Once rooms are allocated, there is often a way the people in the flat can then link up on a Facebook group type thing - so can be a bit more specific then - someone might say they will bring a toastie maker they don't mind sharing and someone else might have something else.
Generally speaking, the kitchens aren't huge and they will normally only have a single cupboard for all their supplies and pots and pans / plates / mugs etc.
Will need a couple of plates and bowls (can often pick these up in charity shops).
Tubs for storage / freezing things are useful (though freezer space is limited, still makes sense to make a big bolognaise or curry or whatever then freeze spare portions.
Things like washing up sponges / liquid will be needed, but there will be 6 lots on the first day

An absolute essential for both DS and DD at uni was a decent mattress topper!

The beds aren’t usually very comfortable and a topper makes all the difference. Most halls have small double beds these days so you just have to hunt around a bit online to find one.

Could you start putting money in a Wilko gift card, A £1 or2 here and he get getwhat he needs, when he knows what that is, in September? If you buy it in his university town, the you won’t have to transport it there either.

I would suggest:

Bedding plus two sets of covers
Towels plus a sports towels
Washing bag/basket
Lamp
Frying pan and 1-2 lidded pans
Spatula and wooden spoon
Chopping board and decent knife
Two place settings of crockery and cutlery
A plastic lidded kitchen box with dried herbs, oil, salt & pepper, tinned basics, pasta, rice
4-5 recipes they have practiced!

Plenty more but for starters

An bless him, my DS misses our cats, too. I send him photos on my phone.

Btw the starter food box was mostly tins (Heinz tomato soup, spaghetti hoops, green beans, sweetcorn, potatoes, tomatoes, hot dog sausages), plus a loaf of bread, pack of long life baguettes, a tub of margarine, milk, cheese and eggs. Obviously this only works if he's getting driven up?

All Halls have food shops nearby but they tend to be the more expensive 'Express ' kinds. You can Google where the nearest Asda / Aldi supermarkets are.

He's in Year 2 now and in a rented house share and entirely self-sufficient, focusing on lab work and the student society he helps to run. Grown up a lot, so fast.

Once your accommodation is confirmed they normally give you a list of what to bring (and what not to) but I would strongly recommend visiting the halls in advance as it will give you an idea of what space there is (most will let you visit outside of open days if you ask). My top tip is less is more - they don't need more than two plates cups bowls etc as space will be at a premium in the kitchen cupboards, my dd is in her first year and the first few visits/trips home were mostly bringing back stuff she didn't need or have room for!