Study in the USA - practical matters

[Digimoor]

So DC has been offered a place to study in the USA
Apart from getting them and their stuff there what else do I need to consider?

Visa
How much it will cost.
He will probably be sharing a room with someone.
Rules can be quite strict in dorms- a bit like boarding school.
What is the public transport like - if he isn’t staying on campus.

Health Insurance

Buy plane tickets home for Xmas early

If they plan to drive, get a local driver’s licence (much easier than in the UK)

Establish local bank account in dollars

• Vaccinations
• Visas (the Uni should have a portal that guides you through the process)
• Health insurance (via the Uni - cheaper)
• Accommodation (my DC lived on campus and shared a room - v common at that Uni)
• Bank account
• US SIM card
• VPN maybe

Exciting! Good luck.

Early booking of plane tickets is a good shout

I hadn't thought about the vaccinations

They are strict on vaccinations, I took a couple of Uni courses as an adult and had to show a full vaccination card before I could sign up.

Yes DC had to show he had antibodies to chicken pox from infection as a toddler to avoid the varicella vaccination. The doctor had to show blood test results instead. They are very strict about them so prepare in advance as some need boosters after a certain period of time so you need to complete the course.

My DS spent last year at a private LAC in california. The good news is that they are super-organised and have a well-oiled onboarding program for internationals, so you should get easy to follow instructions that cover pretty much everything. A few things:
They will require your DC to be absolutely fully vaccinated either before arrival or within the first week or so of arriving and their idea of fully vaccinated is different to the UK (includes eg chickenpox). This is non-negotiable. Can't attend class without it. My DS got the extras he needed at the health centre there for little or no cost surprisingly.
They will probably have a mandatory health insurance scheme so buy that. They need to give you specific paperwork showing that he is an accepted student (I can't remember the name of the standard form) to enable you to get a visa in advance, and then they MUST bring it on the trip as border security will scrutinise it. My DS benefitted from an easier visa because of Canadian citizenship so I can't tell you much about the timescales or difficulties of that, as he was able to just get a visa on the border, and border security are used to, and bored by, Canadians. But some others from his uni who went to the US almost didn't get the visa in time so start early, once you get the specific paperwork you need.
As part of the visa, border security will want to see that DC has funds to pay food accommodation and maintenance for their whole year, so they need to have a bank account with eg $25,000k in it in their own name, and they need to be able to show a statement to border security. Again, we had funds in Canada and managed to put a wodge into his name and they were happy with a canadian bank account (USD denominated) but this is something to think about in advance.
You will be told that DC has to spend masses (literally thousands) on books at the uni bookstore. This is alien to UK students. In the US there will be set texts per class and THAT is the book you are expected to read and learn. In fact all the texts are available free online so scrap that out of your budget.
The whole dorm-room decoration thing is a bit out of control in some unis. If you are only going for a year as the exchange kid you can opt out, but if you are going for the full 4 years I don't think you can. Doubly so if you are female. It is a sort of bonding thing that gets arranged in advance with the room-mate - who brings the mini-fridge, who brings the rug, what your colour theme is etc. Less so for males but be aware of it and make sure DC communicates in a suitably american and enthusiastic way about it or they will be on the back foot before they start.
If your DC is going to fly out solo, then you can do a big bed bath and beyond order for all towels, bedding, and dorm stuff including rugs and fans and bins and body wash and shampoo and god-knows what online, and get them to hold it for a specific day for pick up from the branch local to the uni. This is what we did. DS flew into LA on the Thursday, had a night in a hotel and took an UBER a mile or so down the road to pick it all up and get moved into his dorm on the Friday. Much much easier than shipping stuff over or trekking around the shops yourself, as they literally bring bags and boxes out to the cab and hurl it in the trunk. But some unis also arrange Target Trips in the first week (laying on shuttles) so it is easy to go and pick up the stuff you have forgotten. Of course if you are going to go out with them to settle them in you will probably just do it all in the big box stores when you get there.
There is a really fantastic service called www.sendmybag.com which specialises in sending luggage from home to uni dorm and back again, even half way around the world. They literally picked up two huge suitcases from him in california at the end of his year (as he was going on a road trip and didn't want anything other than a small bag) and 48 hours later they were delivered to my front door. Really good value. Have a look. You could also use it to send luggage and boxes out to the US so it is just waiting for him in his dormroom rather than make him lug everything on and off of planes, especially if he has transfers and you worry about the luggage ending up in Wichita by mistake.
Re bank accounts - my DS never got a US bank account as he was happy using Monzo and his UK account. However if yours will be there for more than a year he def should open one asap, and get a credit card, and start building up a credit record. Again, the unis all take international students to banks in orientation weeks to do that but he could also open eg a Chase account here and get it running so that it is easier to transfer to a US chase account when he gets there.
If I think of anything else I will let you know! Do ask if you have any questions.

How do you get a blood test to show you've had chicken pox?
The remainder of the vaccinations look okay I think

Sendmybag may be a good option.

I expect one of us will go with him for the move in but it clashes with back to school in the UK

I had a note put on my record that I had had chicken pox with the date, which was excepted.

School also excepted this for dc.

Brilliant information- thank you - lots I didn’t know about.

My son has been accepted to a year abroad in the US starting this autumn. It’s an exciting if daunting development.

Accepted. I really want an edit button on the app!

Cost is a huge, huge factor and often sort of snowballs the closer you get to starting (course materials, both course fees as an international student and accommodation costs, etc). Unless they're in a major city it's much more common to need a car to get around/pick up groceries here, so that may need to be factored in, plus health insurance as PPs said. For what it's worth though, if your DC can swing it, I did grad school out here and loved it so much I stayed

I have 2 DC at universities in the US.

They have US passports although they had never lived or spent much time in the IS before going to study there, so visas were not an issue for them.

Is your DC going for their full degree or a semester/year abroad?

If they are going for their full degree I will presume you have already looked at fees.

If they are going for their full degree have a look at some YouTube videos of move in day and first weeks/orientation. They will give you an idea of what students bring and how they physically get all their stuff to their room. They will be different for each university.
For DC1 we ordered some stuff to be delivered to the mail room at her university and hired a car and went and bought the rest. The mailroom was a few blocks from her dorm so I drove down to pick up stuff that was delivered.
For DC2 we ordered absolutely everything from bedding to a fridge and fairy lights to be delivered to the mailroom which was a few doors from her dorm room. The mailroom provided trolleys for getting everything to her room.

DD1 was missing some vaccines but it wasn’t a problem she just got them over there after she started.

Most freshmen have at least one roommate. Some universities you can chose your own and some chose for you.

Depending on the state the university is in cannabis may be legal and freely available but alcohol will be illegal while under 21. It is against university regulations in both my DCs universities to have alcohol In the dorm.

Also look at videos of the dining halls and check out meal plans.

I would recommend that your child join the FB group for the university as all these things people buy (fridges, dorm room stuff etc) are frequently given away. All the schools have a “free or cheap” FB page for students.

And yes to vaccinations, MMR, Chicken pox, and meningitis is a big one. Also COVID nowadays I suppose.

Also as someone mentioned, don’t ever buy a textbook until you determine that you actually have to buy it (some professors require that you do especially if they wrote it 🙄). Also textbooks can be rented for the whole semester from Amazon.

Some excellent advice here.

However, Bed, Bath and Beyond no longer operates brick and mortar stores, iirc. Your student will need towels, flip flops, detergent, toiletries, an extra long mattress cover and extra long fitted sheets (dorm mattresses tend to be extra long), blankets/ duvet, pillows, pillow slips, hangers, laundry bag, shower caddy, storage for stuff like underwear (plastic drawers, etc). It's a good idea to start looking online for all this in July, when the summer stuff starts to disappear from places like Walmart and Target and Back To School stuff appears. Look at dorm regs wrt what appliances are allowed in the dorm rooms.

You can find second-hand dorm room fridges, microwaves, electric kettles, etc. online. If your student is in Boston, just trawl around and you'll find stuff like mirrors, storage, rugs, etc. dumped on the curb on 'move in day' (Aug 31st/ September 1st). It's probably easier to have stuff delivered from store to dorm though.

Also, find out which banks have campus branches, and open your student's account there. A campus branch isn't an absolute necessity if the university is in an urban setting, but if it's a college town/ rural setting it is. It's especially important to have a campus ATM that is operated by your student's bank. My DCs ended up with Chase, Bank of America, and Ally (which is an online-only bank).

If he's in a dorm (highly recommended as an option if there is a choice) there will very likely be a cafeteria in the dorm building so groceries / shopping won't be an issue. Dorms are good places to make friends.

Read all information about move-in day carefully. Universities usually have time slots for different groups. There will be info about paperwork, check-in, where to park and for how long, etc.

Read all academic advising information carefully - make sure your student is in the right classes and is happy with his or her academic advisor. This is important.

Once moved in, the maintenance team can raise beds to allow the dorm room desk to be pulled in under the bed or to leave room for storage, or make the two beds in the dorm room into bunks, freeing up floor space. Requests generally have to be submitted, so watch out for notices about this.

Look at the Greek element of the university - some universities have a huge sorority/ fraternity culture. Your student may or may not be interested in joining one. There are plusses and minuses.

Also, there may be an opportunity for your student to do a tick box exercise describing himself - night owl/ early bird, tidy/ messy, loud/ quiet, etc, so the university can try to match him with a similar student as a roomie.

If they have any scholarships/financial aid they may need to do a US tax return.
I know athletes on scholarship who found that a surprise.

Kevlar vest

Not even joking

I did a year in the US. It was quite a few years ago, so things might have changed but didn't need lots of the things mentioned here.

As it was an exchange and we were in dorms meals were provided and I never needed to buy groceries. Shared a room (which is the norm) so didn't need much for the room but anyway was out all the time socialising or studying so didn't need tv, microwave etc.

We were taken at the beginning of term by the director of halls to Walmart to get toiletries, bedding etc. Books we bought second hand in the college shop, and you could sell back at the end of term.

I certainly wouldn't have expected (frankly would have been embarrassed) a parent to go with me at the age but I think times might have changed on that. Also we didn't take much, just a suitcase and a bag, no shipping anything and that was fine. Had to buy a few things as the weather where I went was quite variable but was mainly fine with what I took. In some ways it was quite liberating to travel light!

Is it for a year/ semester? If so there might be students who went in previous years who can advise on what's needed at that particular college, as it might vary.

US college dorms mostly have twin XL bedding which is not easily available in the U.K. or Ireland so definitely buy bedding there.

@Disasterclass I think it is different now especially for freshman.
When by DC started last August there were events for parents and families on move in day and almost everyone had family there.
My older DC started during Covid. Only US citizens and certain visa holders could enter the US.
I have a US passport so went with my DC but I saw other international freshman arrive with concierge/chaperon type people who collected them at the airport, took them to a hotel for a couple of nights, drove them to a Walmart and Target to buy dorm stuff and helped them move in.

OP as you have a son starting he might not be as in to dorm room vibes as my DDs but Dormify gave lots of inspiration

Warn him that most States have a drinking age of 21. I had a student sent home from our Junior Year Abroad exchange scheme because she consistently flouted this law.

It is a full 4 year programme

Congratulations!

1. The college will help with the visa. DS' college has an international office which has been really helpful.

2. Vaccinations are a hassle so get started early.

3. Check to see if your DC will have international orientation before term starts. DS had to be there for it.

4. We left DS to go in his own and went to 'parents' weekend' about a month later. It was nice to spend time with him when he was settled. I think we'd have been in the way if we'd gotten me with him.

Do you want to say which college? DS is at Princeton.

Needing a car