Quick answer: May is paperwork, June is health records and roommate matching, July is the housing assignment and most of the shopping, August is packing and logistics. The shopping people start in May is the part that should happen last.
The summer before freshman year has more administrative deadlines than most families expect, and they arrive from four different offices that do not coordinate with each other. This is the order they typically come in.
May: paperwork and decisions
- Submit the enrollment deposit and confirm it processed
- Complete the housing application, which usually has its own deadline separate from enrollment
- Send final high school transcripts
- Register for orientation, which fills up at large schools
- Accept or decline financial aid, and review the loan paperwork carefully
- Set up the student email account and start actually reading it
Nearly every deadline this summer will be communicated to the student email address, not to a parent. Set that up in May and agree on how it gets checked.
June: health, money and matching
- Submit immunization records and the health form, which usually requires a physician visit
- Handle the meningitis and other required vaccinations on the school's list
- Complete the roommate questionnaire or matching process
- Set up banking: a checking account the student can access near campus, and a plan for how money moves
- Sign the FERPA, HIPAA and power of attorney documents you intend to have in place once they turn 18
- Register for classes at schools that do it during summer orientation
The legal documents are the item most families skip and most regret skipping. Once a student turns 18, a parent has no automatic access to medical or academic information. Here is what those documents actually are.
July: the assignment and the shopping
- Watch for the housing assignment, which typically lands mid to late July
- Open the hall page for room dimensions, bed height, furniture and loft rules
- Contact the roommate and divide shared purchases before either of you buys
- Buy the two thirds of the list that does not depend on the room: bedding, bath, laundry, power
- Book the move-in time slot and parking pass as soon as they open
- Sort out renters or personal property coverage if you want it
Pick a budget tier rather than shopping item by item. It is faster, and it is the only reliable way to avoid the second and third trips.
August: pack and go
- Confirm the move-in slot, route and what the hall allows you to bring up
- Pack by category, label boxes by room, and keep the first-night bag separate
- Buy anything that could not be decided earlier: storage sized to the room, rug, fridge if it is yours
- Fill prescriptions and transfer them to a pharmacy near campus
- Print or save the student ID, housing confirmation and move-in instructions offline
- Agree in advance how often you will actually talk, which prevents both of you guessing
The three things families most often miss
The health form deadline
It requires a doctor's appointment, and appointments in July are hard to get. Book it in June.
The 18-year-old paperwork
FERPA, HIPAA and a healthcare proxy. Nobody thinks about it until they need it, and then it is too late.
The roommate conversation
Not the friendly introduction. The specific one about who buys the fridge, the rug and the microwave.
If you only do one thing early, start a shared list in June that both the student and the roommate can see. Most of August's chaos is really a July communication problem.
Work the timeline in DormHQ.
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