What to consider when planning to send kids to college

As we approach the month of August & September, most kids have identified their one way flights & perhaps booked tickets too, parents at this time are busy preparing list of essential and non essential items, irrespective of the flight time, airlines have weight restrictions for both check-in and carry-on bags, still it is unlikely that purchases are made considering weight of any item, for many of you this may be the first time that your child will be pursuing his/her studies overseas, every one is a bit tensed, if not on how the child will secure good grades but certainly on what they should carry with them to their dorm room, pre-departure planning can be overwhelming for many parents, at times there are some very basic questions which become the cause for concern, for instance how the kid will safely commute when the threat of Delta Variant is still looming. With proper pre-departure planning the family can avoid unnecessary anxiety. Here are 5 essential things you should consider which will be different from previous years of pre-departure planning.

• Complete Health Checkup – This year before your kid boards the flight, parents ought to go the extra mile to ensure their kids are healthy in every aspect, from head to toe, developing strength and immunity will be the utmost priority in this year’s per-departure planning, this was not much of a concern before 2019, to start with, getting a full body check up, filling up deficiency gaps via proper nutrition, developing schedules to correct circadian (sleep) cycle, keeping a strong check on being under or over weight would constitute most priority under your pre-departure planning this year, it simply would be a complete waste of all efforts towards admission, if the child were to recklessly party and contract COVID or are sick due to not practising healthy habits and they are not allowed to board a flight, in spite of the fact that there are no restriction in immigration and flying.
• In-Flight Precaution Planning – Prevention is better than cure, aircraft’s are large cabins with no possibility of outside air ventilation, chances are that your kid will travel in a fully booked flight, flight duration may range from 8-16 hours, getting a handful and the most appropriate masks, such as N95, or the ones which do not defog/build up heat and also which do not build up unnecessary itching or scratching should be your priority time to purchase, remember that economy class seats are placed much closer to each other than their premium counterparts! Even if there is a 5% chance which enhances precaution during the flight, then spending that extra thousand US dollars for a premium seat won’t be a bad idea! After all its a one way flight for your kid in this trip.
• Getting a head start before commencing your first semester – Entire 2020 was virtual from schools to colleges to universities across the globe, till date your child has undergone schooling where-in physical tutoring and one-on-one interaction has been the standard process for them to learn, it would be a smart idea for kids to have a look at the syllabus of their enrolled classes (US kids would already be enrolled in their first semester class in their respective universities), completing even 10% or 3 weeks of study would get kids the advantage to match the pace of their college classes even if they were to be conducted virtually.
• Getting Rid of Communication Gaps – The more your child is distantly placed from you the more difficult it becomes to be in constant touch with them, even for kids to give you regular update becomes a point of concern for them, they are subjected to fast learning paced learning, if unorganized then they lack behind, utilizing your time in clearing your doubts as to how they will communicate with you should be part of your pre-departure planning process rather than you spending most of your time shopping for items that you think they need, one-on-one session with your kids in explaining your expectation and also understanding their view on their education journey will help you build faster communication with them, having lengths of talks is not as important as having agile, to the point and meaningful conversations!
• Designing Local Support System – After 12th class or when your child crosses 18 years of age, your child is considered to be an adult in many countries, but that does not imply that they are very well versed with the law of the land, similarly when kids try to adjust to foreign culture and system, they need help, especially for those kids who by their nature are reserved and introvert, they may not express much, hence having a local guardian or just making friends with parents of other kids who are attending the same college will keep your well informed and up to date on activities which might require your help and attention. Keeping in touch with you education consultant from time to time will also solve a lot of queries that might build up over the period of time.

Satyam Khanna