College is a fun, exciting, and educational place. This in turn creates many new experiences and opportunities, especially if you move away for college. This is also a stressful new chapter in your life. Students are becoming responsible for themselves and need to take time to accept this change, as well as prepare for it.

Preparing for college is hard. Make a checklist of things you know that you will need to bring with you, like bedding, cleaning supplies, and your clothes. Create a budget and take into account additional expenses for items you didn’t know you needed. Ask around or look up a good checklist of things that people often forget to bring to college. While physical preparation is hard, preparing yourself mentally for possibly leaving home, or even just leaving high school can be even more challenging and is equally as important. Talk to the people you love and maintain the relationships that you need to maintain to create a strong social network that you can rely on!

Whatever path you decide to take, you can do this! With at least a baseline preparation, you will have the necessities for you to succeed in college and live on your own for the first time. As the next semester goes on, you can gradually accumulate any non-necessities that could make your life a whole lot easier!