Are You Heading to Campus in the Fall? Here Are Some Things You’ll Want to Consider!

Room Decorating Tips

The walls are the most obvious place to start creating your new home, and posters are the easiest items with which to decorate. They are an inexpensive way to create an atmosphere that reflects your personality. They can be scattered throughout the room to reflect favorite thoughts and interests or be grouped together to create a central motif. Favorite photographs can be enlarged and used as posters. Please note that tape or nails may not be used. Instead, you will need to purchase poster putty to affix items to your walls and doors.

Another way to make your room a little more homey is by adding a touch of color to the floor. If your budget allows, you may choose to purchase a large carpet remnant that can be cut to fit your room for instant wall-to-wall warmth.

Room decorations do not have to be elaborate in order to transform your room. Little things often make a big difference. For example, matching bedspreads not only liven up a room but add continuity as well. Even a trivial item like a wastebasket can become a conversation piece. Students have used everything from a ceramic crock to an empty pickle pail as a wastebasket!

Just about anything can be turned into a table, shelving or storage. Trunks make great tables or plant stands. Paint or stain orange crates to match your color scheme, then stack them for shelving or use just one as a table, plant stand, etc. Plastic milk crates can serve the same purpose. Any crate makes a perfect tape or CD holder, keeping them together so they can be easily transported. Ask your local supermarket to save their crates. Why not set aside an hour or so this summer to create a book shelf or stereo unit out of plywood and decorative bricks? Again, you can stain or paint these shelves to match your color scheme or line them with wrapping paper, fabric, or shelf paper to carry out your room’s theme.

Guidelines on Decorating

Decorations are encouraged in residence halls as long as they do not create health or fire hazards or cause structural damage. To meet safety standards the following criteria must be adhered to:

• Only non-combustible materials are permitted in student rooms.
• Attachment of paper to light fixtures is not permitted.
• Any materials used to decorate must be of a type that can be easily removed. Nails, tacks and other fasteners which leave permanent holes are not permitted. Tape is not permitted because it leaves a sticky residue. Stick-tack/poster putty, a look-a-like to modeling clay, holds fast and is easy to remove. It can be found in hardware and department stores.
• The contents of a room, that are requested, must remain within the room (i.e. desks, chairs, beds, and bed frames).
• Any modification to the existing electrical system is not permitted.
• Painting of rooms by students is permitted only with permission from the Director of Residential LIfe.

The occupants assigned to each room are financially responsible for keeping the room and its contents in good order and free from damage, whether caused by themselves or others. The cost of any room damage (such as nail holes, broken screens, tape damage, etc.) or extra custodial services will be charged to the students living in that room.

If you have any questions concerning room decorations, please ask your Resident Assistant or Hall Director.

Residence Hall Policies

The residence halls are governed by the policies found in the Student Handbook. These policies have been developed to uphold the rights of each student and all students are expected to be familiar with them. For example, alcoholic beverages are not permitted in the residence halls or on campus unless at a university sponsored event. Another policy is regarding visitation of opposite gender people in a room. Visitation of the opposite gender is permitted in rooms beginning at 9:00 A.M. until 12:00 A.M. Sunday through Thursday and until 2:00 A.M. the evenings of Friday and Saturday.

Phones
While the university does have a small number of phones to provide for students who do not have their own, students must bring a phone with them. This is a great way to personalize your room and make it more like home.

Plants
Plants, too, can add that "little something extra" to your college room. Green growing plants add color, warmth and personality to any room, and most plants thrive with minimal care. So even if you have killed plants in the past, why not try and grow them again?

Refrigerator Policy
The size of the refrigerator may not exceed 4.0 cubic feet, 3 amps and 100 watts. The refrigerator should be maintained and operated in full compliance with sanitation and safety standards. Grounded extension cords may not be used. Only one refrigerator per room is allowed.

Electrical Appliances Policy
Televisions and stereos, electric razors, clocks, hair dryers, lamps, electric blankets and fans are permitted in rooms providing their use does not disturb other occupants of the building and their state of repair is not a fire hazard. Safety and insurance standards require that certain restrictions be placed on the use of electrical appliances in the residence halls. Use of hot plates, George Foreman grills, skillets, toaster ovens, or any other cooking devices are only permitted in the kitchen areas of the residence halls. In additions, sun lamps, halogen lamps, air conditioners (except those limited number rented to students with health concerns), microwave ovens and gas appliances may not be used. Please leave these items at home. The use of personally owned electrical irons is limited to the laundry rooms only.

Closets
One part of your room that you may not have thought about is your closet. A college closet will probably be much smaller than the one you presently use at home. Therefore, the better you use the space in your closet, the more room you will have to store things.

Besides being a place to hang your clothes and store shoes, your closet services as a laundry hamper, hiding dirty clothes. To keep laundry in a central location, buy a laundry bag or make one of your own. Simply use a pillow case with a drawstring sewn in one end or unfold a coat hanger and attach it to the pillowcase to form an open ended laundry bag. Then hang your bay on a hook inside your closet door. A laundry bag saves space in your closet and makes it easier to transport dirty clothes to the laundry room. A small wicker hamper, stored in a corner, also hides laundry and makes a perfect plant stand.

By organizing your closet space, you will be able to keep more items out of sight. Tackle boxes, tupperware and even shoe boxes are easily stacked to store everything from aspirin and safety pins to laundry detergent. A plastic bucket makes ideal storage for toiletries and a bucket is easy to take to community bathrooms.

Since closet space is limited even for hanging clothes, purchase pant and skirt hangers that attach to one another to minimize the amount of room that your clothes take up in your closet. If closet and dresser space isn’t sufficient even after you organize them, buy a plastic, metal or cardboard storage compartment that fits under your bed to store out-of-season clothing. Plastic, stackable bins are a new way to store extra clothing, too. They come in bright colors and can be found in most department stores. They are also a great way to supplement your desk space. Stack them along your desk to store extra typing paper and unused notebooks. A coat tree is an excellent way to rid a closet of bulky coats and jackets.

Health Services
Services are contracted Redimed/Statcare.  Your health fee covers basic medical services offered by Redimed/Statcare.  You will receive more information about the services offered when you receive your housing assignment information over the summer. 

Packing Suggestions
In addition to the items that you surely will remember to bring (clothes, toiletries, etc.) we have listed some things which you may not have thought of. Keep in mind that although many students find these items handy, not all of them are necessary.

Raincoat/umbrella	Scissors	Boots
Camera/film	Window fan	Slippers/robe
Shower shoes/flip flops	Calculator	Alarm clock
Games	Storage crates	Big bowl for popcorn
Address book	Back pack/book bag	Rolls of quarters for laundry
Laundry bag or basket	Towels/napkins	Hairdryer
Stamps/envelopes	Shower Bucket	Curling iron
Plate, knife, fork, spoon, bowl	Extension cord	Hangers
Collapsible clothes drying rack	Coffee mug/tumbler	Can opener
Iron	Linens	Pillow
Dictionary/ Thesaurus	Safety pins	Sewing kit

Remember, you will be able to buy school supplies, personal toiletries, laundry detergent, food, and other necessities in Fort Wayne. Many students find it easier to pick up some of these items once they get to campus, rather than bring them from home.

Because you won’t need winter clothes until November or December, you may wish to leave them at home for the first part of the semester. Thanksgiving is a convenient time to take your summer clothes home and return to school with your warmer clothes.

Most new residents will receive an offer in the mail to order linens from On Campus Marking: Residence Hall Linens. Click the following address for more information.
www.oncampusmarketing.com