Author’s Note-I apologize in advance for the size of this guide. It is quite large as I hope to make a detailed and useful list.
Time and time again I see gift buying guides for college students that are okay, but lacking in what is really significant for a college student. Nearing my senior year at University, I have amassed a list of objects that every college student needs
A complete tool kit.
It doesn’t matter if the student is male or female, they will absolutely need this. Be sure to purchase a complete tool kit. By complete, I mean it must be a full-sized, grand quality tool dwelling with a durable and compact case. The kit should include something akin to the list below:
Screw drivers
Hammer
Some screws, nails, and tacks
Small squares of varying grain sandpaper
Wrenches [crescent wrench, pipe wrench, etc.]
Pliers, both adjustable and needle nose.
Wire cutters
A little hacksaw blade and a collapsible hack saw
Small socket set
Small power screwdriver
Flashlight
Utility knife
Duct tape and Wiring tape
Duct tape really does hold the world together, and is one of the most useful things to be found in a college dorm. I’ve seen duct tape used for tons of things the average person would never contemplate of. Not convinced this is necessary? Here’s a list of things that duct tape has been used for:
Repair broken toilet seat
Make slippers and other apparel
Patch holes in drywall
Hold broken refrigerator door shut
Reattach loose car fender
Repair the torn bottom of blown backpacks
Repair books after they’ve been used as Frisbee’s
Hang Christmas lights
Hold that spring down in the broken lounge couch
This is honest a small list. Duct tape is necessary. Also, writing tape is impartial as useful. It can be removed from temporary surfaces without the same damaging effects of duct tape, and can come in many different colors.
A Quarter Peanut Machine
Yes, a quarter peanut machine. College students are poor. However, they do tend to have change. Filling a quarter gumball machine with peanuts and rolling it into the hallway at strategic times can be quite profitable.
Pre-paid Credit Cards
The main reason for giving a student one of these is safety. It is uncertain for a student to carry money around a campus; as an absolute rule, I never carry cash on my person. I have seen people robbed simply because the jingle of coins could be heard from their pockets.
Prepaid credit cards are as good as a “steady” one and can be obsolete anywhere. It’s like a perpetual gift card that can be old-fashioned anywhere. If you obtain one, be sure to purchase one that can be recharged. This way, you or the student can add more money as needed, and avoid carrying cash.
Vehicle Care
Cars are very important to college students, yet tend to be the most neglected. Money is precious to a college student, and they can always find something better to spend it on. Giving them gift certificates for regular car tune ups and oil changes can execute life much easier. Regular tune-ups will hopefully prevent the car from breaking down. Occupy me, college students ignore and otherwise abuse their cars. These gifts are really useful. Believe about it; if they don’t have the money for an oil change, what will they do when the engine seizes up?
Nalgene Water Bottle
http://www.nalgene-outdoor.com/
Okay, you probably think I’m crazy with this one. A water bottle? Not just a water bottle, but a Nalgene water bottle. These water bottles can withstand anything a college student throws at them. Durable beyond belief, you can run these over, step on them, throw them, smash them, and soak them in boiling water-nothing affects them. This is very necessary. In the morning it can be filled with boiling-hot coffee, in the afternoon it can be filled with milkshake, and at night be tossed in the freezer. Nothing fazes them.
Auto Self Charge Car Battery Jumper
http://www.cetsolar.com/waganjumper.htm
A really annoying habit of college students is killing their car battery. It is very common and very frustrating, especially in the winter semesters. This neat little self jumper costs $50 dollars, and is a wonderful gadget. It looks like a big yellow battery, with a cord coming off it that plugs into the DC outlet of you car.
If the car is left on and the battery dies, simply sit inside the car, plug the battery in, and ten minutes later you have a full charge. You never have to stand outside, or fiddle with the battery cables.
Heated Vibrating Mattress Massager
Oh baby, what students would give for these! These are heated, massaging mats that lay flat on top of a mattress. They vibrated, punch, press, or dead rotate. College books are heavy. I’ve had a backpack weight nearly fifty pounds. After walking around with it all day, sitting through class, trudging through the rain/snow/whatever, students are sore, they have lower back hurt beyond their years, and they just ache everywhere.
The comfort of being able to lay on your bed, warm it up, and get a massage is a comfort that very few understand the necessity of.
Cell Phone
I know, this is where you roll your eyes and say “I understanding this was a PRACTICAL guide!” Trust me, a cell phone is absolutely necessary on a college campus, and compared to the price of even one college textbook, it is not an expensive or impractical gift.
On college, cell phones are necessary for a number of reasons. In today’s day in age, the majority of college students do not have a land line. There is no point, when a cell phone can be taken everywhere, and the student is rarely home.
Cell phones near with a variety of features. These extra features are necessary. You may not conception internet access and a camera as necessary, but let’s take a look at it for a second.
At the modern college, everything centers around the Internet. This includes homework and last minute changes. Professors often send out changes in schedule, homework, and whatnot by means of email. The ability to access these anywhere on campus are necessary; depending on the size of campus, walking back to the dorms can be a lengthy process, taking anywhere from 10 – 30 minutes.
Also, camera’s can be really necessary. What’s college without being able to take pictures? For a college student, there is no such thing as “film”. No one even comprehends this word anymore. Everything is digital. Carrying around a digital camera can be both cumbersome and expensive. The average camera phone costs less than a digital camera, and can capture pictures that are of good quality. When you factor in the fact that a camera phone comes with more than just a camera, you can gawk that it’s a very good deal.
So now you’re saying “they can live without the camera phone, it is just a perk.” Let’s peruse at things from a more practical standpoint. A college student is walking on campus and see’s someone breaking into a car [possibly their's.] SNAP! They now have picture proof. Or, they return to their dorm room to find it in shambles. SNAP! Evidence.
Or how about, they are driving home and someone rear-ends them. With a few snaps of the camera, you know have proof of what happened.
Trust me, fully loaded cell phones are necessary. Now, before you run off and get one, Halt! Do not bag a college student a cell phone plan, unless you are going to put them on your plan and pay their bill [which I don't recommend.]
Most college students are poor. Don’t stick them with a monthly bill. Instead, purchase them a prepaid cell phone. Prepaid phones are no longer clunky, featureless and intended for only emergencies. Nearly every cell phone can be purchased as prepaid, including the Razr, which is one of the most popular phones found in college.
When you purchase a prepaid cell phone, the student has the option of switching it over to a monthly conception, if their finances permit. This way, they can make the decision, and it is their decision. Also, if they can’t afford that, they still have the perks of a phone, unprejudiced on a monthly basis.
After reviewing the prepaid phone options, their features, and my possess experiences, the best phone to procure a college student, in my opinion, would be the prepaid Razr with the T-Mobile prepaid minutes concept. You can idea it here.
Essentially, the Razr come’s with Bluetooth, a camera, picture and text messaging, a large screen, video capture and playback, alarm clock, calculator, calendar, speakerphone, and external caller ID, and it comes with 60 minutes of free airtime. The Razr is small and light, and only costs $200. For a camera like this, $200 is a grand deal.
If you resolve to go with T-Mobile, purchasing $100 dollars of minutes will get you 1000 minutes of air time, and the minutes don’t expire.
Movies!
Despite what you may believe, college is highly stressful. Students need ways to forget their problems and just laugh. Movies invent well-behaved instant stress relievers. Anyway for a student to observe movies will make a good gift. Netflix tends to be popular, although DVD’s in a dorm room can prove hazardous. A better idea would be something like movielink.com, where they can virtually rent or lift a movie and have it instantly.
USB Flash Drive
As stated before, everything revolves around the computer. There is no such thing as a “floppy” any more. Computers don’t advance with floppy drives. Flash Drives dawdle into the USB port and can be used to quickly transfer music and other files from computer to computer. While a 128 MB drive is good, going all out and getting a 1 GB would be best.
Noise Cancelling Headphone
College is noisy, and dorm’s are unbearably so. Dorms are loud, the library is loud, the student union is an explosion of noise-how’s a student supposed to study? Noise cancelling headphones are a necessity. They can block even the loudest noise, and sometimes it the only way a student will get sleep.
Last but not least, the Ultimate Gift
This is the gift without a name. This is the gift that will make you an instant success. This is the gift that will prove ultimately valuable, more so than an iPod or even a car.
This is the Ultimate Gift.
Take basket. Fill it with two hundred water balloons, five cans of amusing string, a bottle of itching powered, gum that turns the teeth murky, “terrible tasting” powder, a “fart” odor can, a tube of Icy Hot, and about 1 hundred yards of plastic wrap. This will last four years.
Don’t ask what they are for.
You can’t understand till the appointed time comes
