Your Child Is Away At College. How Will You Keep In Touch?

Back in the day when I attended college, keeping in touch with my parents was simple.  I had a phone in my dorm room that I called them on or they called me on. We tried not to stay on the phone all that long since we were charged by message units which was related to both distance and time on the phone. I went to college in Manhattan and my parents lived in Massapequa which is on Long Island. There was also the occasional letter. Those students whose parents lived out of town had a different issue that some of us chronologically gifted people may know as long distance charges. Some dorms did not have phones in their rooms but there was a payphone in the hall. That created a different issue of trying to keep the call short since you may not have had much change, collect call charges could be expensive and there may have been a line to use the phone.

Today things are totally different.  Almost all college students have cell phones and there is Skype and iChat for video conferences.  The cell phone provider you use at home may not have a strong signal where your child is at school. As a parent, it may be worthwhile for you to change cellphone providers or it may be more beneficial for your college student to get a cell phone plan of their own with a provider that has good cell phone reception at their school.

There is also video chatting. Skype and iChat are the two big ones here.  We’ll keep our discussion to Skype as this works on both PC and Macs.  iChat is a proprietary program that only works on Apple products. With Skype you can talk to anyone, anytime, anywhere, any length for free provided you are speaking with someone who is also using Skype. The only charge would be for internet connection fees if any. This is just like at home.

One other possibility to think about is Magic Jack.  For a $70.00 initial investment and a $30.00 annual subscription you can make unlimited calls to the USA and Canada from anywhere in the world where there is an internet connection.

You will or should be having discussions with your college child about the new experiences they will be having. You also will need to also discuss how you will be communicating with him or her while they are away. Will their college friends be using the same cell phone provider? Will you and your child have the same cell phone provider?  If an emergency was to arise how will you get in touch?

Regardless of what plan you choose, your student should also bring an Ethernet cord with them.  If your student lives in a dorm where there is an Ethernet connection you and them will be glad particularly if the Ethernet connection is the only way for them to connect to the internet.

If you have additional questions about keeping in touch with your college child I can be reached at (917) 572-3468 or email me at mike@computerconciergeny.com

My Facebook page http://on.fb.me/MikesCCNY provides information on the current goings on in the technology field. There are tips to better use your computer and smartphone. For timely information, please visit and "Like" my page. 

Except for customized Excel spreadsheets which are provided in the USA and Canada, Computer Concierge NY LLC provides expert computer and technology services in the Queens, NY area. This includes Albertson, Bayside, Bayside Hills, Bay Terrace, Bellerose, College Point, Douglaston, Floral Park,  Flushing, Forest Hills, Great Neck, Jamaica Estates, Kew Gardens, Kings Point, Lake Success, Manhasset, Mineola, Munsey Park,  New Hyde Park, North Hills, North Shore Towers, Oakland Gardens, Plandome, Rego Park, Roslyn, The Bay Club, Thomaston, University Gardens, Williston Park, Whitestone and Other Areas in the Bayside, NY vicinity.

Take College Courses Online for Free

On the web there are many good sites for learning to put it mildly. 

But did you know you can take college courses online for free? For some of these you can listen online to prerecorded lectures/discussions. http://www.ocwconsortium.org/ has a listing of courses online.  MIT has courses there as well on  http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm . Another good site is http://www.apple.com/education/itunes-u/whats-on.html. The latter has mainly courses on audio. Among other colleges having open courseware are Tufts, Notre Dame and Yale a pretty good selection to say the least.  Just do a google search for "opencourseware".  Best of all they are free! A lot also have downloadable handouts as well. You also can search on youtube.com for lectures and courses.  Type the name of the college or university followed by lectures or courses and see the selection available. 

A good way to continue your lifelong learning with no admissions application, tuition, fees or other costs.