Going off to college is a massive milestone in the lives of young adults who’re for the first time achieving some semblance of independence - though of course, it’s a gradual and sometimes difficult process. For parents, too, it’s a teary milestone during which you’re sending your loved one off into the ‘real world’ for the first time. 

As such, there are some things that will help make this milestone more emphatic, and the transition of your son or daughter to college more com-fortable. This article takes a look at the top three absolute essentials to help your child as they head to college.

Your child may already have a laptop, but if they do it’s more than likely that it’s become old, frail and slow in its earlier years. College requires intense studious periods during which stu-dents must be able to rely on their laptops to access reading material, to communicate with their course leaders, and to create and submit work. It’s hugely important they have the right computing gear to help them achieve good grades.

With this in mind, before they head off to college one of the most profoundly useful gifts you can give your child is a new, well-made, good-value laptop. You can find the perfect laptop online for your child by searching comparison sites - which will help you find the best laptop in your price range to help your child succeed.

Students have a certain reputation for not being all that healthy while they’re at university studying. Instant noodles replace Sunday lunch, and take-away meals become a regular event in their lives. Of course, they’re free to choose what they want to choose - but if you provide your child with the essentials to cook food at their college accommodation, they’ll be more likely to eat healthily and save money while at college.

So, what kind of essentials? Well, they’ll not need much to cook a wide variety of food. Here’s the minimum:

• A plate, a bowl, a set of cutlery, a glass, and a coffee mug

• A frying pan and a deep pan

• A wooden spoon and a spatula 

• A kettle and a toaster, if you’re feeling like spending a little more cash

Blenders are also useful for fruit smoothies as well as soups and curries - a great little addition to a young student’s kitchen repertoire.

Ah yes - the studious young pupil’s eternal companion - a nice pile of books to work through as the semesters come and go. Books are relatively expensive, but absolutely essential for stu-dents studying every subject under the sun. 

To show that you care about their progression - and to help them learn the basics of their de-gree in their own time - find some relevant source books online and send them off to college with the seminal literature that’ll help them get ahead in their studies. It’s a nice touch to offer to bankroll their course books - seeing as sometimes these costs can add up for students of lit-erature, history and philosophy.

There you have it - the three key essentials for students you’ll be sending off to college in 2019.