What's Best to Take Along to College?

Insight on the News, August 27, 2001 by Stephen Goode

Recently IKEA, the home-furnishings retailer, queried 600 randomly selected students across the country about what they took with them from home when they went to college. Last week for the people reported part of that survey. Here's another segment of what the IKEA pollsters found out about America's college students and how what they take along to college influences their lives.

* Green blankets can keep you slim and saucy. Students who took white blankets to college later were found to be more than twice as likely to have gained weight during their freshman year compared with students who took green blankets.

* Blue doesn't necessarily mean blue, and pink is best of all. Females who came to college with a white blanket were three times more likely to say they were depressed every day while at school compared with females who brought a blue blanket. Students who brought pink blankets never mentioned being depressed.

* Being deskless drives a gal to drink. Females without desks in their bedrooms at college were 70 percent more likely to say they drank alcohol often compared to females with desks in their bedrooms.

* For guys, it's Internet access that drives them to drink. Males with Internet access at college were a whopping 92 percent more likely to report drinking alcohol while at college than males without Internet access.

* Security blankets don't work for college students. Students who brought what they called a "security blanket" with them were three times as likely to cry every week while at college compared with those who didn't bring along a "security blanket."

* Blue blankets prompt bad dreams. Females who brought a blue blanket to college were more than twice as likely to suffer from nightmares compared with women who brought along a white blanket.

* Buy a sofa and save on phone bills. Students without sofas in their bedrooms at college were 75 percent more likely to say that they called home every day than students with sofas in their bedrooms.

* A picture does make a difference. Students who said they couldn't leave home without photos of family and friends were the least likely to say they felt homesick at college.

* Don't buy a personal computer and save on phone bills. Males who brought PCs with them to college were more than three times as likely to call home every day than males who didn't bring a PC to college.