Preparing for a kickass school year while raising a preschooler? Here are 24 best school supplies for college mom students for academic success.
As a mom who returned to college when her son was 3 years old, I know all about some of the best school supplies for college you will absolutely need for an organized, successful school year.
Having these supplies ensure that you can complete your coursework, correct errors, correspond with your school and professors, and make your completed assignments look professional.
All of these items will help you reduce stress, do what you need on your own time, and make a good impression on your professors by submitting high-quality, professional-looking assignments.
Here is everything I acquired and utilized throughout my college experience that I just could NOT have lived without. (*They helped me graduate successfully with a 3.92 GPA as a Chemistry major*).
This post is all about the best school supplies for college.
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Best School Supplies For College Moms:
Core Essentials
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1. Internet Service
The single most important essential that I just can’t even imagine ANY college student being able to live without is, hands down, the internet.
Especially if you’re a mom who works, you need to have the ability to work on assignments, conduct research, and so on whenever the opportunity presents itself or the urge strikes you.
It will be astoundingly unideal and inconvenient to have to worry about getting to a family member’s place or your local library according to their timeframe to use their internet service instead.
You may have a restless night and find yourself with free time to put to use at 1 am for maximum productivity on a research paper.
You can’t do that if you don’t have access to your own internet.
I use Xfinity. They offer standard packages, plus they offer a $9.95/month package if you are low income and qualify for public assistance programs such as the National School Lunch Program, Housing Assistance, Medicaid, SNAP, SSI, and others.
You can choose an Xfinity plan here.
2. Computer
A computer is just as important as having an internet connection, maybe even more so since the internet isn’t going to do you much good without a computer.
A desktop is one option, but a laptop is more convenient since you can transport it with you or lay in bed while working on projects at home.
I had both a regular desktop and a MacBook laptop. I loved my MacBook – I think Apple products are so AMAZING!
However, the MacBook didn’t meet the system requirements my computer needed to satisfy to work successfully with my school’s system.
This Lenovo met all requirements and was perfectly compatible with all systems and software required to complete my course program.
3. Cell Phone
I feel like surviving life (at least with any kind of convenience) without a cell phone would be nearly impossible nowadays.
My iPhone was a godsend in so many instances.
I had to use it to call the bus service sometimes to make sure I hadn’t missed the bus and find out if it was running late.
On the day of a presentation, I missed my bus and had to use the Uber app on my phone to get a ride to school.
I would watch video tutorials on the YouTube app about how to solve some of my chemistry problems while I rode the bus to school.
The list goes on of things I would not have been able to do if I hadn’t had my cell phone. I just couldn’t imagine.
4. All-in-1 Printer, Copier, Scanner, and Fax Machine
When you embark on your journey toward going back to college, you will need to fax documents to your school.
You will also need to print slideshow presentations (or notes of some kind) that your professor has posted.
You may find yourself having to forego attending class on a particular day that an assignment is due because of unforeseen circumstances.
But if you can scan your work, you can still send it to your professor and make sure you don’t lose credit (along with shooting an email to explain your situation to your professor).
College life was so much easier due to my ability to print my notes or valuable information I found online, along with my capability to copy notes, scan assignments, and fax required details to specific departments of my college.
5. Printer Paper and 6. Backup Ink
You will need printer paper for your All-in-1 printer to print out any notes or assignments you may need for your classes.
Having an extra ink cartridge accessible for backup is always a good idea. You never know when you may run out, so I recommend having one on hand.
7. Backpack
A good quality backpack is a must.
You’ll want one large enough to fit your books comfortably with padded support on the straps to ease the strain on your shoulders.
I made the mistake of buying one initially from Five Below. *Smh.* It was a terrible idea.
It was too small to fit all my books, so I would end up having to carry half my binders and textbooks in my arms while the rest were on my back.
Also, it had zero-padded shoulder support, which inflicted complete misery on my shoulders.
Spare yourself the discomfort and inconvenience by getting a good-quality backpack from the very beginning.
8. Binders
You will absolutely NEED binders to keep your course materials together.
Having one will keep your notes and other paperwork organized and convenient to locate in one specific place.
You can get a large binder and use subject dividers to separate multiple subjects.
Or, I prefer having various medium-sized binders where I include only one subject per binder.
In it, I’d keep my course syllabus, notes, homework assignments, and graded tests and quizzes.
9. Loose-Leaf Filler Paper
You will need some loose-leaf notebook paper to keep inside your binders for jotting down notes from your professors.
You’ll also want to write your own personal notes from reading assignments and any brainstorming you may do.
I alternated between using wide-ruled and college-ruled, but ultimately, college-ruled was my favorite.
The spaces between the lines are smaller, which I liked because I tend to write small, and I felt I could fit more content on each page.
10. Binder Dividers
Keep different subjects or topics separated with ease by inserting binder dividers in your binder.
Each of my binders was for one specific subject.
I would separate the syllabus from the rest with a divider.
I would also use dividers to separate homework, notes, and topic-specific notes such as spectroscopy, quizzes, tests, etc.
That way, I could easily navigate my binder.
11. Sheet Protectors
Whenever I had a paper or report of some kind to turn in, I would keep it in sheet protectors.
For one, I wanted to keep my work protected from unforeseen circumstances such as a spill.
For two, sheet protectors make your work look more professional.
12. Academic Wall Calendar
Get an academic wall calendar to help you stay abreast of important dates throughout the semester.
My recommendation is to print out your school’s academic calendar.
You can find it on their website by typing “academic calendar” into their search bar.
Once you have it, fill in all the dates listed for holidays, last days to withdraw from classes before there’s a fee, midterms, finals, etc.
Then add all specified dates for schoolwork from ALL the syllabi provided by your professors.
For instance, if your first math quiz is on 9/1/2023, mark it on your calendar and do so for every assignment your professors have listed.
This way, you can always be looking ahead, know what’s going to be due and when tests are coming up.
This will allow you to better gauge when to start studying and preparing your projects.
Best School Supplies For College Moms:
Essential Desk Supplies
13. Stapler and Staples
At some point or another, you will have PowerPoint slides or other types of paperwork that you don’t want to get separated or be out of order, and you will need a stapler and staples to keep it together.
14. Hole Punch
A hole punch will be necessary for adding 3-ring holes to printed pages that you want to store in your 3-ring binders.
15. Pens and 16. Pencils
Rigorous note-taking and brainstorming will require you to have an abundance of pens and pencils (they have a strange tendency to disappear).
I used pens and pencils interchangeably.
Pens were great for class notes that I didn’t want to fade over time.
Pencils were great for brainstorming sessions and unsteady note-taking while I was riding the bumpy bus to school and back.
I preferred Thicker Mechanical Pencils because they seemed more durable and have fewer broken lead incidents than the typical thinner 0.7 mm lead.
17. Highlighters
You will want highlighters to mark important notes in your notebooks, on slideshow presentation printouts, and even directly in your textbooks.
I prefer the good old yellow highlighters to quickly draw my attention to important notes while still being light enough not to make readability difficult.
18. Pencil Case
Use a pencil case to store and travel conveniently with your supplies such as pens, pencils, wite-out, post-it flags, etc.
19. Paper Clips and 20. Binding Clips
In some cases, keeping paperwork together with paper clips and larger bundles of paper together with binding clips is a better option than stapling them together.
Sometimes I needed to view multiple sheets at once, and being able to separate them from the clip, spread them out, and re-bind them when I was ready was more efficient than dealing with stapling.
21. Post-Its and 22. Post-It Flags
Leave yourself a reminder with post-its and find specific pages and materials quickly by marking them with post-it flags.
23. Wite-Out
Wite-out allows you to correct written errors on any of your documents or notebook pages.
There are multiple varieties, but of course, the wite-out tape is most convenient since you don’t have to wait for drying time.
24. Planner
Use a planner to write down daily and weekly assignments and stay on track.
With these 24 of the best school supplies for college, you will be well equipped to tackle any task and take on any challenge that comes your way as you work your way through your college assignments.
Best of luck!
This post was all about the best school supplies for college.
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