Pests on Campus: What you need to tell your student about lice and bed bugs

Winter is the time when lice and bed bug infestations start to make their appearance on college campuses. Not only are more people exposed to these pests while they travel for the holidays, but lice in particular seem to thrive when students start sharing hats, scarves, and jackets. While bed bugs and lice certainly have what one Residential Life veteran calls the “yuck factor” the good news, if you can call it that, is that these pests do not vector diseases and there are plenty of ways to get rid of them.

Lice can be treated with over the counter shampoos and sprays, and a complete laundering of all fabrics (clothing and bedding) in hot water and a hot dryer. Bed bugs, however require heat treatments of the affected rooms and everything in them by a professional exterminator.

Students should notify staff as soon as possible if they suspect bed bug infestations because they can easily spread from one room to another on clothing. In fact, when students travel, they should also inspect hotel rooms and hostels for bed bugs and lice to avoid bringing them home with them. Complete information and pictures to help identify these creeps is available at these Centers for Disease Control (CDC) websites.

http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/bedbugs/
http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/


Other Pests
Of course, prevention is the most effective way to avoid infestation of anything from insects to rodents, but college students are not necessarily known for their outstanding housekeeping skills. Students who leave food and other attractive items out for any length of time are sure to become magnets for pests. Keeping rooms and apartments clean, and free from clutter and open food items is the best prevention. Also, students who live on ground floor levels should keep doors and windows closed and pay close attention to any pests they see. Generally, if there’s one cockroach or ant, there’s a whole family somewhere nearby and the student should immediately contact staff for abatement.

Pests on campus: Lice and Bed Bugs

Winter is the time when lice and bed bug infestations start to make their appearance on college campuses. Not only are more people exposed to these pests while they travel for the holidays, but lice in particular seem to thrive when students start sharing hats, scarves, and jackets. 

Bed bugs, lice, and other creepy bugs exist on college campuses just as they exist everywhere else. While bed bugs and lice certainly have what one Residential Life veteran calls the “yuck factor” the good news, if you can call it that, is that these pests do not vector diseases and there are plenty of ways to get rid of them. 

Lice can be treated with over the counter shampoos and sprays and a complete laundering of all fabrics (clothing and bedding) in hot water and a hot dryer. Bed bugs, however require heat treatments of the affected rooms and everything in them by a professional exterminator.

Students should notify staff as soon as possible if they suspect bed bug infestations because they can easily spread from one room to another on clothing. In fact, when students travel, they should also inspect hotel rooms and hostels for bed bugs and lice to avoid bringing them home with them. Complete information and pictures to help identify these creeps is available at these Centers for Disease Control (CDC) websites

http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/bedbugs/

http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/lice/

Of course, prevention is the most effective way to avoid any infestation of anything from insects to rodents, but college students are not necessarily known for their outstanding housekeeping skills. Students who leave food and other attractive items out for any length of time are sure to become magnets for pests. Keeping rooms and apartments clean, and free from clutter and open food items is the best prevention. Also, students who live on ground floor levels should keep doors and windows closed and pay close attention to any pests they see.  Generally, if there’s one cockroach or ant, there’s a whole family somewhere nearby and the student should immediately contact staff for abatement.

More Ways for Freshmen to Save

Suggest he use the floor fridge or microwave - Almost any dorm or residence hall floor has a shared fridge and microwave. If you avoid buying these appliances for your child you will save about $240.00. Instead, check to see if his residence hall or even his floor has a shared fridge and microwave. Using these to store food and cook will keep him from using meal plan dollars for food that he can easily prepare on his own.

Skip the soda at the fountain - Switching to water instead of soda pop will save money and calories. Soft drinks cost anywhere from .99 to $2.50 or more per meal. Over a semester that can add about $400.00 in meal plan usage and 45,000 empty calories.

Leave the car at home - If given the choice between living at the college of their choice without a car or living at home, attending the local college and keeping the car, most students will opt for the former. Owning and maintaining a car is expensive even if it’s paid off. Added up over four years, just the cost to fuel, insure and maintain a car is easily in the thousands or tens of thousands. That is probably equivalent to the cost of at least a semester or two of tuition. Unless your child absolutely needs his own car on campus ask him to decide between the car or living at home. He can always swap the car for a bike, scooter, or prepaid bus pass.

How to get a new set of dishes for you own home - Having kids at home means that your once complete set of dishes, glasses, or flatware has become a partial set of chipped, bent, and mismatched items that you’ve come to resent. Conveniently, at about the same time that you really want to get a new set of dishes, your child needs to take a couple of dishes to college. You see where I’m going with this right?

Avoid the dorm décor hype - Big box stores and online college dorm room outfitters will heavily advertise complete, coordinated dorm room décor sets and small appliances expressly for the college bound set. While these are really nice, new and coordinated, if you buy into the hype advertised on the glossy advertisements every June through September you can usually kiss more than $900.00 of your textbook money goodbye just to decorate a single room.

I know that your child wants new towels, dishes, shelves, lamps, chairs, and a coffee pot in the school’s colors for his room, but I’ll bet you already have most of this stuff at home and if you don’t, maybe some family members or friends do. My advice on these items is, save your money and if you still want to buy dishes with it get them for your family home instead. You’ll take better care of them anyway.

Thrift shopping - I have known college students who arrive on campus with practically nothing and within a couple of weeks their room is completely furnished all for about $47.50. By their nature, college towns have mobile populations, and college students are always arriving, leaving, or moving among dorms and apartments.  Thrift stores in these towns are great places to find cheap useful items.

On my campus, a thrift store is opened each fall semester where students can buy items donated or left on campus by students the previous spring, and the proceeds benefit charity. Thrift stores on campus or in the community offer win-win solutions for college kids who need to get rid of stuff and buy stuff cheap. 

* Yes, he should absolutely inspect any piece of furniture or fabric for bed bugs!