Your kid is headed to college. How will they secure their important college documents?

For the last 18 years, you've handled most of the big stuff for your child: scheduling their doctor's appointments, making sure they’re registered for school, and maybe even opening their first savings account.

Now, they're going to college. And all that document-heavy adulting is suddenly on their plate.

How can you set them up for success as they navigate a world that often requires documentation? A cloud-based vault can help. Here, we’ll show how to help your child digitize and secure the documents that matter most so they can survive and thrive on their own.

Make sure nothing gets lost (no matter how often they move)

When your kid gets to college, something they’ll quickly realize is just how busy they are. They’re going to be constantly on the move, hustling between classes, appointments, and activities. And that doesn’t include the annual move between dorms or apartments.

With so much going on, your child can’t risk losing their important medical, financial, legal, and identification documents in the shuffle. But those hard copies can be difficult to track down when needed.

What happens if your child stops by their dorm on the way to a doctor’s appointment but can’t find their insurance card? What if they can’t locate that psychoeducational evaluation they need to request testing accommodations? And what should they do if they’ve misplaced their W-2 forms during move-out – essential to re-apply for financial aid, scholarships, or FAFSA?

With a cloud-based, mobile vault like Prisidio, the answer to each question is clear: you and your child can easily access every document they could need from within a single app.

To get their documents to a cloud-based vault, first make digital copies of these documents:

• Driver’s license, state ID, or Green Card
• Insurance card and policy info
• Immunization records (including their COVID-19 vaccination card)
• Psychoeducational evaluations
• Financial aid letter
• W-2 and 1099 documents
• School transcripts
• Signed HIPAA release form

As your child’s college life begins to flourish – and new documents enter the picture – they can use Prisidio’s mobile app to scan and upload additional files when it’s most convenient.

Help them seize new opportunities

In college, your child will have more opportunities than they can count – and they’ll want to explore them all. You can help them by ensuring they have the documents they need to take advantage of everything their college has to offer.

Depending on the opportunity, your child will likely need a few key government-issued documents for identification purposes, including these:

• Passport: There’s a good chance your child will need their passport for travel, whether it’s for a study abroad program or spring break in Cancún.
• Birth certificate: A birth certificate is often requested by employers and required to apply for certain forms of ID (like a passport, if they don’t already have one).
• Social security card: Your child will need their social security number every time they apply for a new job, lease, or credit card.

Your child may often require these documents to apply or register for new activities and opportunities. Digitize these documents so your child can sign up with minimal hassle. What’s more, digitized documents are easier to refer to when necessary – especially in an emergency.

Next, secure each document’s hard copy in a safe. Safes are typically fireproof and waterproof – important when around forgetful or absent-minded college kids. In a dorm or apartment, a safe can protect hard-to-replace documents like passports from mishaps of all kinds. And since your child will rarely need the originals, their social security card and birth certificate should stay in a safe at their permanent residence (i.e., your home).

Once these physical originals are locked away, you can use a cloud-based vault like Prisidio to note where each one is located.

Store digital documents so they're accessible from anywhere

After you’ve digitized the important documents and information your child may need to reference during their college years, don’t just store them on your local device.

In a busy college environment, laptops, flash drives, and smartphones can be lost, broken, and stolen. Hard drives can break down. For the greatest protection, secure your child’s essential documents in a cloud-based vault like Prisidio. With cloud storage, your kid can safely access their documents anywhere with an internet connection.

Prisidio’s cloud-based vault offers these key features:

• Mobile access
• Multi-factor authentication security
• Custom item-sharing options
• Audio, video, and image notes to accompany any item

Throughout your child's college years, it's easy to grant and adjust who has access to each item in your vault with a single click. As you add and update items like key contacts, codes to the home safe, medical information, transcripts and employment documents straight from your phone, your whole family can view the most up-to-date information they need at any time.