Here are a few new apps I’ve come across this past summer. These will provide more oversight of your student, improve their IU experience, and decrease your parental anxiety.

Parking: If you’ve never spent time during a semester in Bloomington, IN, parking can be a nightmare. It’s a pain to remember cash and change and if a meeting (or party) goes way over, you’ll get a nice fat parking ticket. Parkmobile makes parking way easier. Check it out here: https://parkmobile.io/

Freshman Year Activities: First year on campus is slammed with dorm meetings, activities, clubs and campus-wide events. The IU FYE app organizes all of this and more. Check it out here: https://guidebook.com/app/IUFYE/

Safety: IU offers free safety escorts for students and faculty anywhere within Bloomington. Your college student may not use it ever, but one of those things to have just in case. TapRide is the app to request the IU escort. Check it out here: http://www.tapridemobile.com/ or https://safety.indiana.edu/

Online Storage: IU provides a free Box account where students and faculty can dump all their documents. Check out more here: https://uits.iu.edu/box#apps

Public Transportation: If your college kiddo doesn’t have a bike, like to walk and having a car just isn’t practical, make sure they get the bus tracking app DoubleMap. Check it out here: https://www.doublemap.com/mobile-applications/

Classes: Everything your student needs to know about their classes including grades, class session schedules and syllabi are in Canvas. There is a parent access point different from that of the student access. The mobile version of Canvas for students is Canvas Student. Get the app here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/canvas-student/id480883488?mt=8