Website Spotlight: Sears Campus Ready

This post was sponsored by Sears. All the opinions are mine.

With college starting in less than a month, Sears has created a new portion to their site, CampusReady. They've even created a Facebook application to help young adults become ready for college: CampusReady on Facebook.

The CampusReady site has several sections. There's a section where you can shop by dorm room, which includes suggestions for various styles (funky femme, haute couture, vintage chic, all around athlete, and play it your way). Once you pick a style that suits you (some of which I like much better than others; I like the athlete and play it your way, but I'm not very girly), then you can "shop this room" to find the suggestions of coordinating products and ideas. This is great in theory, especially if your child knows his or her roommate and can plan the style ahead of time or is one of the lucky few to have a private room. However, it may not truly pan out well with roommates you don't get to meet until the week of move-on.

The interactive checklist was also a great idea. I think there's more on there than a college student really will need (I never had a sound system or humidifier, for example), but it does include all of the true necessities as well, and it's easy enough to ignore the luxuries. You can also download the checklist for in-store shopping, which is helpful instead of trying to write it all down or print it out since only a few sections show up at a time. You can shop by sections on the checklist as well (eating, sleeping, studying, playing, and cleaning, which basically covers everything).

The money section was a great idea. Too many college kids end up way in debt because they aren't careful or aware of their expenses. Obviously it promoted the Sears branded credit card, but it had a lot of great info too.

I didn't find the clothing section (fill my closet) terribly helpful. I think most kids already know what clothes they need - or have it already - and you don't really need anything for college that you didn't need in high school. In fact, 75% of college kids live in things like sweats and t-shirts anyway, so as long as there are plenty of comfy clothes for every day and a few special clothes for going out, the college student is fine.

Overall, I found the site pretty good, especially for parents with first-time college students. Check it out if you've got someone going to college this fall!

Another little benefit is the chance to combat rising college tuition costs. You can enter for your chance to win money toward your child’s college tuition from Sears and Upromise! A total of $25,000 will be awarded. Upromise members are automatically entered with a purchase through Upromise.com from Sears, or enter free at Sears.com/campusready (where you can find full rules and complete details).