Sweating, they hauled boxes, stereos, milk crates and mini-fridges, trying to make innocuous cookie-cutter rooms feel a bit like home.

Welcome to Lawrence, parents.

Students, nice to see you, too.

“It’s a day I looked forward to and dreaded all at the same time,” parent Mia Mitchell said as she moved her oldest son, Jordan Holt, into Hashinger Hall.

Sunday was move-in day for the 5,000 or so Kansas University students who will call dorms and scholarship halls home for at least the next semester.

Many of those students were incoming freshmen, readying themselves for the freedom and responsibility that comes with living away from home-cooked meals – and parental supervision – for the first time.

But before the dozens of assuredly teary goodbyes and “You be safe, now” speeches, parents, students and provosts – well, at least one – got down to the business of moving.

And Sunday on Daisy Hill, business was hot.

Outside, dads sweated through T-shirts, dragging boxes into piles on dorm stairways.

Caught in the bottleneck to the elevators in Ellsworth Hall, Scott Kormann and his wife, Lynn, caught their breath while waiting.

Hauling their son Nick’s stuff, they both took the move in stride.

“I thought it was going to be hot and terrible,” Lynn Kormann said. “But it’s been really good.”

Sunday may have been really good for Nick and his buddy and fellow Ellsworth resident Brandon Stokes.

Guys?

“Yeah, that’s a good question,” Lynn Kormann said. “I haven’t seen them yet.”

But seriously, the students worked just as hard as many parents helping to get their dorm rooms settled before saying long goodbyes.

In the lobby of the newly remodeled Hashinger Hall, parents toted boxes back and forth. Former residents moving in their kids may have hardly recognized the place, between the swank pleather couches and the wavy, avant-garde padded benches.

Earlier in the day, KU Provost Richard Lariviere was there, showing off the university’s $12 million remodeling project and helping students move in.

“This is the best day of the year,” Lariviere said.

On the fourth floor of the newly remodeled hall, Jamie Coffman continued to sweat in the air conditioning.

Her room, she said, was nice – but “not big enough for all my crap.”

Over at McCollum Hall, Meghan Canipe’s room was packed tightly with boxes, crates and storage bins. Canipe, of Overland Park, and her roommate, Christen Johnson, Wichita, haggled over how to begin organizing all of their stuff.

Canipe said she brought all of the essentials from home – bedding, crates, a foam mattress topper.

“I brought my teddy bear. I’m not going to lie,” she added.

Johnson brought her necessities, too, but she had other concerns. The first time away from home comes with pressure, and Johnson said she felt it.

“Finances,” she explained. “Making sure you get everything done.”

After everything was done moving-wise Sunday, parents began to pack up and hit the road.

Anxious for their newly free children, sure. At Ellsworth Hall, Lynn Kormann said she wasn’t too worried, or sad – yet.

“We remember being in college,” Kormann said. “It’s going to be fine. I haven’t cried yet.”

But back at Hashinger, Mitchell, who was helping Holt move, knew the goodbye tears would come.

“I’m going to cry on the way home,” she said. “I’ve got tissues. I’m all ready for it.”