Going to College

Wilt wrote in post #5970330
A Pelican and a chain bike lock padlocked to something big (the bedframe!), and backed up by one of the vibration sensing alarms that scream if your luggage is moved.

Check out a Pacsafe. With one of theses, a good lock and your Expedition, you should be fine -- at least against things casually going for a walk. Nothing's going to stop someone who's determined to get their hands on your stuff, so the insurance is a good idea too. (When I went to school, my stuff was covered under my parent's home insurance.)

BTW, one year after returning home from school, I found a bunch of my stuff missing. I'm sure my roommate had swiped in the last week during exams, and I didn't notice until I was unpacking a couple of weeks later -- wasn't expensive stuff -- still had my stereo, just missing a bunch of tapes and CDs, and so on. Moral of the story: don't trust anyone.

always keep your door locked, keep your camera gear out of sight and make sure it's covered by insurance (parent's homeowner's usually covers kids at school) you may need an additional "rider" to cover this stuff (it's expensive so they want more money from you for covering it)

side story: people in my dorm always had stuff missing when you left their room, even to go to the bathroom. If the door was open chances are they'd be missing some money from their top drawer (everyone puts money there, so DON'T) all the way up to their laptop.

I go to a relatively small school and had no problems at all with my gear. I just kept it in a little closet thing, no locks. It must be the smaller campus, because the only thing that was ever stolen was a jacket I left in a random bathroom somewhere (But that's okay, because an ex gave it to me).
I just made sure either the door was locked or somebody was in the room.
For some of your bigger stuff though, you might want to check with the PJ/newspaper department.
Insurance is a good idea too. I have all of my stuff on my parent's home insurance. It's only about $30 a year. I'm not sure if that's the best way to do it, but it's worth checking out.

Insurance and one of -->THESE<--

I'm pretty set with my stuff except now I'm trying to decide between a Pelican 1514 and Think Tank Security or International. Which do you guys think would be a better choice.

The 1500 series are small, so think about the gear you need to take along, but they are water tight (very useful in the rain), I have the 1510. I have the International, as well, and that bag is with me whenever I travel. It's small enough for overhead without any trouble, and fits my 40D, 5D, 24-70, 70-200 2.8 IS and 100-400, 580 and some other things. For ease to get to your gear, I'd say the Pelicans, but for travel, the Think Tanks. Good luck!