CLINTONS, SECRET SERVICE HELP CHELSEA CHECK IN.

Byline: Ron Fournier Associated Press 

With a melancholy mixture of pride and sorrow, Chelsea Clinton's parents lugged suitcases and boxes into her Stanford University dorm room Friday - a day of long goodbyes to an only child.

In a ritual familiar to millions of Americans, President Clinton and Hillary Rodham Clinton helped Chelsea, 17, leave the nest.

``I think they're excited for their daughter but anxious,'' spokeswoman Marsha Berry said. ``I think they're carrying on well.''

Chelsea, 17, giggled and waved at dozens of students, reporters and photographers who gathered to watch the first family take a brief stroll on the palm-lined campus.

``Welcome to Stanford!'' the other students yelled. ``Thank you,'' she yelled back.

Standing at the top of the school library's steep steps, Chelsea spotted two friends - and shrieked. Her father told Secret Service agents to let Alix Berger and James Wolf get up the steps, where Chelsea hugged them.

This is no ordinary college student.

While her 1,600 classmates unloaded vans and station wagons, most of Chelsea's belongings were shipped aboard a military plane this week and moved into her modest dormitory Thursday.

She took her first tour of campus in a presidential motorcade that stretched at least two city blocks, drawing stares from her classmates. One of the cars was stuffed with more of Chelsea's stuff.

Inside the dormitory, Chelsea and her parents quickly began unpacking boxes, sorting through her belongings and arranging furniture in her modest room. The president's first order of business was to ask aides for a toolbox so he could hang pictures.

Among the first daughter's belongings was a big, green stuffed frog - a gift from the White House staff who wanted Chelsea to have something to hug when she gets lonely.

The Clintons were hardly alone in their emotions.

Pamela Terry of Macomb, Ill., dropped off her only daughter, Anne Louise Terry, and said later, ``I started crying at the dorm.''

The president's daughter is said to want to be a pediatric cardiologist, but nothing has been made public about her class load. Berry said Chelsea chatted with her roommate sometime before Friday but does not know her well.

Reporters and photographers were kept away from the first family, except for the tightly controlled photo opportunity and the public welcoming ceremony.

At first, the first lady objected to plans for a campus picture-taking session. She relented when aides convinced her that freezing out the media would just increase the pressure from photographers and reporters, a White House official said.

Chelsea can count on seeing plenty of her parents: At least one White House memo has asked agency heads to look for reasons to send Clinton to California on business. The taxpayers will share the cost of the current trip with the Democratic National Committee, because Clinton is attending San Francisco fund-raisers Saturday.

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Photo: New freshman Chelsea Clinton sits between her parents, Hillary Rodham Clinton and President Clinton at a convocation for new students Friday at Stanford University.

Associated Press