Agree with a lot of this list except:

Forget cast-iron for a start-up kitchen.  Move into this later if you get the urge.  Too fussy, high maintenance and un-necessary for anything a college student is going to cook.  A good non-stick is far more useful.
Paring knives?  Meh... you could get these I guess if you have drawer space to fill up.
Get a good quality offset serrated knife for bread, citrus and tomatoes etc...  
A quality box-grater is arguably more useful than a microplane and easier to handle. 
The best tip in the article and the one that you will benefit the most from is a quality pair of kitchen shears.   
Splurge and get the most functional peeler you can find.  Even a "luxury" one is still not going to be that expensive.  Shears and peeler - probably the two most useful things on this list.