beyond the excellent advice above, i'd ask your sister to spend a few days prior to classes starting to scope out the sidestreets for commuting to/from her apartment. FCI is on broadway, 2 blocks off of canal. those two streets are some of the worst for traffic, on or off bike. my commute route avoids all main avenues, and while being a bit longer in raw mileage, it's faster due to being able to go at my pace, not rush-hour traffic's.

also ask her to find out if FCI has a storage space or indoor lockup available for her bike. just being outside, on a busy street, a bike can get kicked, bumped by delivery trucks, or just plain abused by a frustrated pedestrian.

the last bit of advice i'd give her is to pick up a free NYC bicycle map. it'll be available from any bike store in the city, and it will map out the most bike-friendly routes to take, all over the city including the boroughs. nyc is pretty spectacular to ride in, especially in the spring. it'd be a shame to miss it due to simple ignorance =). it also sports the locations of all the bike shops in the city, so if she does have a breakdown problem that she can't handle right then and there, she'll know where the closest shop will be - that map has saved me a few LONG walks due to forgetting something as simple as my chainbreaker.