Fear The Turtle
Footballguy
A May 2nd tradition at my daughter's school: the kids wear t-shirts of the colleges they will be attending in the fall. Is this common? Any similar traditions you've heard of?
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College Admissions Questions (3 Viewers)
- Thread starter NewlyRetired
- Start date
Fishboy
Footballguy
Same here. Daughter was wearing her University of Louisville sweatshirt today.
SteelCurtain
Footballguy
Usually less aid is available from the colleges. Whether loans are offered for the full amount is dependent on the type of study. i.e., much easier to borrow the full amount for a medical degree as opposed to a master's in social work degree.
Some graduate degrees, such as mathematics, are usually funded by schools, with a tuition waiver and a living stipend, since there are so many undergraduates taking math. Graduate students are cheap labor for grading, tutoring and teaching. As more classes go on-line that may already be changing.
Graduate teaching and research assistantships are also available in many of the sciences. And in APA psychology programs.
I've also heard that it's easy to borrow money if the degree leads to good income - MD, physical therapy, etc.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
Daddy daughter conversation after I picked her up from school today
========================================
me: "Hi sweetie, did you have a good day?"
her: "ok"
me: "anything new?"
her: (pauses) "I got called to the principles office with Madison. She is valedictorian and I am salutatorian" (said with her typical no emotion)
me: "wow, that is great! You deserve it, you worked your butt off"
her: (no response)
me: "ummm, will you get recognized at graduation?"
her: (teenaged death stare)
me: "oh oh" :(
her: "I have to give a speech"
me: (cringing) "well, they are not that long at least, just a few minutes"
her: (no response)
me: "umm, this is going to be more than you talked in 4 years combined isn't it?"
her: "probably"
the poor kid lol
========================================
me: "Hi sweetie, did you have a good day?"
her: "ok"
me: "anything new?"
her: (pauses) "I got called to the principles office with Madison. She is valedictorian and I am salutatorian" (said with her typical no emotion)
me: "wow, that is great! You deserve it, you worked your butt off"
her: (no response)
me: "ummm, will you get recognized at graduation?"
her: (teenaged death stare)
me: "oh oh" :(
her: "I have to give a speech"
me: (cringing) "well, they are not that long at least, just a few minutes"
her: (no response)
me: "umm, this is going to be more than you talked in 4 years combined isn't it?"
her: "probably"
the poor kid lol
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
Every time I think my daughter can finally take a break from the college process, another load of work is dumped on her.
Today we received a package in the mail from Trinity listing a ton of items that need to be completed in relatively short order.
The first deadline is May 31st and includes her having to take a Math Placement Test, a Guided Writing Assessment test, and a second language assessment test along with a bunch of other items.
June has other items due, though they look to be more simple questionnaire type things.
Today we received a package in the mail from Trinity listing a ton of items that need to be completed in relatively short order.
The first deadline is May 31st and includes her having to take a Math Placement Test, a Guided Writing Assessment test, and a second language assessment test along with a bunch of other items.
June has other items due, though they look to be more simple questionnaire type things.
Courtjester
The Town Drunk
Our day:
Daughter has danced pointe and ballet for 13 years--10 years with this school. Recital and her Senior Prom fall today on the same day. So that means hair has to be done early and has to last all day.
Wife and daughter leave early to go get hair done---place is closed....wait...wait...wait. We set this appointment 6 weeks ago. Hey, dad, we may need a backup plan. I start calling everywhere to get this done and no one can do an instant appointment. I end up finding a little boutique that will see her ASAP and I paid dearly for a 20 minute updo. She goes from there to get her Subway and Coffee (tradition of 13 years on recital day) to be available for practice for 3 hours. Her last recital and she dances a pointe solo to When Somebody Loves Me from Toy Story 2 and my wife and I are really hard pressed to hold it together. She also does 5 other dances. Bows and flowers. She had her prom dress with her--her boyfriend is with us and he has his tux in a bag. They get dressed. We go and take photos at this place by my office and now they are off to dinner and prom.
She has a huge project due Monday and is obviously going to be going gang-busters on it tomorrow on zero sleep. She won't get #1 in her class (hell, I am happy with her getting 30) but she believes she will get 2 out of close to 450 kids.
The pressure on these kids is stupid....why this late in the year with all that is going on, keep assigning projects....
Daughter has danced pointe and ballet for 13 years--10 years with this school. Recital and her Senior Prom fall today on the same day. So that means hair has to be done early and has to last all day.
Wife and daughter leave early to go get hair done---place is closed....wait...wait...wait. We set this appointment 6 weeks ago. Hey, dad, we may need a backup plan. I start calling everywhere to get this done and no one can do an instant appointment. I end up finding a little boutique that will see her ASAP and I paid dearly for a 20 minute updo. She goes from there to get her Subway and Coffee (tradition of 13 years on recital day) to be available for practice for 3 hours. Her last recital and she dances a pointe solo to When Somebody Loves Me from Toy Story 2 and my wife and I are really hard pressed to hold it together. She also does 5 other dances. Bows and flowers. She had her prom dress with her--her boyfriend is with us and he has his tux in a bag. They get dressed. We go and take photos at this place by my office and now they are off to dinner and prom.
She has a huge project due Monday and is obviously going to be going gang-busters on it tomorrow on zero sleep. She won't get #1 in her class (hell, I am happy with her getting 30) but she believes she will get 2 out of close to 450 kids.
The pressure on these kids is stupid....why this late in the year with all that is going on, keep assigning projects....
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Fear The Turtle
Footballguy
Is this fairly unique to Trinity? I've been involved with and followed the college application process for a while now and it's the first I've heard of all of these tests required after acceptance. Got to check with my kid to see if she's heard of these and, more importantly, if she needs to do any.
Gawain
Footballguy
I am surprised this hasn't gone by the wayside as some form of discrimination or shaming.
Fear The Turtle
Footballguy
True. But I asked my daughter and she told me that a high % of seniors participated this year. Part of the reason may be that the local community college system (which a lot of kids will go to) has a very good reputation so those kids don't mind showing that's where they'll be going.
Tougher for me to understand is something that the swim team does at the annual banquet: the coach talks to each senior in front of the crowd and always closes by asking them where they'll be going in the fall. The elite schools always elicit whoops, cheers, etc. while other schools can be met with tepid applause. I have always made sure to applaud just as loudly for each kid. It's tough to sit through at times. Of course, I'm a hypocrite because I'm as interested as the next guy as to where the kids will be going.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
My daughter said she heard from other kids going to other schools that they also had to take some placement tests. I am sure it varies school to school. You can also skip these placement tests if you intend to use AP testing to not take the course to begin with.
Cjw_55106
Footballguy
In regards to the ACT test; they have stated over and over that colleges only look at your top scores when considering acceptance. Is this the composite score or each of the categories individually? In other words, lets say for argument's sake that you scored a composite 30 but a 27 on the reading. The next time you take the test, you get a 29 composite and a 29 on reading. Would they take the 30 composite and the 29 reading?
Fear The Turtle
Footballguy
My experience is it depends on the school. It seems most schools superscore, that is they would take the highest score on each of the four parts (regardless of which test the high score occurred in) and arrive at a new combined composite. In your example, the 29 in reading might actually help get you a higher superscored composite of 31.
Fear The Turtle
Footballguy
For the schools that don't superscore, I'm pretty sure they would take the test with the highest composite: the 29/29 score would be ignored in favor of the 30/27 result. Btw, my limited experience points to schools being a little more likely to superscore SATs than ACTs. My kid applied to Notre Dame where they don't superscore ACTs but they do with SATs, I believe.
gameday
Footballguy
My son is a HS senior and for the past few years I've been following these types of threads on FBG and I've been totally stressed out. He never gave a crap about his grades, rarely ever did homework, and wouldn't do any school work if it accounted for 10% or less of a grade. He had a lot of missing assignments and will finish with a 3.3 GPA. But to give that some perspective, he attends one of the top 10 highschools in the state.
He wouldn't take an ACT prep class, and took the ACT only once, getting a 27 composite and a 29 on math. He was heavily involved in sports, but only did a few stints of volunteer work, and that was all court-mandated.
As you can imagine, my expectations were pretty low. But I was shocked to see how easy it was for him to get in some very good colleges. He ultimately chose Colorado State and has already been accepted into the Biz school. He even applied for a small scholarship my employer provides, and was awarded it even though the app pool was very large.
So, my only point in posting this is that if there are other dads stressing out when you read all these threads about everything you should be doing, take a deep breath. It should all work out fine.
He wouldn't take an ACT prep class, and took the ACT only once, getting a 27 composite and a 29 on math. He was heavily involved in sports, but only did a few stints of volunteer work, and that was all court-mandated.
As you can imagine, my expectations were pretty low. But I was shocked to see how easy it was for him to get in some very good colleges. He ultimately chose Colorado State and has already been accepted into the Biz school. He even applied for a small scholarship my employer provides, and was awarded it even though the app pool was very large.
So, my only point in posting this is that if there are other dads stressing out when you read all these threads about everything you should be doing, take a deep breath. It should all work out fine.
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NewlyRetired
Footballguy
also worth noting that I am pretty sure many colleges treat boys a little different than girls.
I think girls have a much higher expectation of grades through out the 4 years of high school where as they have slightly different expectations for the boys whom they know to mature a bit later.
As such if one is comparing and has a boy, do not compare to all other kids, compare more to just the same sex.
My daughter found out the top 15 in her class rank, and I think she said 13 were girls.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
Are you using Naviance? We found that tool very helpful (even though my daughters point on the graphs was really odd compared to the rest)
Cjw_55106
Footballguy
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
have you noticed that some schools are protecting the data for "privacy" reasons on the graph? I was looking the other day to see if they had updated the information for the 2017 kids and noticed a bunch of the schools my daughter applied to had moved to the privacy mode.
Cjw_55106
Footballguy
No, but because of the tuition situation I noted a few weeks back (not worth looking for on your end), we are locked into one school. I'm hoping we dont need a plan B.
The_Man
Footballguy
The high school controls the "privacy" mode, not the colleges. A lot of times what that means is that so few people from your kid's school have applied there recently that it would be easy to figure out who was who. Or sometimes, there's an athletic recruit at one of those schools - and when you see someone with terrible stats get accepted, you can immediately deduce who the athlete is and know what their scores/grades were.
The Z Machine
Footballguy
it is VERY dependent on the field. 15 years ago in Engineering, you could get a PhD or a Masters without incurring any debt whatsoever. In other fields, there is no financial aid other than scholarships which are hard to come by. The thought is that these "professional" degrees will pay for themselves over the course of a career.
So, I got off without a cent of debt with an MSME and my wife racked up a ton of debt in her MSPH and DrPH programs. Thanks, hon...
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
Any one's kid graduating this week? My daughter in on Thursday.
She finished up her various placement tests for Trinity so we are good there.
The only remaining issue I need to tackle is trying to understand how health insurance works and if she is covered on our current plan while going to college in another state.
She finished up her various placement tests for Trinity so we are good there.
The only remaining issue I need to tackle is trying to understand how health insurance works and if she is covered on our current plan while going to college in another state.
Fear The Turtle
Footballguy
Congrats. We have FIVE HS graduations in the family this/next week. Went to a nephew's today at the UMD. My daughter's is next Weds. The speaker today was pretty good, even passing along best wishes to the class from MLK's daughter via Twitter. The speaker was fairly funny, energetic, and BRIEF.
Courtjester
The Town Drunk
Daughter graduated Saturday. Don't know where these years have gone. Just so proud of her.
Two day orientation at her college next week which I know is just a trial run for her move in day in August. Just dreading it.... :(
Two day orientation at her college next week which I know is just a trial run for her move in day in August. Just dreading it.... :(
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
In yet another indication of where you get accepted to school has little relation to your intelligence, look at what these knuckleheads, who were accepted by Harvard (and now rescinded), did....
https://www.yahoo.com/news/1295711-180805993.html
https://www.yahoo.com/news/1295711-180805993.html
Nugget
Footballguy
Not sure where to put this - Raj Chetty did some studies on income inequality, household income, and ability for students to move up in income tiers.
College Mobility Interactive Info - NY Times
Here was a link to more of his work - Equality of Opportunity
College Mobility Interactive Info - NY Times
Here was a link to more of his work - Equality of Opportunity
Fear The Turtle
Footballguy
I saw this. Unbelievable. All of their work and effort to get in only to flush it all down the toilet. I have to admit I felt somewhat bad for them and, especially, their families.
Sweet J
Footballguy
The kids will be fine. If anything, they benefited from this by getting a very good life lesson.
Fear The Turtle
Footballguy
Duke's median family income is $186,700. Culture shock for my public high school kid.
The girl she's lining up to be her roommate went to a boarding school that has an acceptance rate of only 13%.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
normally I would agree, but some of these guys went above and beyond the normal teenaged boys dumbness. They supposedly uncovered posts about some of them planning to rape other freshman on campus, at least is what my wife said she saw on the local news. I think it was these 10 out of the 100 in the group that were singled out as the possible real nut jobs.
It must be awful for the families. I am sure most of the families were very proud their kid got into Harvard and likely shared the news with everyone they knew.
Harvard had no choice but to do what they did IMO.
Mrs. Rannous
Footballguy
I agree. When I found out what they were posting, I figure Harvard is way better off.
The_Man
Footballguy
Yeah, NewlyRetired might not want to plug in the numbers for Trinity. #5 in the entire country for Median Household income at $257K. And #1 in the country for highest share of Top 1% kids in the country - 26% come from families that make $630K or more! So 1 out of every 4 kids is a 1 percenter. But they mostly keep to themselves - even as those poor kids whose families make only $250K per year try to cozy up to them.Duke's median family income is $186,700. Culture shock for my public high school kid.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
So you are saying my 8 hour a week part time job at my local library is not going to cut it?
chet
Footballguy
My daughter is a rising junior and is starting to get interested in schools. She projects to have the "chops" for Duke but I know there's a ton of qualified applicants. I found out this weekend that someone I know (not well) is on their Board of Governors. What's the best way to leverage that relationship? My feeling is that he wouldn't be able to help someone with a 30 ACT and a 3.5 GPA but if you fell in their 50th %ile, he might be able to do something if he was inclined. Anyone with experience or thoughts?
My brother in law knows the president of an Ivory school. My BIL got his Masters and Doctorate from that school and the now president was his faculty adviser on his PHD dissertation. He maintained a good relationship with his person and years back he took his daughter out there to meet with him and do a tour etc. This way it was known that his daughter was interested in attending school there. There was never a discussion on can you help. She applied and got in - one of the most competitive schools to get into. Not sure there was any help given and a little different than your situation.
There was a letter sent to the institution that basically told my BIL that the school knows you are an alum but that grants the applicant no additional benefits. They won't get auto rejected basically.
Good luck. My BIL got his undergrad from Duke and i grew up in Durham. Love the campus and the city for the most part.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
So we found out that our health plan does not provide anything more than the bare basics for emergency services when the student is going to college out of state.
So it looks like we are going to have to get the schools SHIP program.
Anyone else running into this for health care for kids going to school out of your area of coverage?
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
I can't speak for your specific question but as you know Duke is one of the elite schools. If she is really interested in it, it behooves her to go early decision when the time comes. The acceptance rate for regular decision is extremely small (one of the smallest in the country).
50% of their incoming class is early decision appliers.
With her just being a rising junior, just visit as many schools as you can. The more you can knock off the list using "curb appeal" the better.
The_Man
Footballguy
I'd say this is very good advice. Just remotely knowing a Board of Governors guy isn't going to do much - particularly if the guy has literally never met your kid. But, if your kid truly meets the profile of accepted Duke students and it is her top choice then she should apply there early, and having the BOG guy drop a note to Admissions saying that Duke is her first choice and she would be a great fit, etc., can help. NOTE: none of this will help if she isn't qualified to get in. But if she is qualified, it could be enough to tip her over into the admit category.
The real takeaway from this is the huge advantage that applying early confers. As noted above, schools are filling 50%+ of their freshman class with ED applicants. The Regular acceptance rates are astonishingly low. But the ED advantage only works if your kid meet or (even better) exceeds the admitted student profile. This year, more than ever, it paid to be strategic with your ED choice. If you applied to a reach school, you probably wasted your best bullet and didn't get in. But if you applied to a match school ED, you moved to the front of the line and were accepted. The other grim reality is that there are certain schools that are legitimately a reach for just about everyone - it's hard to call a school like Duke a match, even if you do match their admitted student profile. My kid's experience was that if you're that highly qualified, every school is either a reach or a likely.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
The first semester bill from Trinity came in today.
Even with the full tuition grants and other grants, it came to just a little over $7000. That should drop to around $5500 for the second semester because the health care cost for the full year is taken on the first semesters bill.
So it should come in around $12.5k before books and living expenses for the first year. Now I need to go to Fidelity and figure out how to handle this with her 529 plan.
My daughter has many various issues, one of them being she has serious food issues. So we are paying close to $5k(not factoring in how the grants hit this) for a food plan she will never use. My hope is when I visit her on the weekends to get as much use out of her food card at any non cafeteria eating places as possible
Even with the full tuition grants and other grants, it came to just a little over $7000. That should drop to around $5500 for the second semester because the health care cost for the full year is taken on the first semesters bill.
So it should come in around $12.5k before books and living expenses for the first year. Now I need to go to Fidelity and figure out how to handle this with her 529 plan.
My daughter has many various issues, one of them being she has serious food issues. So we are paying close to $5k(not factoring in how the grants hit this) for a food plan she will never use. My hope is when I visit her on the weekends to get as much use out of her food card at any non cafeteria eating places as possible
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Courtjester
The Town Drunk
Well T-minus 30 days until the move in date: Sorry this is long, but it just seems sort of cathartic to write about this....
After the big graduation day, my daughter got some decent money from her graduation gifts plus she got a $750 cash award from the school district and she has been working as a life guard this summer. So she has a tidy sum in her bank account right now. You can tell that she is so worried about moving out, that she is almost in zombie apocalypse, survival mode with her buying habits right now. It is almost like she thinks she will never see the inside of a mall ever again in her life. I think she has spent over$1,200 on shoes and makeup in the past 3 weeks. Now the stuff she has bought (Tevas, Chacos and Nike) will last her so I get those purchases, but there are Ulta and Sephora boxes arriving daily. It is new to me, but I don't get the concept of a limited edition pallet of eye shadow.
It is a fine line because she earned this money and she should enjoy some of it to a point, but her mom and I have made it clear this money needs to be her living expense money if she is not planning on getting a job first semester. Plus she wants to go the sorority route--she is looking at non-party groups and wants one of the Christian ones. The catch is she told me the fees can reach $1,000 for this. I have already said I will not be paying this.
In the parent orientation, they said parents should send no more than $50 a month for their kid's basic needs (toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc) and I am really worried that she thinks it is going to be like living at home where she pretty much got everything she wanted (yes, her mom and I take complete blame for creating this monster). The other thing is we are only 2 1/2 hours away from her and she has already suggested that "Well, I won't take too much initially and you guys can just drive stuff up on the weekends as we go." I am not doing this. She needs to grow up and find her way, but her mom and I are really worried for her.. The school has also suggested that parents pretty much let the kids be until Thanksgiving break. However, even if we aren't there to say no, it won't help because her boyfriend of 15 months will be going to the same school and is actually scheduled to be living two rooms down from her and he is beyond wrapped around her finger.
On the plus side, she ended up going in with 59 college credits and is actually listed as Sophomore (actually only a few credits shy of being a Junior). She only has to go for 2 years max to come out with a Biology degree and she actually only needs a few classes or so to also have a Math Statistics minor.
She only has one roommate in her dorm room and they are coordinating on what each of them are bringing for their room. We ordered the bedding package from the school because we heard from other parents that the beds there aren't exactly twin sized and store bought sheets don't fit-- so we needed to get the sheets from the school store--that was another $225.00 for sheets and comforters. It is a lot to think about--my wife and I have been buying one or two things every week for the past few months to make a big care package--things like lots of towels, a couple surge protectors, an extra phone charger, laundry basket, flashlights, can opener--anything we can think of.. I mean I am going to have my Tahoe packed to the gills that day--how some of you guys whose kids are going out of state are going to do it, is beyond me. I am already wondering if we are going to need to rent a storage unit there for the summers when she comes home or how that is going to work out. Again how you out of state parents are handling this would be interesting to hear.
But the day is coming and I dread it. The longest she has ever been apart from us was a 4 day Senior trip. I can already see how this day is going to play out in my head like it already has happened. Her kissing her lifelong pet cat goodbye that morning--knowing it will probably be the last time she sees him as he is almost 20 and in the final stages of kidney failure. The long drive. The traditional stop at the Starbucks outside of Greeley. . The moving of all the items in. The quick trip to Walmart to get the stuff we won't have room for in the truck--shampoo, toilet paper, toothpaste. She will try to find any reason she can to delay us leaving because she already suggested we should stay the night at a hotel to get her completely settled in (We can't-- we have to get home that night for our 13 year old) .I am preparing myself for "the hug" that I know I will be giving. The comforting of my wife, who will be a blubbering mess. The driving away. This whole thing is just like a slow-motion car wreck about to happen and I can't stop it.; Part of me screams I just don't want her to go, but I know she needs this. I have spent the last 18 years basically wrapping her in an invisible layer of bubble wrap and now I just have to hope she is okay. I know part of being a parent is the letting go process, but man, does this hurts so much.
Again sorry for the length--it just seems like we all have shared so much over this past year in this thread, it seemed appropriate for some closure.;....Of course now here comes my 13 year old daughter, who is as, if not more, driven than our 18 year old--life is never boring I guess.
After the big graduation day, my daughter got some decent money from her graduation gifts plus she got a $750 cash award from the school district and she has been working as a life guard this summer. So she has a tidy sum in her bank account right now. You can tell that she is so worried about moving out, that she is almost in zombie apocalypse, survival mode with her buying habits right now. It is almost like she thinks she will never see the inside of a mall ever again in her life. I think she has spent over$1,200 on shoes and makeup in the past 3 weeks. Now the stuff she has bought (Tevas, Chacos and Nike) will last her so I get those purchases, but there are Ulta and Sephora boxes arriving daily. It is new to me, but I don't get the concept of a limited edition pallet of eye shadow.
It is a fine line because she earned this money and she should enjoy some of it to a point, but her mom and I have made it clear this money needs to be her living expense money if she is not planning on getting a job first semester. Plus she wants to go the sorority route--she is looking at non-party groups and wants one of the Christian ones. The catch is she told me the fees can reach $1,000 for this. I have already said I will not be paying this.
In the parent orientation, they said parents should send no more than $50 a month for their kid's basic needs (toilet paper, cleaning supplies, etc) and I am really worried that she thinks it is going to be like living at home where she pretty much got everything she wanted (yes, her mom and I take complete blame for creating this monster). The other thing is we are only 2 1/2 hours away from her and she has already suggested that "Well, I won't take too much initially and you guys can just drive stuff up on the weekends as we go." I am not doing this. She needs to grow up and find her way, but her mom and I are really worried for her.. The school has also suggested that parents pretty much let the kids be until Thanksgiving break. However, even if we aren't there to say no, it won't help because her boyfriend of 15 months will be going to the same school and is actually scheduled to be living two rooms down from her and he is beyond wrapped around her finger.
On the plus side, she ended up going in with 59 college credits and is actually listed as Sophomore (actually only a few credits shy of being a Junior). She only has to go for 2 years max to come out with a Biology degree and she actually only needs a few classes or so to also have a Math Statistics minor.
She only has one roommate in her dorm room and they are coordinating on what each of them are bringing for their room. We ordered the bedding package from the school because we heard from other parents that the beds there aren't exactly twin sized and store bought sheets don't fit-- so we needed to get the sheets from the school store--that was another $225.00 for sheets and comforters. It is a lot to think about--my wife and I have been buying one or two things every week for the past few months to make a big care package--things like lots of towels, a couple surge protectors, an extra phone charger, laundry basket, flashlights, can opener--anything we can think of.. I mean I am going to have my Tahoe packed to the gills that day--how some of you guys whose kids are going out of state are going to do it, is beyond me. I am already wondering if we are going to need to rent a storage unit there for the summers when she comes home or how that is going to work out. Again how you out of state parents are handling this would be interesting to hear.
But the day is coming and I dread it. The longest she has ever been apart from us was a 4 day Senior trip. I can already see how this day is going to play out in my head like it already has happened. Her kissing her lifelong pet cat goodbye that morning--knowing it will probably be the last time she sees him as he is almost 20 and in the final stages of kidney failure. The long drive. The traditional stop at the Starbucks outside of Greeley. . The moving of all the items in. The quick trip to Walmart to get the stuff we won't have room for in the truck--shampoo, toilet paper, toothpaste. She will try to find any reason she can to delay us leaving because she already suggested we should stay the night at a hotel to get her completely settled in (We can't-- we have to get home that night for our 13 year old) .I am preparing myself for "the hug" that I know I will be giving. The comforting of my wife, who will be a blubbering mess. The driving away. This whole thing is just like a slow-motion car wreck about to happen and I can't stop it.; Part of me screams I just don't want her to go, but I know she needs this. I have spent the last 18 years basically wrapping her in an invisible layer of bubble wrap and now I just have to hope she is okay. I know part of being a parent is the letting go process, but man, does this hurts so much.
Again sorry for the length--it just seems like we all have shared so much over this past year in this thread, it seemed appropriate for some closure.;....Of course now here comes my 13 year old daughter, who is as, if not more, driven than our 18 year old--life is never boring I guess.
Fear The Turtle
Footballguy
Just got off the phone with GEICO and, because my daughter will be going away to school, I will save about $600 per six months on my auto policy. GEICO has an "Away At School" status because she'll be more than 100 miles from home and she's not taking her car. She's still covered when she comes home for Thanksgiving and winter breaks, etc.
Definitely look into this for yourselves. The agent I spoke to guessed that only about 50% of families that qualify for this take advantage of it.
Definitely look into this for yourselves. The agent I spoke to guessed that only about 50% of families that qualify for this take advantage of it.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
My daughter has not received her room assignment yet. She is hoping for an old fashioned double but I am hoping she gets a quad. The quads in Trinity look great, each kid gets there own small bed room and then they share a large living space and bath room. I also think with a quad she betters her chances of finding someone who likes her enough to engage with her.
What are you guys doing for fridges? Are you renting on campus or purchasing before hand?
What are you guys doing for fridges? Are you renting on campus or purchasing before hand?
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Fishboy
Footballguy
Thankfully, the suite style dorms at Louisville come furnished with bed, desk, fridge and microwave. A few less things to worry about packing for the 6+ hour ride. Amazing what my wife and daughter "think" will fit into a dorm room. I told them that if it doesn't fit in the bed of the truck with the tonneau cover in place, it won't fit in a dorm room.
If I were you, I'd simply buy one assuming you have the room for move in day. They are cheap enough and in the event she moves into a apartment and no longer needs it, then you have a spare beer fridge for the garage. I can't see the rent being much cheaper of an option. And if you are paying for Trinity, the expense of a fridge is zip compared to the tuition and room and board.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
We are thankfully not paying much for Trinity (daughter got a full 4 year tuition scholarship plus another grant to help cover housing/food/etc).
I do agree though that buying one seems to make more sense. I need to contact the school to see what the size limits are for these rooms.
Fishboy
Footballguy
4 year full - Congrats. Forgot that from above.
Heck, if my daughter was able to pull that off, I'd be buying her a new car or down payment on a house. Cheaper route for me.
NewlyRetired
Footballguy
James Daulton
Footballguy
WTF? How much do you think a normal student actually pays? I'm assuming they give tens of thousands in grants to just about every student.
Also, does Trinity have one of those strict code of conduct policies that students have to sign at some religious schools? Just curious if so if that factored into her decision making at all.
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