FAFSA and Parents Income

medavinci
Mon, 17 Sep 2012 17:16:53 +0000

mom2collegekids, the similarities between your neighbor and myself are eerie. I thought you WERE my neighbor! With the exception of your friend’s daughter having her cell phone cut off, and borrowing money from people (I’ve never done that; I’m just too ashamed), the scenario is basically the same. My d, despite all that is going on, is a saint. She never complains, and she has done some unique things up until this current progression of lyme. She loves journalism, and she had the opportunity to work as the only under age 18 reporter at both the summer and winter Youth Olympic Games in Singapore and Innsbruck (2010 and 2012 right before she got so ill - she hung in despite the cold weather).Because she doesn’t have the strength to exercise and there’s a fear of her pressure dropping very low (it fluctuates between 70/49 and 90/60 on a good day) and fainting (from POTS), she has kept a blog on global issues and won a Future Global Leader award from the World Affairs Forum, and she was selected to do a journalism program at Yale (for free). From that program, she was offered a job as a writer for the Huff Post teen section (which she can do from home), so that is why the school and her therapist were hoping for some kind of scholarship. I don’t know, but at least despite all her illnesses, she is keeps going and never gives up. She’s like the little engine that could.

Her father is exactly like your neighbor’s ex (angry/blaming/and hails from the land of depression and alcoholism). My d summed it up perfectly the day he got arrested. She looked at him while she was in so much pain and just said “I don’t care what happens to you at this point. You never participated in my life.” I thought how prudent and concise - he’s a non-participant.

There are some nice art colleges out there, and many creative ones, that do have journalism and photography, both of which she loves, and if we can find one that suits all her needs, including musical theater (which she did from age 4 until sophomore year when she was on the decline), a capella and perhaps a band, she would be happy. Hopefully, it will be the least moldy of all the colleges, and in one of the tic-free zones (well, there’s really no safe region in the US anymore), she’ll be happy.

She’s doing well in school, and so her only issues are the SAT’s…she can’t focus for long periods of time. She just finishes her off reading long passages about boring topics. She took 3 AP classes last year (APUSH, AP Eng Lang, and AP Eng Lit) and got 5’s, which surprised both of us, because those tests were long (but a lot of writing so it suited her). She’ll have taken 7 AP’s when this year is done, and she really does put in herculean efforts. Hopefully, she will find a college that is perfect for her and financially a fit.

I appreciate everyone’s comments. It means a lot. Thank you!