<p>That was kind of you. </p>
<p>The increase in FA was sent to us in an email with little explanation. I reviewed the hard copy of our original aid award (since the award is the same type, Need based school grant) and there is no verbage at all indicating the award should remain similar, if circumstances… etc. If I don’t get a reply from my email this AM, I’ll call them this afternoon.</p>
<p>Party Plans?</p>
<p>Now that everybody is moving on the HS grad celebrations, etc. Anybody have suggestions as to how to have a nice, inexpensive celebration. D thinks it’s weird to have her friends come over to celebrate her graduation, since they are graduating too. I kind of understand her sentiments. On the other hand,I find it strange to have a HS grad celebration with only relatives and adult friends…very few HS grads. What to do?</p>
<p>Jolynne, glad to see your son made a decision. ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!</p>
<p>I love Alabama football!</p>
<p>I went to the Dollar Store last night and saw a huge selection of Graduation party stuff.</p>
<p><em>YIKES</em> It’s fast approaching!! :eek:</p>
<p>They’ve closed the entire Ft. Worth school district until at least the end of next week. All I can think of is AP exams…I wonder if they’ve told the kids to go to a neighboring open school district or what.</p>
<p>missypie—must be concerning that the schools are closed…feel for you, can imagine the stress of not knowing how the end of year activities will play out…</p>
<p>We aren’t in the Ft Worth ISD but we are nearby. I’m just hoping cool minds wil prevail and not cancel in our district for no reason.</p>
<p>The dance competition that was to be in Ft. Worth has been “postponed”…I somehow don’t think they’ll be able to find an alternate date this near the end of the school year. As ticked as that makes me, the dressing rooms at the dance competitons are always so unbelievably crowded that I wonder when the fire marshall is going to shut them down…if someone did have something contageous, it probably could be passed pretty easily to the 50 other girls crammed in the same dressing room, the 300 girls all using the same 3 toilets and sinks, etc.</p>
<p>ksabbo, 3rd time around for us with this HS graduation party business… Typically our child will hang around & eat our buffet lunch & talk to EVERYBODY there, then cut a cake & leave shortly thereafter. In the meantime a few friends may show up, then they all go to each other’s houses! Everything comes from the chain grocery store…Party platters, cake & so on… Chinet type plates, plastic cutlery comes from Costco. We usually have beer & wine for the adults. As we are limited to tickets & attendees, my two older daughters will be setting stuff up while we are at the graduation & I have 3 SILs who have volunteered to help. So things get done for the party while we are at graduation. It seems to always work out-If you only get 4 tickets for the graduation, you are limited as to who attends!</p>
<p>SLUMOM: Do you have the party on the same day/evening as graduation? Our commencement is in the evening at approx. 6PM. I don’t know how long it will take…approximately 210 students.</p>
<p>Oops, sorry, I read your post again and realize the set up is occurring during commencement. I’m not sure if I want to do this in the evening, since the post commencement celebration wouldn’t get started until 8:30 or later. On the other hand, providing a place for kids to drop in after the graduation isn’t a bad thing either. Oh, decisions, decisions.</p>
<p>SLUMOM: That is a great idea. My challenge is they provide up to EIGHT tickets! The ones that would most likely opt out of attending the commencement are my two 17 year old boys. They might even want to go since a bunch of their friends are graduating too. I also hesitate to see how they would choose to set things up for us:)</p>
<p>Our commencement is also in the evening as is clorun’s. Another challenge for the timing of celebration event.</p>
<p>Yesterday we received a letter from the school about graduation. For some insane reason I thought it would be sweet and sentimental…silly me…it was a page and a half of rules - no air horns, kids must wear appropriate clothes under robes, leave the house in plenty of time BECAUSE THEIR DIPLOMA WILL BE PULLED IF THEY ARE LATE…I guess they have a lot of experience doing this and know what we need to be told.</p>
<p>Thanks for the good wishes & belated congrats to others on the recent decisions…haven’t been keeping up as well as I should … working & in a tizzy w/son’s last-minute re-assessments.</p>
<p>cpeltz, Rachacha Marquette & Wooster are great schools! </p>
<p>momreads–thanks & I will be on that website today! lol! I think they will have an awesome time there. And, our guys will be in the same dorm. As a dad said when we toured the model suite: “this is far nicer than my first apartment!” </p>
<p>Moving on to grad stuff–anyone wondering about number of people to invite to ceremony? We can have unlimited if the weather is nice, but are limited to 2 guests if it moves inside. That could be tough to invite family 2 hrs away then say, “sorry!”</p>
<p>Maybe we can do a dinner w/the family as an alternate (tho son would likely want to be out w/friends!).</p>
<p>Our high school graduations are always at 10:00 AM & can be indoors or outdoors, depending on the weather. It would be nice to experience the outdoor ceremony, the two older girls were indoors due to rain. It is hit or miss! I like the 10:00 AM on a Saturday, you can host at buffet lunch around 1:00 PM. </p>
<p>I suppose someone will bring a beach ball & they will throwing that around!</p>
<p>momreads, congrats to your son. My D hasn’t thought far enough ahead to her speach and guaranteed it isn’t going to get looked at until the 6 AP’s and the unknown number of projects are completed. The only projects that are definite are AP Comp (final version of a paper they’ve been working on) and AP Art history (putting art works to some modern piece of music) She’s really looking forward to the Art history project. </p>
<p>No plans for a graduation party. It’s not her thing. She’s going to a bunch of others though.</p>
<p>Last night DD handed me a “Senior Completion Information” form. The form is requesting IN DETAIL…college plans including ALL colleges applied to along with ALL financial aid offered (detailed by grants, scholarships, loans, etc), student work plans (previous, current, and future).</p>
<p>Hmm, this may take until graduation to complete, DD applied to 15 colleges!</p>
<p>Edited to add:
Just noticed it must be returned by May 20, or she will not receive her cap & gown and graduation tickets!</p>
<p>mythmom: I just got off the phone with the FA office at the school of choice. They assurred me the FA package was the basic aid package for all 4 years, assuming a similar financial situation. I was VERY concerned about this, because our appeal could have been interpreted as “temporary” financial circumstances.</p>
<p>I just requested an extension for our “committment” at 1st choice school. I have to speak with DD and let her know this school is back in play. She could go to 2nd choice school and graduate with no debt. Now she has to decide if 1st choice school is worth her taking on approximately $25k in subsidized loans (over 4 years). Her grandfather MIGHT be able to relieve her of the $25k debt upon graduation. Not a total guaranty though.</p>
<p>Drama!!!</p>
<p>ksabbo, I think that’s great! I think that I know the 2 schools you are talking about, and if I were her, I would go with the school that is back in play! The only concern that I would have is what your concern is, which is will that package be very similar for all 4 years!!!</p>
<p>ksabbo: Drama, yes, but still a choice between two good options. Great news for your daughter! Good luck with the continuing saga.</p>
<p>Re casual grad parties – Most of our seniors have open houses throughout the weekend of graduation. Food and chatting and kids playing games or whatever. The seniors who are friends with one another (there are usually two or three packs they run in) will coordinate the times so that one open house ends a little bit before another begins. That way they can all go to one another’s parties.</p>
<p>One year, they all rented “the clubhouse” in the neighborhood close to the school (home to a few seniors) and had one big party together with dancing, swimming, and other hanging-out kind of stuff… but I think there were still some open houses afterward for the families.</p>
<p>This year, a couple of the senior moms decided to arrange one big group party for everyone. Maybe kind of a mistake with this senior class, as they’re not a very cohesive group. I don’t think geek_son or his friends will make more than a token appearance at that, and I’m sure there will be open houses again. My house needs some work done, so I’m looking now to find some other venue for a party… once I know what time our “slot” will be!</p>
<p>ksabbo, I’m not sure what choice #1 is but good luck with a decision. IMHO, $25K is within the realm of reason for debt based on what the stafford loans are and guidelines set by money people that undergrad school debt shouldn’t be more than about a years salary out of school. If it were no debt vs. $50K it would be an easier decision. It comes down to personal choice; I’m curious to see what your d decides. Where did life get so complicated?</p>
<p>Our school’s nice graduation ceremony (in my view) is the baccalaureate, which is held at a huge downtown church. That one has a professional motivational speaker and incredible music. The graduates are in full cap and gown and stand as a group to be recognized. That is held on a Sunday afternoon (May 31 this year). The official Graduation is the following Saturday (6 days later) and is held at an Arena downtown. That one has limited tickets (8 per family) and is pretty dull in my experience. Parking, seating, and coordination of the graduates is a zoo so you have to get there at least an hour and a half before it starts. Graduations for other schools are held back to back all day long at the same location, so a total nightmare. Every graduate goes across the stage to get the diploma and that takes well more than an hour. Then the teachers, administrators, and some students give speeches. No professional speaker, so those speeches can be hit or miss. </p>
<p>Our party is scheduled for the following Sunday afternoon. It would be pretty tiring to go from the graduation event itself to a party and as people have mentioned difficult to pull off, but there will be parties all week from the prior Sunday event to and including that Saturday night and into the following Sunday. The standard around here ranges from large catered events to small family get togethers with the grads hopping from one party to the next. It can be tiring for all concerned.</p>