<p>Congrats to those receiving good news, and regrets to those dealing with frustrations. Sounds like a lot of illness and disappointments right now. Gosh.</p>
<p>I can now announce that we are DONE with auditions. Today’s went “fine” (as D says), but we won’t know anything until we get the letters. The accomplishment is in doing them, period. </p>
<p>I console myself these days thinking D’s list will naturally whittle down with rejections - is that perverse or what? Someday she will have ONE school, and that will be it.</p>
<p>When D1 graduated from HS in '08, she recieved offers for credit cards and we were able to get one in her name. I believe that with the changes in credit laws, these cards are no longer available. We just got D2 a card in her own name on one of our credit accounts. She is quite a shopper, but she knows that we will monitor the bills.</p>
<p>I think that it’s important for college students to have a credit card for emergencies and travel. The are also useful for buying books if you don’t want to put that money on a debit card. My daughter saves a lot of money buying her books from Amazon. Her school also has an interesting option called bursuring, which allows students to pay for extra meals and books by charging it to their student account. It seems like magic to the kids, but the parents get billed each month.</p>
<p>EmmyBet, from one auditioner-mom to another…CONGRATULATIONS ON BEING DONE!!! I’m sure she did an amazing job and will have many nice (and maybe some surprising) offers. I’m so happy for both of you to be finished with this phase! :)</p>
<p>I just put in a call earlier this week for an additional AMEX card for d. Hers will have a limit, not because she will spend over that amount or even up to that amount, but simply I think it is better if it is lost. She already has a checking debit card linked to her checking account that I can always put more money in plus a separate pre-paid card. I wanted the regular credit card since she is traveling to several colleges by herself and is changing planes (in Chicago, where the last two times we flew through there we had to get hotel rooms due to airline delays=once mechanical, once weather related).</p>
<p>Puma - here’s hoping S will feel better soon.
Emmybet - congratulations on being done.
Ohiomom - congratulations on the $$. I think I have to give up trying to understand why some kids get admissions/acceptances at one school while others, seemingly the same qualifications don’t. Some of these decisions will never make any sense to us. As long as they all have other good choices, all will be well. This has to be mantra - keep repeating it until I feel less stressed out :(</p>
<p>Credit cards - we are thinking of the same thing - so very timely topic. D turns 18 next month and our credit union will give her a credit card. She has a debit card tied to her bank account - doesn’t use it at all. I suspect that will have to change once she is in college. We might still get her a card on one of our accounts instead of the credit union card unless the credit union card is in her name only. With the rule change last year, I suspect they will require us to co-sign, in which case, it probably is better for us to add her to one of our frequently used credit cards. At least get credit for any expenses she might have. Down side will be that she will have a high credit limit - she is not one to spend, but I am afraid of the "lost my card’ scenario.</p>
<p>Vacation week coming to a close here. Next one is in April and won’t be much fun considering the timing. D had it pretty easy this past week - perhaps for the best, given that the next few weeks will be crazy. Have a good weekend folks! I will pass around margaritas - but unfortunately, can’t have any myself (thanks to some medication that I am currently on!). Bummer…</p>
<p>EB-congrats on being DONE with auditions…now the waiting begins. Hoping for lots of good news for your D!</p>
<p>credit cards, just ordered an additional Capital One card in my d’s name linked to our account. She is traveling to Costa Rica over spring break and staying with some friends there. Capital One is a great card for foreign travel. D is very responsible. Always asks me about spending money. Other than travel right now she will just use it to charge gas. (and will pay me back!)</p>
<p>As MM alluded to, each Amex card on your account can have its own credit limit. While my son is in Boston this weekend, I increased it JIC he has an emergency, but when he returns home, I’ll lower it again JIC he misplaces it. Simple as getting on Amex website and inputting the change.</p>
<p>FL mom - our state has a common scholarship app, and it works exactly as you describe. There are something like 180 scholarships and kids look through them all to choose ones they qualify for. Check the box for the applicable ones. The app is all done online, the transcript (with test scores and rank) is uploaded online by the HS, and there is NO FEE. The app includes a couple of essay responses, and some scholarships require LORs while others don’t. Also required and done as part of the online app is a list of activities/honors/service, etc.
I spend quite a bit of time helping students through it, but it’s great!</p>
<p>puma - We also have a Community Foundation app which manages ~80 local scholarships. It would be great if this concept could be broadened to include any scholarship that wants to be included like Coca-Cola, Kohls, etc. Maybe for my grandkids!! I wonder what the process will be like then. Any thoughts?</p>
<p>I just transferred S1’s custodial savings account to a student checking account with ATM/Debit card this week. It has an underlying savings account for overdraft protection. DH and I will have access to both accounts - we can view online, transfer, withdraw and deposit. </p>
<p>I considered getting him a credit card, but he will only be a 2.25 hour car ride from home, so we don’t have concerns with him being able to book flights, or to make considerable purchases. </p>
<p>Our plan is for him to develop a budget based on his summer earnings - come up with a weekly allotment of spending money at the beginning of each week, and pay cash for all his social needs. Once that predetermined amount of weekly cash is gone … he is out of luck. I have asked him to NOT use the debit functionality of the card for POS transactions, unless there is an emergency. I really want him to learn to live within his means. </p>
<p>If this plan doesn’t work…we will reconsider a low balance credit card option at a later date.</p>
<p>Good to see various ways parents handle the credit/debit/$ issues–D1 has had a part time job for a few years now but has just used her savings account for everything, no checking or debit etc. Need to work on setting something up…I do worry about it as just recently she seems to be much more interested in shopping, makes no sense with college coming up and family financial struggles lately-Puma you are not alone!</p>
<p>Speaking of–best to email/call or both regarding appealing finaid pkgs? any hints/tips greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Financial aid appeal - I was wondering the same thing about one of my son’s colleges so googled “college name, financial aid appeal” and lo and behold, there’s a process all written out. The college I was looking for has a form to fill out and they say it’s a one-time appeal where you would include the reason for appealing and any other offers from other colleges, new grades, etc. Depending on how son is feeling in another few weeks, we may just do the appeal.</p>
<p>As I commented with yesterday’s countdown (post 10037), I found a clean driveway when I got home. He did at least review the four scholarships that are on his current “possibility” list and has agreed to apply for the two that make the most sense.</p>
<p>Just posting to say that I love high school seniors. Except for a few kids like many of yours, they are so over everything and can relax a bit before college. They are hard to parent (!) and hard to teach, but I love the confidence with which they negotiate their world.</p>
<p>Have your kids gotten to the point where grounding seems unenforceable? I technically “grounded” xbox for 2 wks when ds stayed up until 3:30 am to finish a novel he just had a 4 day weekend to do (PROcrastinator). Ds came home after school function with friend last night for 1/2 hr of “can we play xbox?” Yeah, I let him because in my head, I just look at him towering over me, and it seems like the “time-out” is past it’s applicability.</p>
<p>To get our teens attention,
I have sealed the facebook acct , or made PS3 off limits…
as well as take the cell phone, and mp3 player…
our second semester sr is generally not in need of such methods since grades are good, and college admit is in hand,
Its our freshman who needs reminding…though frankly we have tried so many things–not having found this kiddo’s currency…sigh</p>
<p>AK, sorry the UM $$ didn’t come through. Ohiomom, good luck on the $$ – I wonder if they purposely make the visit on “difficult” days so that only the most seriously interested students show up??</p>
<p>EmmyBet, grats on the end of auditions! My daughter had her last audition yesterday. Things worked out nicely. The first audition was the “worst.” Not that it was awful – daughter did her best but just didn’t feel that she really fit with the program. The second one was our local U where she feels very comfortable and that one was positive. So I was surprised when this last audition was an even better experience and their dance program is now at the very top of her list. Her auditions were not as big a deal as EB’s and MOSB’s, as they were for scholarships, rather than getting into the program, but still very important to us as those scholarships may make the difference in whether she can attend. She did her best and had a great attitude and I’m a very proud mom!</p>
<p>We are wrestling with our states driving laws. I am all in favor of teen driving laws, but the new 11PM curfew is ridiculous. That means as a high school senior who hasn’t turned 18 like my S, you have to head home at 10:30, as everyplace is pretty much 20-30 mins from our house. 9PM movies are out. It’s going to be a long summer, because he still won’t be 18 until the fall. Not one of the parents I knew have been enforcing it, now they are cracking down and starting to give tickets with mandatory one month suspensions.</p>
<p>All the new rules get my support except for this one, they dropped it from midnight. Why they didn’t make it 11 for the first year or something like they did with the passenger law escapes me.</p>