<p>Finanical aid gurus, please help and clarify FAFSA. We completed FAFSA for our DD17 and recieved our FAFSA EFC. We told them we had two kids in college. We haven’t completed the FAFSA for DS16 yet as it’s not due and I will wait till we get our real tax returns completed. So, my question is the number we recieved on our DDs FAFSA, was that just our EFC for her, or was that our EFC for both kids?</p>
<p>Almost certainly for the one, since FAFSA is for individual schools (even if multiple schools use) that have no interest in siblings beyond how they affect the final numbers for the student whose situation they have to evaluate.</p>
<p>Congrats to Cama’s D!!!</p>
<p>Congrats to Cama’s DD! Wonderful news.</p>
<p>Thank you notakid.</p>
<p>eyemamom- I can answer a lot of greek life questions as I’ve been a volunteer on the international level for my sorority for a couple decades now. You can find some good info on greekchat dot com also.</p>
<p>tassle-greenies for you, annasdad … I love what I find out on these forums. I grew up in Ohio but did not know this.</p>
<p>Do not mean to bring down the mood of the thread but I need somewhere to vent. I will post what I sent in a PM to another user. </p>
<p>Confused, unhappy
Hi. I am writing this from a bathroom in my school library. I am crying. I am not happy. I never liked school and it’s making me miserable. I feel stressed because I have to make a decision about classes and a major and nothing appeals to me because I hate school. I don’t know what to do. I know my mother will not let me take a semester off and there would be nothing for me to do in the meantime. I want to do something I enjoy and I don’t enjoy anything.</p>
<p>Just needed to vent. Thanks.</p>
<p>Oh CPU! I am so sorry you are feeling confused and unhappy. I’m sending you virtual hugs ((())). </p>
<p>I don’t have any advice for you other than to suggest that you talk to a counselor at your school. I’d be very surprised if they don’t offer some sort of counseling services and it might help you if you had someone to talk with. There’s not much worse than feeling sad and alone.</p>
<p>Could you take some completely different classes next semester? Maybe try some things you’ve never studied before? Many students start out thinking that they want to study one thing and then totally change their minds. It could be that you just haven’t found your true passion yet.</p>
<p>You know you’re always welcome to vent here. We all feel an attachment to you and want to see you happy. I really hope that things improve for you. </p>
<p>(((()))) More hugs!</p>
<p>Dear CPU,</p>
<p>I’m so sorry things aren’t going well. 
You are at a very challenging school. I don’t mean that you can’t handle the academics; I think you can. It’s all the other stuff that goes with that school (attitudes of students, pressure from without, pressure from within, having to follow someone else’s dictates, feeling the definite divide among social groups, and so on) As great as the name is and as great as your f. aid is, does you mom understand the realities of life on the ground for you? Does she understand the pressure you feel, the dissatisfaction with your time there, the stress that the concussion brought? How does she respond when you tell her what’s going on in your head? Are there any counseling services available to you?</p>
<p>Might you have a plan B that you can propose to your mom? (Transferring to another school closer to home? Taking a semester off with a good explanation)</p>
<p>No one can force you to go to school if time off is what you need. I know things have been rocky at times between you and your mom but I pray she would understand the realities of what you’re dealing with.</p>
<p>Do get help somewhere, CPU. Don’t go through this alone. My heart is with you and I again offer my son or any of his friends from Cru at MIT if you need someone to talk with. PM me anytime, CPU.</p>
<p>CPU, I hope you will go and talk to a a counselor at your school. I think you need to do that.</p>
<p>Let me add to those who are suggesting speaking with a counselor. It’s very likely they will have some suggestions you haven’t considered AND it’s just nice to talk to someone who really wants to listen and help. Please go. <<<>>></p>
<p>Life has its ups and downs for everyone. Please realize you are at a “down” part right now, but it won’t last forever. Someday it will just be a blip in your memory. But no one needs to be at a down part with no one to talk to. That’s just not “fun” (using that last word loosely because a better choice isn’t coming to mind right now).</p>
<p>CPU, you are at an excellent school full of resources to support students. It’s time to seek those out. Even though you might feel alone and like no one else is experiencing/struggling with what you are feeling, you are not alone and not the first to ever feel this way. The parents here are telling you to seek support TODAY.</p>
<p>Big hug to you CPU! Your other moms are here for you! </p>
<p>How about stopping in to your career development and placement center? They should have lots of resources to help you identify interests and talents that will lead you to classes and careers you may not have considered. When you have a plan, your confidence will be restored.</p>
<p>Re your schedule: take a class that intrigues you, not just one you think you “need”. Is there anything you wished you knew more about? Look at an intro level for every major offered. Do you have to pick a major NOW? You should have another year before you have to commit.</p>
<p>I really think you love learning. On your terms. Or you wouldn’t be where you are now. You are a smart young lady with great potential. Seek some help, find someone to talk to. This is just one of many blips on the path of life.</p>
<p>You are not alone.</p>
<p>CPU - I am really sorry to hear that you are unhappy. I thought about what I would say to you if you were my kid. I think I would ask you why you are unhappy, is it the school (professors, how the courses are taught, advising), students, location, ECs, or courses you are taking. My kid would then ramble on about everything which is making her unhappy. She may focus on her courses first, but at some point I’ll be able to figure out the real reason why she is unhappy. </p>
<p>I would encourage you to speak to someone to try to figure out why you are unhappy at the school, may it be a counselor or an adult you trust. Until you really know why you are not happy, you (and other people) can’t help you fix it.</p>
<p>If it is because you haven’t found good friends and for whatever reason you don’t like the kids at your school, I would tell you to branch out to other schools. There are so many schools (students) in your city that you could party at other schools as well at at your school. </p>
<p>If it is that you are not enjoying your courses, why not try to take some course outside of your intended major. My math/science kid really enjoyed her gender studies courses. Just think of it this way, you are going to the school with a great FA, what does it matter to just blow a semester to take some BS courses. If your intension is to transfer to another school, then just view it as a semester of summer camp to find yourself. Maybe you’ll find your new passion.</p>
<p>You have few bad experiences last semester, it is normal to be apprehensive about going back. Give yourself a break and try to take it easy. You are going to an excellent school, but it is not a right fit for everyone. There is no shame to say this isn’t for me. There are a lot other schools out there and there are a lot of happy college students. My D2 is a philosophy major (same age as you). Recently she said to me, “You can choose to be happy,” when one of her friends was always so unhappy about everything in her life. </p>
<p>If you want, please come here to vent or bounce some ideas off us. This is a very supportive thread. I would encourage you to try it for one more semester, keep up your grades, and maybe send out few transfer applications just in case you want to transfer. There are many great options out there.</p>
<p>Best.</p>
<p>CPU, I second everything oldfort just said. Give yourself permission to try different classes and find something you do like. Best wishes - we all want to see you happy!</p>
<p>ditto from me also. Hang in there CPU, the people at your college want you to succeed. You have to talk to them so they can help you.</p>
<p>For CPU, re courses, academic goals etc. see the advising dean or whatever it is called at your college, to see what the alternatives are for more interesting course work. I would think that at this time, no major is engraved in stone. This applies even to colleges where you are accepted into a major when you apply, let alone what to my mind is one of the most liberal of institutions - H. There are some colleges where there are no “distribution” requirements, and others where there are such requirements, or core curriculum etc. For some the requirements are tedious, and a drag, so this might be a problem, or not.</p>
<p>For social and similar issues, I would suggest a mental health counselor. A good one is worth their weight in gold.</p>
<p>Lastly, a piece of wisdom from an educator that I know - you take yourself with you where ever you go. Sometimes a change of place from a bad environment is the cure, but you have to know if it is you, or the environment that needs the change.</p>
<p>Best of luck. FWIW, I had a hard time my own freshman year, but things got better after that, and I never did transfer, although I thought of it.</p>
<p>CPU – Some of what you wrote sounds familiar to me as I suspect it does to at least a few other parents on the thread. Many of our kids were at or near the top of their classes in high school and have suddenly realized that in choosing the college they chose, have been put into competition, real or imagined, with kids who were at or near the top of their classes and they are now having to adjust to living in a part of the bell curve they’ve never even visited before. The process of adjustment is stressful and is made worse by the feeling that they are alone in feeling these things when in all likelihood, many of the other kids are feeling the same thing and putting up a brave front just like them. You’re not alone.</p>
<p>The thing that bothers me most about what you wrote is “… I don’t enjoy anything.” I’ll join the chorus suggesting you check out what counseling services are available to you. I also suspect there are at least of few kids of this thread who have already done so. Again, you’re not alone.</p>
<p>Give yourself a break about your indecision. I turn 50 in a few days and still don’t know what I want to be when (if?) I grow up. I’ve told S that college is a learning experience–not just about the stuff in class, but also about yourself. Coming in, you probably had a picture of yourself as a “STEM kid” or some such. Now, you may be in the process of discovering that picture may not have been as accurate as you once thought. That can be disorienting, I’m sure, but it’s a good thing because if you take advantage of the opportunity to find your “true self,” you can end up much happier than you would have been had you stayed the original course.</p>
<p>Please know that people here care about you.</p>
<p>Looking back the thread a bit …</p>
<p>Congratulations to jackief’s D on finding her spot in the sorority world!</p>
<p>Congraulations to cama’s D on making the a cappella group! I enjoying seeing “our” musical kids continuing to pursue music even though they may not have chosen to major in it. At S’s school, there is a pretty sturdy (figurative) fence around the school of music. He auditioned for Phi Mu Alpha’s community jazz program and was assigned to a quartet. The piano player is a bit difficult to schedule, so this has been up and down to the point where he’s toying with auditioning for a jazz studies minor.</p>
<p>If anyone’s looked at “My Control Panel” and wondered what the heck I’m doing with rep … Based on some of the behavior I see in other threads, I think everyone here is deserving of good reputation, so I start with people with one square, if there’s any left, move on to the two squares, etc.</p>