<p>It’s good to hear that everyone’s summer is off to a good start. We finally drove S home yesterday and he’s sorting through his boxes of stuff to decide what he wants to keep, what things he never used and what can be put away until fall. </p>
<p>Nellie, S had a bike on campus this year and really appreciated it. It is a little scary to think about him riding on busy streets, but it has made it much easier for him to get around.</p>
<p>Congratulations on your D’s opportunity, Oldfort. It’s great to see them spreading their wings into new areas and taking advantage of the wonderful opportunities they have available to them. </p>
<p>S needs to find a summer job and is very late in looking for one in this area. His only advantage is that school starts later for him than most college students. He is brushing off his soccer reffing certificate and hopes to ref for a couple of tournaments. </p>
<p>DD is nannying (sp?) during the summer. She’s got her next years housing all set; is taking a “core” requirement online over the summer as well. This will solidify her 3-1/2 year graduation trajectory. She also switched her major to “Finance”, and is keeping the Economics minor. She really has a knack for this stuff. It’s really cool to witness them “finding themselves.”</p>
<p>DW and I decided to downsize with just one bird left in the nest (DS '15) full time. Before we even got accustomed to the idea? our house sold! :eek: Fortunately, as luck would have it - a home we’d been eyeing for a couple years as a nice place to slide into for the next decade, came on the market and we were able to buy it on day 1! Even that turned into a multiple bid situation, but we won out. Who knew the market heated up so quickly?? 4 years ago we couldn’t give our house away.</p>
<p>Any way - that’s the news from the upper Midwest. Hope you’re enjoying your summer! We’ll be packing and moving in about a month. And we’re cutting our real estate taxes, maintenance and operating expenses by about 2/3rds! That should make those tuition checks a little easier :p</p>
<p>Congrats on the sales, giterdone. We thought we’d have a land sale here (selling some of our land), but the buyer has a trustee due to a settlement and they want to appraise the place based upon last year’s low prices… (not many 16 acre lots sell around here, so no current sales). We told them “no deal.” The buyer is livid (with the trustee - not us).</p>
<p>Such is life. If they can’t work something out, next year’s price should be even higher. OR… we might downsize to it and sell the rest of our farm after youngest leaves next year.</p>
<p>Neither S nor I feel our respective interviews went well on Tuesday, but he had another one scheduled for the next day at a different place. He has his orientation on Saturday!! He is so funny. He will not be convinved he actually has the job until they give him a schedule and have him sign papers. Keep in mind-this is his first job-he did not work in HS. A lot of volunteering but no paying job. The person that interviewed him sounded a lot like him so that may have helped. I think I feel more nervous than he does about him starting this new part of his world.</p>
<p>As smart and on top of things as he is, it’s funny because he is so behind other kids his age when it comes to these things. Not getting drivers license until last summer, pt job, etc…</p>
<p>Hope all are enjoying the summer solstice!!!</p>
<p>I’m a little frustrated that the financial aid package won’t be posted until July 1. My D is on the guaranteed wait list for housing and won’t know that until Aug 1. So I don’t know if she’ll be in a single or double and I don’t know how much our package is. All fees are due Aug 1. They did send an email that they use the cost of a double if on the guaranteed wait list but they could end up in a single and the difference would be due before they move in. However, I won’t know how much of a loan I need because I don’t know if she’ll get a double or a single. She has to move in early (Aug. 18), so I’ll have exactly 17 days to find that money if she ends up in a single. </p>
<p>I was hoping to do partial payment plan and partial loan this year. I may have to take out the full loan for what they estimate in case I have to use a payment plan for the single/double difference. I guess if she doesn’t get a single and I don’t owe extra money, I’ll just pay off the extra toward last year’s loan. It’s frustrating though.</p>
<p>We’re still waiting to hear about financial aid as well. Since D graduated this year, we aren’t sure how much that will affect our expected contribution.</p>
<p>I’m sure it must be a big puzzle for the schools, to fit together all of the students’ needs and then correlate it with available funds and loans.</p>
<p>We’re waiting for FA news too. I called today and they’ve been through the first counselor, waiting to be checked by second counselor. We should get news in 3-5 days…</p>
<p>It’s not a job I’d want. We’re also still waiting on Financial Aid - partially because we filed by paper (business, farm, etc) and while the IRS cashed our check quickly, they didn’t process our paperwork until this week - hence - getting the “confirmation” to the school took a bit longer than we would have liked. The results didn’t change, so hopefully they were able to use the data we submitted on CSS and only essentially “held” the award notification. He definitely had the GPA to keep merit aid.</p>
<p>My son got his f. aid package about 10 days ago. I filed an appeal and was able to get a little more money, so it looks like we’ll owe about $550 more this year than last year.</p>
<p>^@Barnardmom - take the bigger loan to pay for the more expensive room, so you won’t have to scramble. Also, don’t they bill per semester (i.e. you would need only half the yearly difference for the first bill)? For example, in my D’s school, the total difference is about 1000 for the year, so it would be 500 on the first bill. Maybe take only that much more now?</p>
<p>Yes. I looked at it again and realized the difference is only around $1000 for the year and that’s split between the two terms. I was thinking it was $4000 a year and was all due upfront. I’d still like to know for sure what type of housing she is in when we get the financial aid package. I think she’s a bit frustrated too because she doesn’t know if she’ll be in a single, be with her roommate from last year, be living with total strangers in a suite, etc. Barnard’s housing crunch is about my only complaint with them at all. I guess it could be worse. Hopefully it will only be an issue for this year since seniors and juniors get to pick earlier. They’ve had a higher yield than anticipated in the last two years so it has been a problem. The vast majority of kids stay in the dorms all four years.</p>
<p>^I guess they have to wait to see who will be transferring, going abroad, etc. at the last minute to see where a room opens up. My kid’s school has overcrowded housing all the time. My D did not get a satisfactory lottery number, and although she would have been able to get a room on campus, she felt that it would have been a worse experience than off campus (because of the dorms which were available with that number),so she will be off campus. I am preparing myself for a change of heart second semester. It seems that the spring semester has more housing openings than fall. I guess we will see how it goes. I hope they let your D know soon. It must be frustrating.</p>
<p>just stopping by to say hi. Not waiting for any FA, but college has said the bill will be due a month earlier than last year. That is nice (not) at least we got good lead time.</p>
<p>DS recieved his financial aid package. Not good. My DD starts school this coming year so we thought we’d get a bump in FA. Nope. School costs went up, they gave him $3000 in work study (he was getting a job anyway, so he was making that anyway) and they took away his small grant. What??? He is visiting the FA office on Monday personally. We will see what they say. I’m going for the “ask for the $3K in grant money and then get a job on campus too” view. I’m not sure how we can add a second kid in college and then they take away grant money. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>And, my ex let me know yesterday that he has lost his temporary contract job. Since it was a contract position, he is not eligible for unemployment. He’d been working at this job since October after a 3 years being laid off. This will make things interesting (sigh).</p>
<p>Geogirl - YIKES! That was a school youngest was considering. Please update as to how it all goes as we may opt to cross it from our list. We wouldn’t be able to financially handle a significant change in FA and I’m personally opposed to large loans for the kids (“basic” loans are fine IMO).</p>
<p>Barnardmom - definitely let the college know… </p>
<p>This is making me a bit more worried about what my guy will get… time will tell soon I hope - perhaps today.</p>
That should make those tuition checks a little easier :p</p>