Parents of the HS Class of 2013

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
17201

<p>OK '13ers–twins and triple mom’s especially, something else to worry about–check out the post where the mom has 2 kids graduating on the SAME DAY from different colleges—YIKES!!! Sorry to be Debbie Downer.</p>

<p>89wahoo–moving back into a recession, regardless of who’s fault, is a very, very real possibility in '13. Start squirreling away cash…I saw a post on Pinterest where someone was saving for vacation and put every $5 bill she got in an envelope for a year and ended up paying for her entire vacation that way without even noticing the funds “gone” from the budget. I’m planning on doing that this year–$5 bills and then any “odd” bill I get $50, $100, etc.</p>

17202

<p>wahoo - when I flip on ESPN, I usually hear about what fantasy football players will be in the game this week, who is on injured reserve, and currently, which teams are in the playoffs, which ones can control their own destiny, how the Jets s*ck, and how Tebow will be going to the Jaguires next year (yes, that seems to be how they pronounce ‘Jaguars’! :smiley: ) ;)</p>

<p>I’ve always liked the ‘save a bill here and there idea’. If little things add up when we DON’T want them to, why wouldn’t they add up when we DO want them to? I used to love getting huge jars filled with pennies from my parents when my kids were little. We would sit around and roll them and get the money. As they got older, we could just dump 'em into those machines. Much easier (and worth the fee to not have to roll coins. Ugh!)</p>

17203

<p>my3gr8boyz–my grandpa had jars and jars and jars of change lying around his house. If we had more time, I’m sure there were coins in those containers that were worth a lot more than face value. When we cashed them in at the bank after he died, it was well over $5000 :D.</p>

<p>We can bring coins to our bank and they have a machine with no fees for account holders :D. We have an old milk jug that we keep coins in. In the past we have always used it for spending money on vacations. DS is using it now to save money for a vacation he wants to take.</p>

<p>I just cleaned out my wallet and have $55 in my “$5 fund” now :D. Not bad for the first day of my fund.</p>

17204

<p>All this talk about the fiscal cliff is freaking me out! Like Galaxy, we usually get about $4K back each year, which is planned, so to speak, but if there is an upcoming $14K swing it seriously makes me want to scream and cry from frustration…and I am typically a “glass is half full” kind of gal. I don’t want to get on a huge tangent about income/financial aid, as I know our family is fortunate to have the jobs we have. However, like everyone else, college costs increase more quickly than our paychecks have…unfortunately for us our D is looking at primarily private schools due to her major, and it will be tough enough to pay for where she wants to go, let alone if there is a major tax change. How in the world can a family plan for something like this?? Most people don’t have an extra $10-15K sitting around, and it makes me sick to think that if we have a huge tax burden our US government STILL DOESN’T HAVE A BALANCED BUDGET!! OUR family has to have a balanced budget – WTH??? :/</p>

<p>…and I like the $5 bill savings fund. I’m going to try it :)</p>

<p>So – for the FAFSA I saw that someone said we need to have a FAFSA pin for the student, and one for a parent. And they should be the same?? But only one parent has to have a PIN? Any information is welcome…TIA!</p>

17205

<p>Just sneaking in to say My3great, clean out that inbox! </p>

<p>Everybody, I really do celebrate all the successes and feel for your disappointments. I read most of this thread, but even when I copy and past responses the catching up takes so long that I often have to hand off the computer before I get them posted. </p>

<p>Here’s one I can’t resist tossing in,
Carimama – hope I’m not repeating myself, but when I read your posts, I can’t help but think of a cousin of mine who was famous for coming home from a bbq at a Latina friend’s house and saying “Mom, why can’t we be ethnic?” This is decades ago, but it does stick with me as the echt WASP’s lament.</p>

17206

<p>They don’t “have” to be the same pin, it’s just a heck of a lot easier to remember that way :D. I signed the twins up for theirs and renewed mine and signed DH up for one just in case but he never had one before so I don’t think BOTH parents need one but since it takes a few days to get those activated I wanted to get one just in case. DD is having her surgery on the 2nd so I plan to do the FAFSA while I watch her sleep off the anesthesia :D. When she had her surgery last year she slept for almost 2 days, waking to drink, go to the bathroom and eat a little yogurt.</p>

17207

<p>SteveMA - thanks for the info, and Good Luck to your DD on her surgery! Prayers for a great surgeon, no complications and an easy recovery :)</p>

17208

<p>Steve, that’s a great idea. I’m going to try it too. :slight_smile:
So, thoughts are welcome. D got an absolutely stunning oil painting of the beach we go to every year for a gift from her grandparents. She wants to write about it, tying it into her love of this beach, her memories of it, and how she will cherish the painting forever because it came from her grandparents. (Her draft is better than that.)
However, the school she wants to submit it to has a loose “tell us something we don’t know” kind of essay on their supplement, while another school with a lot of cross-over applications has an essay about your favorite work of art, literature, etc. She didn’t even have the painting when she did that app (EA) so its not a case of re-using an essay.
Should I steer her toward another topic here? Sigh… this could be the best supplemental essay of the bunch, too.</p>

17209

<p>GreekMana – panicking here too, though only by me, not by my D. She is gallivanting about out-of-town with a friend she only gets to see a couple of times a year. D is one of the hardest-working people I know, and has never to my knowledge procrastinated about anything in her entire life until now. But she’s making up for it! So if you find out anything about rushing scores to a safety, do share. Maybe we need another. :P</p>

<p>All you FAFSA people, thanks for reminding me about PINs and the rest. That was a much-needed prompt.</p>

<p>89 – I think I’d lean toward letting her submit an excellent essay that she’s excited about. I’m assuming that the school doesn’t already know she loves the beach? I get your point about it looking like a recycled essay, but having a good, passionate essay is important too, right? In the end, of course, we’ll never know whether any of the writing tips the balance one way or the other. Aggravating, to say the least.</p>

17210

<p>I called FASFA today, they confirmed only one parent needs a pin.</p>

<p>One final comment about the IRS topic. Okay, maybe we need to restructure somethings, but hey don’t make them retroactive. People need time to plan for tax changes. Don’t just decide at the end of the year that you are going to change the rules on the money we earned over the past 12 months and that we save/spent based on existing rules. Make any changes effective for wages earned in 2013. I promise no more tax talk from me. :slight_smile: </p>

<p>PS I like the $5 plan.</p>

17211

<p>I am not a tax guy, I use TurboTax, but AFAIK these “fiscal cliff” tax increases are not retroactive - they apply to next year’s earnings. At least I hope this is how it works.</p>

<p>In general I don’t think they don’t figure into the taxes due April 15, 2013, but you will start to see them in what they withhold from 2013 paychecks. Of course, the uncertainty does screw up your planning, because, for example, you may decide to take dividends this year rather than next, and it makes it hard to decide what exactly you can afford for college or anything for that matter. Plus, since there will likely be a big outcry after people see their first checks, nobody really knows where things will end up.</p>

17212

<p>A quick question that I didn’t feel like starting a new thread for - if I originally listed Music as my intended major on applications, but have decided to go in as undeclared instead, do I need to email anyone at my colleges and inform them of this?</p>

17213

<p>Burann – I’ll start with you, since you just posted. If you applied to music programs that require an audition, then you probably need to get back in touch with your schools and tell them that you are no longer interested. If those music majors are open admission (I don’t know much about music majors, can you tell?) then it probably doesn’t matter. Most colleges consider a declaration of major on an application completely provisional anyway.</p>

<p>Personal request – I understand tax anxiety and frustration with the current political situation, but can we stop that specific type of venting? I am seeing comments which I consider factually erroneous or misguided, and it’s getting hard not to respond. Not what we’re here for, right?</p>

<p>That said, bovertine, thanks for clearing things up! Now we can all take a few cleansing breaths .</p>

<hr>

<p>I found some pre-Christmas comments I hadn’t posted, and tried to catch up from there. Pretty sure I missed some pages, and sorry this is so long. I will try to behave from now on. Everyone was so supportive when I said I’d be spending Christmas alone, that I felt I wanted to do a little supporting back!</p>

<p>fredricksdottir – Thanks for the healthy dessert ideas. When my girls were little I used to make them a low-fat minimally-sweetened pumpkin pie filling without the crust. I called it “tubby custard,” and they loved it.</p>

<p>momofboston – drooling over that seafood scampi</p>

<p>Haystack – Snickers Salad! A college friend of mine’s husband is from Saint Paul, and she told me one day that his family eats Snickers Salad. I didn’t believe there was such a thing (she likes a tall tale) and we made her bring the recipe to our annual mini-reunion. We made it and ate it, but boy oh boy, sure does stretch the definition of salad.</p>

<p>Snorkelmom – I love your perspective on this thread. All these lovely folks raising their lovely children and sending them out to be our kids’ classmates and roommates. We have two young relatives who recently graduated from Miami-Ohio. It was a great experience for both girls – both the romance languages major and the STEM kid.</p>

<p>DDHM – I do hope you feel better soon. </p>

<p>Momofzag – Congratulations on the scholarship audition invitation. That does sound very promising. I’m always so impressed with these kids who are brave enough to get out there and audition for their places at school. What pressure! We are with you in RD anxiety-world.</p>

<p>SteveMA – thanks to you for getting the FAFSA conversation started.</p>

<p>Swizzle – huge congrats to you. Since you have all kinds of time, why not take a good hard look at Lesley? They really want you, and they may be able to persuade you that you can get what you want without those loans! That will give you more options post-college. If in the end you decide that an education at Quinnipiac or Emerson is still far superior, there will be no harm done.</p>

<p>Galaxy – SteveMA speaks with great wisdom. Here’s hoping that you are faced with the problem of two competing scholarship invitations, and that the resolution involves being able to compete for both after all.</p>

<p>Confetti – hard to know what difference that one application might make. I certainly encouraged D1 to apply to too many schools, out of sheer nervousness, but the school she ultimately chose might not have been one that made my short list, had I been in a calmer frame of mind. </p>

<p>My3gr8 – first time around, most of D’s schools matched the FAFSA EFC pretty closely. Made me wonder why on earth I had to do the blankety blank CSS profile. </p>

<p>Missed a whole page of posts earlier – thanks all for the info about “rush” scores. It’s been puzzling me all along that the college board tells you that score reports take X number of days to arrive, since it’s done digitally.</p>

<p>SteveMA – Moms of multiples do have it rough. Same day graduations – seems like something you need to look into before you allow your kids to matriculate. Kids either have to go to the same school or go places which traditonally have different graduations. Or I know twins who will graduate on different days for sure, because one of them took a gap year. Maybe that’s the best plan. ;)</p>

17214

<p>bovertine–the way I understand it is that the AMT and the marriage credit DO apply to the 2012 tax filings which is why it’s such an urgent issue. There are other credits going away for the 2013 year-a big one being the health insurance paid by your employer will now be taxed, and those things you will see on your first paycheck in 2013 so it is kind of 11th hour planning.</p>

<p>Buranri–that depends on the school–will being a “music” major help you get into the school vs being undeclared?</p>

17215

<p>anouilh–we posted at the same time–what is erroneous about the cliff talks? If you have better information PLEASE, PLEASE share it so we aren’t worrying for nothing. Sorry, but for us, these are VERY relevant topics right now for our soon to be college kids–including losing $16,000+ that we thought we “had” come tax refund time (not that our refund was that big but the loss of the refund we were expecting and what it looks like we will pay in come up to that number).</p>

17216

<p>@Greekmana</p>

<p>Yes, paralyzing fear has set in our house. 3 unplanned applications were sent yesterday to all safety schools. Unfortunately, one was not reviewed too carefully and the scholarship is not what he thought (full tuition if NMF). Seems for this particular school he’d need to name the school by March 1st as his #1 with NM. Since he is applying to a slew, he doesn’t want to name any school a top choice until he sees all outcomes.</p>

<p>The FAFSA, tax filings & updating the CSS has me freaking out. It will not be a fun weekend.</p>

<p>Can’t discuss the Fiscal cliff and tax reform. I work with 401(k) and it is going to completely change my industry. Ticks me off because 4k is NOT a tax deduction, just a tax delay (taxed when it is withdrawn), but because the federal budget only looks at 5 years it is also considered as income that will never be taxed.</p>

17217

<p>

I’m pretty sure the marriage penalty won’t be reinstated until 2013. Of course I could be wrong. As far as the AMT - that thing always seems to be changing and roping in more people, so I wouldn’t attempt to hazard a guess on that.</p>

17218

<p>SteveMA-- I had already thought about that!!! It was one of the reasons I used to try and get the boys to consider attending the same school! But of course they both have to get accepted to the same school to make that a possibility. Do you know what schools they are for the poor mom?</p>

17219

<p>Not sure what schools but one is for a BSN and the other is a PharmD program at schools 4 hours apart.</p>

17220

<p>SteveMA – hope these links will help. And I hope someone will correct <em>me</em> if I’ve chosen poor info sources or explained them incorrectly. What actually was troubling me, Steve, were side comments stemming from the AMT discussion that I thought were getting into highly debatable ground. </p>

<p>Here’s an article from cnn.com called Going over the cliff: what changes, what doesn’t. You have to scroll down a bit to get to what changes on the 2012 tax return: [Going</a> over the cliff: What changes, what doesn’t - Dec. 21, 2012](<a href=“http://money.cnn.com/2012/12/21/news/economy/fiscal-cliff/index.html]Going”>Going over the cliff: What changes, what doesn't)</p>

<p>The CNN article mentions that tax returns won’t be fileable until March if Congress doesn’t act on the AMT before the new year. That’s because, as is explained in the clip below, IRS computers are already programmed on the assumption that there will be another AMT patch. If there isn’t, they can’t process taxes, and people won’t get their rebates until later. CONGRESS CAN STILL PATCH THE AMT and make it retroactive AFTER THE FIRST OF THE YEAR. They just will make an unholy mess in the meantime.</p>

<p>More on that here –
Here’s someone from Ernst and Young talking about the AMT: [Fiscal</a> Cliff Talks Holding Alternative Minimum Tax in Limbo? - Bing Videos](<a href=“http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/fiscal-cliff-talks-holding-alternative-minimum-tax-in-limbo/2jhkb1epg?from=]Fiscal”>http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/fiscal-cliff-talks-holding-alternative-minimum-tax-in-limbo/2jhkb1epg?from=)</p>

<p>Longhaul, this whole situation is appalling. I think we all agree on that.</p>