<p>I think D’s school has the Prom but D is not interested in them and I do not know much. </p>
<p>@mathmomvt - your second idea strikes me as the better choice. It drives home the point that tuition assistance is paramount - so much so that ED was not an option. I agree with CT1417, the NMF and the Pres are a great reason to reach out to the admissions counselor. Good luck - your S’s hard work has given him great options, and that’s a good place to be. </p>
<p>@2014novamom - Lucky you! </p>
<p>Oh, my d will go to prom. She has a pixie cut, so no hair appointment. She doesn’t wear make up. The “getting ready” will take about 40 min, but only because the kid loves long showers. Then she’ll slip into her $40 clearance rack dress (I paid more for the bra to go under it!). Can’t imagine what takes a whole day. Even my oldest, who did hair appointments, could spend all day “getting ready.”</p>
<p>My D spent all day getting ready for prom but ours is on Saturday. Hair, nails and make up appointments take up most of that time. Putting on the dress is the fast part. Then it is pictures- pictures at one friend’s house, pictures with the small close group of friends, then pictures with the larger circle of friends. One thing I have noticed about having a girl vs. a boy. The girls dictate the day’s activities. With my D, all of her friends from forever ago and the parents I know and like did the pictures together. With my S, it is all about pictures with his dates’ friends, who aren’t kids I know well and I don’t know the parents either. It’s not as fun. </p>
<p>Her senior year, one of the other moms said “They are renting that limo for 5 hours and will be in for a total of 1 hour. The rest of the time it will be sitting at the banquet hall waiting for them. Why don’t we pick up some wine and go ride in the limo while they are at prom?” So, we deemed it “Mom Prom” and rode around in their limo (which we had all chipped in to pay for anyway) while they danced the night away. We even stopped at White Castle to pick up dinner 
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<p>Fun idea @2016BarnardMom 
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<p>Thanks all for the feedback on how best to reach out to the admissions counselor. </p>
<p>I doubt my son will go to the prom, but he signed up for the senior class trip, which shocked me, so who knows what might happen! No girlfriend, so he’d have to ask a friend.</p>
<p>@calla1 congratulations on winning a regional award! my daughter won as well I wonder if it is the same program. it is so nice to see her win something.</p>
<p>question to all… I was lurking over at the Villanova threads where they are talking about debt. it started to make me nervous about taking out loans for my D. How much debt do you think is reasonable? we were shooting for allowing her to only take out the subsidized portion of the gov loan which would equal about 20,000 total. that would be about $200 a month for 10 years. we would have to pay after 529 between 6 and 15 thousand dollars a year to help her. And all but one of her colleges are closer to the 15000 which is a stretch for us. we could probably afford the six thousand dollar range best. I will not take out a Parent PLUS loan but is it okay for her to take out more than the subsidized and go into the unsubsidized portion of government loan? will she be struggling later then? she is going into direct nursing program so hopefully a good job prospect.</p>
<p>PS the above does not include Villanova or northeastern which looks most likely not doable because of the lack of merit aid… she is deferred from both at the moment so who knows but that’s the way it looks.</p>
<p>@calla1 and cakeisgreat - Congratulations on the regional awards! How encouraging!</p>
<p>Acceptable debt is a very frequent topic of conversation on the fin aid board. The consensus is that the federal maximums (5500-7500 per year) will leave a student with a managable amount of debt. 20k should be ok. Remember, though, that you have to have need to be offered the subsidized portion. No need and you can borrow the same amounts, it’s just all unsubsidized. </p>
<p>Prom mom night sounds like a blast. Kinda wish d and her friends would take limos so I could do that.</p>
<p>I recommend no more than $25K total debt after graduation. Anything more than that amount is really tough. You can see tons of stories on the internet about crushing student debt. Villanova unfortunately is one of those schools that is not very generous. My belief is that they know Catholic families will be willing to go into debt to send their children to catholic school. On the college navigator website under the “transparency center” you can generate a report of the colleges with the highest net prices (we call it the greedy college list) and there are more Catholic colleges on there than should be such as USD; Santa Clara and LMU. </p>
<p>For my kids in engineering programs, we set a limit of $30K borrowing for them (if they take it all, they will owe more than that at graduation due to accrued interest on the unsubsidized loans). For my oldest, he has $7500/year in his financial aid package, but he has been able to pay off some of it as he goes due to great summer earnings, so he’ll be under the 30K mark, even including accrued interest, when he graduates. </p>
<p>Sometimes acceptable debt rules of thumb are given in comparison to expected salary on graduation. If you use the calculator here: <a href=“Loan Payment Calculator - Finaid”>Your Guide for College Financial Aid - Finaid; , it will give you an estimate of how much the new graduate would have to earn to be able to “comfortably” pay off the debt.</p>
<p>Congrats Calla & Cakeisgreat on the writing awards! I too have a STEM kid who hates to write, but I guarantee she is not likely to win a writing award, lol.</p>
<p>Upthread someone mentioned decreasing applications at Dartmouth. For Spygirl, the ultimate deciding factor after major, location, and size was all about campus culture. None of the ivies appealed to her, but Dartmouth thanks to the many articles about frats, rape and overall campus culture really turned her off. </p>
<p>Sounds like the initial flood of acceptances for our kids is slowing to a trickle for the next couple of weeks. This weekend is moving slowly as Cal Poly SLO released acceptances for OOS applicants on Friday and none for California residents. Seems like poor PR for the University as instate applicants are already feeling threatened by high numbers of full pay OOS applicants taking coveted slots… nothing personally against OOS kids who wish to attend a public school in California, but our kids must be even more competitive to gain entry into their own system. We hope to hear something on Tuesday after the holiday.</p>
<p>S11 shared news that he was offered a job as an RA at USC next year. I think he will do a great job and learn a lot about leadership and cultivate his “people skills.” The reduction in room and board costs will sure help us out with 2 in college.</p>
<p>@Minnymom
I agree w/ you on CalPoly SLO. Congrats to your S11! I’m hoping my daughter will fall in love with USC when she attends Explore USC next month. </p>
<p>Anybody out there in San Francisco? I would love to connect with folks in person who are sending kids off to college next Fall. We can celebrate, support, and gripe together! Message me if you are interested. Thanks! 
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<p>We are waiting on the SLO notification too, and I cannot figure out what the reason would be to let the OOS students know first. As a life long CA tax payer, this strikes me as a poor PR decision, if nothing else.</p>
<p>Waiting here on results from Ohio State’s biomedical science undergrad program. They take approx 25 students and results should be coming shortly. D has been quite patient but put looking at all else in a holding pattern</p>
<p>@murmur good luck and hang in there for the wait!</p>
<p>Thanks everyone for the congrats on the writing awards! Thanks also @ordinarylives, @itsv, and @mathmomvt for the thoughts on loan amounts. So I think we are in the ballpark, but darn!!! I didnt know that we could only get subsidized if it is need-based. We will not qualify. Geez no matter what we do we cant seem to get a break! We are the people who live frugally (except the prom dress, LOL) so that we can do private school for our four kids. Nothing left (no TV, no landline phones, no nice clothes, no nice hair/nails, no starbucks, no vacations, no eating out, old run down cars)…but it is our choice for the schooling, so I cant really complain. We can squeeze out a private HS amount, but not $40K every year! Even instate still equals $30 (unless she commutes 1 hr each way…closest colleges). Oh well. Unsubsidized loans it is I guess. boo hoo. :(( </p>
<p>@cakeisgreat - depending on where your student ends up in school, you might have access to loans direct from the school. My son has some and I call them semi-subsidized – they are not accruing interest while he is in school, but the interest rate is higher than the federal rate once he graduates. He’s the type to live frugally, so we assume he will be paying off his loans faster than the required rate, and those will be the first to be paid down, obviously. But they’re a good deal for now. So… wait and see what she is offered. If you are able, maybe you could pay the interest for her on some or all of her loans while she’s in school. We’re not doing that, as we’re pretty tapped out, but that’s another option to “subsidize” them for her. </p>
<p>@mathmomvt - Ah, that’s good to know about gettinh loans from the school that do not accrue interest while in school. D is pretty frugal as well and we suggested she try to pay down debt as fast as possible…even living home for a year after graduate and knocking out the debt. So that sounds like a good idea. Will wait and see. Thanks!!!</p>