So, I get an early call this morning saying just in case your worrying I’m fine, there has been a bomb threat and we are being evacuated. The school is closed until further notice. She should be home soon, thanks to a friend. What a call!
@musictherapymom that is never fun, we had those kind of things in HS but harder when they are out from under your wing.
@irishmomof2 - hugs to you and your daughter, I hope you only heard about the ER after it was all said and done, for your sake!
Did anyone watch “The Middle” last night, they hit on so many funny points!
We bailed on Parent’s weekend for this weekend, my husband is traveling and I think the campus is going to be a zoo. D is coming home for part of the weekend, after an overnight at another university with HS friends. I am looking forward to having her back even if just for one night.
@musictherapymom , indeed what a call! Glad that your child is safe.
@Wolverine86 , hope your kiddo feels better soon! Very nice to see his determination and support you gave!
Thanks to all for the good wishes for S. He’s doing fine and is almost fully back up to speed now.
Let’s just hope that between us, @musictherapymom , and @Irishmomof2 we’ve reached the quota for “bad things come in 3’s”!! X_X
Oh my goodness, @irishmomof2 and @musictherapymom !
Sorry for the challenges and struggles, @musictherapymom and @irishmomof2 and @Wolverine86. It’ll get better! You’ve got some strong kids, I’m sure that they’ll be fine. (I’ll also pray that they are.)
My daughter is safely delivered to her school, and her dorm room is set up and ready for habitation. Phew.
On a much sadder note, our trip to the school was complicated by a tragedy that had traffic patterns going crazy. A bus full of students from a college only four miles from her campus was t-boned by a tourist bus/amphibious vehicle. At last count, four students are dead, and more than 50 injured, some critical.
I’ve been reading here for months. So helpful to hear of the ups and downs that are similar to our experiences. Nice to know that we haven’t really dropped into an alternate universe, or if we have, at least we seem to have lots of company! I love the honesty in everyone’s reports.
Daughter went through sorority rush - wow was that a strange thing that is in this day and age. Did anyone else here have this experience? It was really stressful. Daughter is in a nice house, which was her second choice. Always makes it a little harder to be excited about your second choice. She has moved in, making a few friends. She knows lots of people on campus as she is in state at our State Flagship. Having old friends does help the transition. I am surprised how much I miss her, even though she is close in terms of distance.
Hearing the stories of kids off to the ER already- that would be a lot to handle from a long distance!
You are all so kind and supportive to each other. It makes this site a joy and a solace to read.
Hi, visiting from the Parents of HS Class of 2016 board. I’ve just done detailed personalized COAs budgets for each college my D16 is applying to. Here’s a question: Is there anything that three you for a loop financially now that your DC15s are settled into school? For example, I’m starting to get the impression there will be big bills that should be paid to the chosen school by May before the fall semester starts. So, I better have those funds accumulated ans ready to go before schook starts. Any lessons-learned along these lines? Rh
Obviously books can be costly…but now they have the option to rent books which is cheaper. Also if you have health insurance you can waive the school’s health insurance and save $$. How often will your child come home/you visit school? Is that costly? E.g., Will you want to go to parent’s day? Do they have a fall break and would they want to come home?
Think about your payment plan. Some people pay a lump sum for the school year, some pay by semester. We had the option of choosing a 4, 6, or 12 month payment plan. We chose a 12 month plan so the first payment was due in June before school started in August. We also paid for the school yearbook and orientation fees in the summer. If your child is going to rush, there will be fees for that also.
I’ve actually been surprised that costs aren’t as high as I expected. I was expecting more for books, additional food and recreation. It seems like there is quite a bit of free food offered on campus so the smallest meal plan we could get has been enough, and there are plenty of free or very low cost activities. Have actually had a talk with child that she is well below budget and should feel free to spend more. Orientation/registration over the summer was the only thing I hadn’t planned on in my early budgets. The amount billed by the school was very minimal, but needed airfare, transportation to/from the airport and a hotel for a night to make it all work. Also, in general if flights are involved be aware of the timing and costs. Helps to book early if you can, but some times of the year you may just have to pay more.
Repeating bopper’s advice on the health insurance…if you can’t waive the school insurance, that is (in our case) a $2000+ bill that does NOT show up on the NPC, which seems quite wrong to me.
One of the reasons the health insurance doesn’t show up is that it is not really an expense of the school in most cases (California does give an allowance for it in the financial aid but most states/schools do not). It is a fee paid to an outside company, just passed through the school. It is not a QEE for the tax credit, and I’m not sure if you can take a withdrawal for the premium from a 529 plan. It’s just THERE as a requirement but not a fee, not a QEE. Many of the rules like for the 529 items were written before the insurance was required.
Also, a lot of the NPC are a year or two behind the current fees and costs, even for things like Pell grants. Many are showing $5730 for this year while the actual Pell has increased to $5775, and often the tuition is a year behind too.
This is very helpful. I completely forgot about summer orientation (and at least one parent would want to go too). I’ve seen the medical insurance small print in the fees list and was shocked to see numbers like $4K per year. So, I’ll be checking to see which schools would waive that requirement if I learn our family insurance would provide coverage. Speaking of insurance, I added in dorm insurance. Thank you for the feedback!
Wish I found this thread sooner. I read back a few pages and it is fun to read about how other parents of college freshman are doing. I have been on an empty nest thread too as our daughter is our one and only. We left daughter in New England about 5 weeks ago and live overseas in Asia so won’t see her until Christmas break. The anticipation of empty nest was somewhat worse than the reality. I had a lot of sad moments at first but that weird feeling that something is amiss or that I forgot something has dissipated as we have gotten used to the new normal. Daughter is extremely happy at her school, working hard in hard classes and doing well, and very involved in music. Her excitement whenever we interact is infectious. She really is where she should be. Her joy makes all the stress of last year worth it, and has eased the transition. I am sure there are ups and downs to come. Great to meet others here going through this process.
@NorthernMom61 … Great to hear your D is settling in well and is flourishing! I think getting involved in group or activities outside of their classes is one of the most important things in them finding “normalcy” in their new environment. Being able to stay in touch with them more easily through cell phones, texting, Skype, social media, etc. makes the transition smoother for both sides as well, since we get a better sense of how they’re adapting.
Mrs Wolverine will still get the occasional “melt-down” phone calls from our 2 OOS kids…but I think she secretly enjoys the fact that our “grown up” college students still need Mom every once in a while. :x
Yes, we really are appreciating Skype, particularly the texting part. Daughter is an early riser and has taken to texting with us (during our early evening) for a while before she gets up so she doesn’t disturb her sleeping roommates. It is really fun.
@NorthernMom61 Skype is pretty nice! Google Hangouts works nicely too, for messaging. I use that to message my mom and little sister.
And just an FYI for those who had been mentioning it before - the calls and minute-by-minute monitoring has dropped off a fair amount. I sometimes send a hangouts message saying something like “tomorrow I’m going to go to so-and-so after class, then I’ll be around most of the afternoon” so they know my general whereabouts, but not every detail of who I’m with and all. I’ve only Skyped maybe 2 times this week. A lot of that is because I’m busy and so is my mom, so we don’t always feel like talking.
I have gotten a total of two brief text messages from my daughter so far, which indicates to me she is diving in head-first. Also, her school scheduled such an event-packed introduction week before classes start, she seems tired. One of her messages was “Everything is exhausting. Finally made a friend.”