@dyiu13, I think I have mentioned this on here before, but when S was born college was still affordable (I was working on a teaching credential and paying cash). I had no idea S would ever qualify for a high price school, so I didn’t save anything for him for college. A few years ago I realized this and W and I downsized our house. We didn’t make any money off our former house, but our new house payment is about $1,000 less per month ($12,000/year) than I was paying on my former house. I love this new house, especially he cheaper payment. I figure I can also work summer school and pay S yearly student loan. Sounds great on paper, let’s see how it works next year.
@Mysonsdad We are very lucky to live in an area with a low cost of living, including real estate. We did the same thing, downsizing significantly last year. It will free up a good chunk of money for paying tuition. I am very glad it worked out that way and also our S did his part by working very hard and earning good merit aid.
Did the CSS have an EFC? How did I miss that?
@Themommymommy The number after you fill out the NPC is not the EFC. The EFC is an equation that the government has come up with based on income, taxes paid, savings etc which determines how much they think that you should be able to pay. They then subtract it from the cost of attendance to identify need. If your EFC is higher than the COA, there is no financial need. If the EFC is lower than the cost of attendance , need is indicated. Google EFC to see if it will explain it better than me. It is confusing.
Welcome @greeny8 the more stalkers the merrier!
Super Congrats @Almondjoy1 and @Cheeringsection!
Re: the multiple Vals and Sals…I too think that waters down the significance of it! We have a graduating class of approximately 330 and IMHO there should be 1 Val and 1 Sal and at graduation the top 10 (or so) can be mentioned when there names are called for them to go up and to receive their “diploma”. Our school only distinguishes the Val and Sal and all other in the top ten’s sit in the class group alphabetically.
Re: Lettering…we only seem to have letters for sports…no other EC gets letters and even the coaches (or even anyone in administration) do not seem to put much importance on sports lettering or any of the all league, or all county distinguishes. Getting to the post season seems to mean something but the other accolades seem to be treated pretty perfunctory as with the academic EC’s. Drama accolades seem to get a lot of school, district and administration recognition. I would say that being in the top ten graduating students seems to garner a lot of subtle recognition for the students. All of the teachers seem to appreciate the dedication and work that goes into those positions and respect and admire those students and tend to (under the radar) give them a little more leeway with deadlines, etc. The other EC’s tend to get their recognition from the teacher or school admin that may be directly involved with that EC.
Re: Powerball…I am working on the FAFSA…no winner here…
Question. FAFSA is submitted. Is there any benefit to submitting the CSS early, rather than later? Just wondering if we should wait until we receive our tax documents.
@Undercovermom1 - check the requirements of the schools that use the CSS. Some schools have early dates for the CSS to be submitted.
Our school doesn’t have ranking or valedictorian. I’m glad because my kids have taken what they want without regard to honors points–like music, engineering, and foreign language classes that have no honors options, They have a special honors graduate recognition for all who graduate with a 4.0 or higher which tends to be about 5% of the class. Works out very nicely that lots of high achievers can be recognized and there is essentially no drama.
@Undercovermom1, I called on of S school’s and they said to send it and then update it once taxes are done. Their CSS due date is February 15.
@2muchquan Our EFC is similar. We only have 1 financial aid offer thus far and yes some of the more generous schools will give you more grant aid than others. Our offer has grant 1 which gets us to to our EFC and then a special named after a person grant that reduces an extra large amount each year. We’ve also been told there is the possibility of a small merit award as well which are $5-10K per year that would not change the grants. If he gets outside scholarships they go to reduce his work commitment for the summer and school year which is around $5K. Our COA currently is about half of what we anticipated based on calculators.
@CAMidwestMom this is a link to what I meant by the CSS Profile EFC: https://bigfuture.collegeboard.org/pay-for-college/paying-your-share/expected-family-contribution-calculator
The calculator has my saved data from filling out the CSS and offered me two methodologies, Federal and Institutional, both were different from each other, different from the FAFSA, and different from NPC for each school’s EFC. I feel like Charlie Brown, colleges are Lucy, and the EFC is that infernal football!
Thanks @dcplanner. Yeah, I figured in the end, COA would not equal what the NPC is showing, just trying to figure out how to anticipate this, and where it may be lower so we can plan some trips and just plain ‘budget’. I don’t want to be too optimistic, and at the same time I don’t want to cross things off the list too quickly. I’m speaking to the choir, I know.
@carolinamom2boys : My son didn’t receive a superlative , but it should be " most likely to miss the prom playing Zelda"
Now that Hell Year…er, junior year…is safely behind us, S has restarted his WoW account. I have heard way more about how slowly the computer loads lands where Blood Elves live, and the best way to get through Horde lands when playing as Alliance, than I ever needed to know.
Ha, that’s funny, @petrichor11 – my son quit League of Legends at the beginning of this school year, planning to make better use of his time. Unfortunately he seems to have replaced it with endless surfing on Imgur.
My D doesn’t play video games. What she does is Polyvore and watch hair and make up instructional videos in between binge-watching old TV series like Friends. For those with boys, Polyvore is this site where you plan outfits and “pin” clothes and styles that you like on a board similar to Pinterest. Then she sends me links to all these insanely expensive clothes. I know far more about make up brands and hair extensions than one would expect. At least all I had to do with S’s video games was nod and say, “That’s nice, dear.” With D I have to point out why she doesn’t REALLY need another set of hair or a 4th brand of concealer.
Finished FAFSA- I think. Going to hold off on submitting it until after I double-check with the counselor.
We have a Val & Sal- (could be more if they actually tied) based on weighted GPA.
Very competitive & to add to the mix- in Texas any Val that goes to a state school gets first year tuition free.
@sseamom Your daughter and mine would be great friends. She knows more about beauty tips than anyone I know. She is also a clothes and shoe horse though to her credit she loves to go thrifting.
S13 still at home and now we are hosting five of his friends for six days. Lots of cooking, tidying, but also lots of fun. Found myself suddenly looking forward to meeting D16’s new friends. The possibility that next year holds for all of our 16ers is fun to contemplate!
Fortunately for me, D16 is not really into hair, makeup, and clothes–saves a lot of money although unfortunately for me I could probably use those beauty tips that are being shared by @2filles’ and @sseamom’s Ds. D16 did want the Star Wars lipsticks that came out in conjunction with the new movie. D16’s secret weapon is that she is awesome at video games (she participates in a lot of ECs, so this surprises people). She has trounced S13’s friends…and S13. Girl power! :)>- Did I say trounced? Should have said decimated…
@EastGrad Your daughter sounds like my son’s dream girl. Smart and likes video games. In terms of my number of posts you mentioned earlier, I think it can be explained several ways. 1. I need to get a life . 2. I’m super whiny or 3. Super supportive. Could be any one of those 3.
Seems like you are super supportive, @carolinamom2boys! You have been to me at least!
It is actually amazing how many boys like D because of her aptitude for video games; well, there could be some other reasons too, I guess. 