Parents of the HS Class of 2016 (Part 1)

Parents of HS Class of 20xx
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Reminder: Save those 20%-off postcards.

We got a Bed, Bath, and Beyond 20%-off postcard in the mail today. Remember to save them, as BB&Y will honor however many you have whether they’ve expired or not at move-in time. For those who aren’t aware, their ‘Pack and Hold’ service allows you to shop and submit your order at your local store. The items are put together and placed into a shopping cart at the store nearest to the campus (even if it’s across the country). You can just walk in and wheel it to the checkout line. You can take out any item you don’t like or no longer need, and you don’t pay anything until you check out. And they honor all those coupons.

We did this when S14 moved across the country (SF Bay Area to Atlanta) and it was wonderful. Since then he/we have made extensive use of Amazon Prime. Amazingly,after three semesters at school he recently decided that he needed a vacuum cleaner (imagine the state of his dorm room floor prior to this realization). We shopped for it together, and boom. It’s there two days later. Even if he needs something like razor blades or deodorant it’s easier (and frequently) cheaper for him to buy it from Amazon Prime.

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@Baylorpoly you also need to understand about assets and how each school calculates them. One school might look at a family with an income of $75 who has a home equity of $200 and give them a totally different cost than a family with an income of $75 who lives in an appt and has no equity. Then that same first family might take their income and equity to a totally different school and find that that specific school doesn’t even consider equity and they will be given a different cost, even with the same numbers.

I have run the NPC using our numbers (which I have been told wont work because we have a business). When I use the calculator that is hosted by the college board, I get a difference between schools ranging about $11K. Meaning from my lowest cost to my highest cost is a difference of $11K. Then when I go to a school which uses a totally different calculator I get a price that is $10K lower than my lowest price from the college board schools. These are only for private school. The publics are a totally different game.

The real adventure will be when I get the actual financial aid offers. I have absolutely no idea of what to expect. At all. I just hope I can say yes to my kid when the time comes. He said he would rather be rejected by a school than accepted and have to turn it down for financial reasons. So far with the NPC they are (mostly) in range, but we will see.

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@EastGrad -

“@fretfulmother, I am also heavy on the nostalgia these days; so far I have resisted running up to young mothers in the grocery store and yelling, “These are the best days of your life! Treasure them!””

I did something like this, actually! I was going for my annual physical and there was a woman in the waiting area with a 5-day-old baby looking all shell-shocked as they all do, and I said, “I remember that! My son is hearing from colleges now! Every day gets easier after this, at least through senior year” :wink:

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Re voting - DS attempted to register (he turns 18 between our primary and the general election) and received a rejection letter. Literally, a rejection letter, in college season! Until we realized what it was he was rejected from, it gave a few heart-stopping moments.

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Definitely heart stopping! @fretfulmother

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@Baylorpoly I don’t think that’s a great idea since this is anonymous forum. As others have explained it’s going to vary by family even with identical incomes.

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I have heard that if you vote in your first election, you are much more likely to vote throughout your life, though like the health care statistic, this may be due to correlation rather than causation. Still, I am going to make sure that D votes in November!

I like that idea of a body journal, @sseamom! Innovative procrastination technique.

@AsleepAtTheWheel, when S13 was about to graduate, we received a BB&B postcard for 20% off on the entire order, specifically targeting college freshmen. Anyone know if BB&B sent such a coupon in 2014 or 2015? We simply saved this coupon until we took him to college and then used it on everything we bought from BB&B. We used a three-pronged approach: Amazon Prime, Target, and BB&B. Since S13 attends school a long way from home, we used Amazon Prime for things like towels, comforter, mattress topper, hangers, etc., and we put these items on a wish list and then shipped them to arrive just a few days before he did. (I think I have told this list before that I may have gone overboard on the hangers. DS told me he would have been a little embarrassed at the number of hangers, except none of his other three roommates had brought any, so it all worked out–he had enough for everyone.)

Then, when his dad and I got there to help him move in, we went to a “Big Box” complex that had a Target and a BB&B across from each other. We had a list of his needs, went to Target first, bought several things, went to BB&B to compare and bought others (primarily a rug and a garbage can) and use the coupon and returned to Target to pick up anything left over. DS13 told me that the only problem with buying and owning the garbage can is that his roommates seemed to feel that he was the only person who should/could take out the garbage! :slight_smile:

I am looking forward to a little more engagement with D16–in fact, we are going to surf college bedspreads tonight–though it’s my secret plan to find out what she likes and quilt her one. Check in with me next July to see if that happened!

@fretfulmother, your approach at the pediatrician’s office seems reassuring and reasonable and not like some crazy lady with runaway hair careening through the grocery store with her cart on two wheels yelling, “Treasure this time–it’s over too soon!” My fear is that I will land in that second category. :))

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When I say D16 and I are planning to “surf college bedspreads,” we are doing this in a virtual way, online, to see what’s available, LOL!

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@readingclaygirl, if you need to meet a FAFSA deadline, go ahead and fill out your numbers from tax return by hand for now. Then in a few weeks update with the DRT.

@Baylorpoly, we had about that income last year, only applied to instate FAFSA schools, one public, one private.
At the public all we qualified for was a subsidized federal student loan and surprisingly a state grant.

The private school packaged a work study, federal loans, state grant and a $3,000 institutional grant. It was still much more expensive.

Hence we were thankful for the merit scholarship that made D’s first choice affordable.

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On S16’s club swim team many of the seniors wear suits in practice reflecting where they’ll be next year (almost all of them are going to swim in college). S16 designed a suit and then had it made (by Q swimwear) that looks very much like the official swim suit of the “University of Phoenix (online)”. As other kids are practicing in Columbia, Chicago, Rice, Cal, etc. suits, he proudly swims wearing his University of Phoenix suit.

@EastGrad – I suspect that this dorm room shopping might differ with a daughter c/w a son. When we moved S14 into his dorm, as you walked down the hallway it took only a quick glance into each room to tell whether it was a boys’ room or a girls’ room. Matching bedspreads (or at least colors and patterns that didn’t clash), a stuffed animal here and there, etc.

And we also filled in a lot of stuff from Target. Remember that there’s a 5% discount with a Red Card, and also free shipping from the website (altho’ not two-day shipping).

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Even if I wanted to post my son’s financial award letters. (Which I don’t). It wouldn’t matter. The differences between family assets will change the financial aid awards and the difference in school calculations would mean you cannot compare school to school. You simply cannot compare financial aid awards from family to family and school to school because it is like comparing apples to oranges.

Why are you so interested?

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I’ve seen those BB&B in magazines, didn’t know they accepted expired ones!

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Speaking of BB&B and quilts, I was able to find a quilt (twin size) very similar to DS’s at home- it was 75% off + I had a 20% coupon!!

For some reason, I am trying to find him things similar to what he has at home- sheets (he is particular to how they feel), towels, etc. Trying to create almost a home away from home. Anyone else thinking like that?

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That sounds like fun @EastGrad I should probably start browsing too.

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*coupons

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Have you seen those blankets/quilts people make out of high school tshirts?

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A while ago Target had those egg crate mattress foam toppers super cheap, but only in stores.

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We’re paying for D’s 4 AP exams this week, so I’m not doing any dorm shopping quite yet. I’ll just focus on collecting those coupons!

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Also saw Costco had those really nice memory foam mattress pads on sale.
Didn’t buy but, will be watching for the next time - of course a purchase could depend upon where he actually goes and how involved packing is.

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DD asked her GC how colleges will view her not taking AP exams this year. Her response was that the main point of AP class is to take an exam, but at this point they are not going to care. So as a next step she will ask teachers if they are not going to fail her if she does not take one. She is taking 6 APs this year again and it is expensive. Specially because she already have more credits then she can use and her schools most likely will give very limited credits.