‘Fahrvergnügen’, is that from a car commercial?
@mommdc It is from a Volkswagen commercial .
@crowlady Sorry about your mom. My mom has been going through some significant health issues since last summer and it has been hard. She does not live near me either. Hope your mom is doing better soon.
@Sophmore1 Sorry about the disappointing decisions. It is hard when they come so close together. Hoping your D can refocus on her other choices.
As for the avatar discussion, I have two problems. One, S has no clear favorites at this point. Uh, yeah, we have how many days for him to figure this out??? (If he’d let me pick, we’d be done. LOL.) Two, I have no idea how to update an avatar.
Hoping for good news for everyone waiting for decisions this week. S’s last school releases tomorrow and it is already off the table. Now we have to actually move towards a decision. Today I printed out a monthly calendar for April and filled in all the possible admitted student days that could be visited for 5 of the schools. Yeah, we’re a mess over here.
@BeeDAre A while back, I coordinated my professional association’s annual scholarship, which we awarded to a Ball State student one year. Excellent school. Congrats to your D16.
<<@Sophmore1 I’m sorry about the rejections. It seems pretty harsh to have to deal with them all so close together, but then maybe it’s also just better to know and move on. Is she close to deciding at this point?>>
Thanks everyone! @CAMidwestMom she has narrowed her list down to two schools. Even…before the string of wailist and declines she has had those two schools that she loves as her top 2. Hopefully, within a week she will make her final decision. [-O<
Thank you @dyiu13!
@readingclaygirl - Ask about loan deals for teachers. @sseamom knows more.
Also, check out Income-Based Loan Repayment coupled with Public Service Loan Forgiveness. Pay close attention to which KINDS of loans are eligible and what mistakes to avoid (certain refinacing, etc.).
And, given your talents, you might make more money tutoring during the school year than doing work-study jobs. (My kid is already plotting to get extra work by cat sitting for nearby neighbors of her suburban-based college. We will see how that idea plays out, hmmm. But, she also got 10 hours/week work-study.)
Re. avatars-um, I am no inept with technology, I don’t even know how to put up an avatar around here. Guess I’ll look into that eventually. =:-O
Re. waitlists: my advice, as someone that works as a consultant is to go and visit the school that your kid really wants in…and have your kid let them know he/she really wants in. Had a client last year that I advised to do just that, and the student is now happily attending Vanderbilt. Student visited the head of the department of the intended major, and student met with admissions. It worked. Definitely check the Common Data set to see if the WL school traditionally takes students off the list, and if so, how many.
My son was WL by three schools last year, and didn’t get off any of the lists, but he had zero interests in any of the schools because, by then, the major to which he had originally applied at those schools was not at all what he wanted to study.
@crowlady: Regarding the bee competition student: I would have advised that the student find a way to tie the strengths of those feats to all of the ways the student implemented them in studies at the secondary school level, exploring:
1)the value they held toward building skills of discipline,
2)material retention,
3)sacrifice,
4)the expression of joy in the study of etymology and
5)its place in our understanding of the transmission and sharing of language
Then I would have asked the student, ‘what else ya got?’
Hey I’ve been on CC for four years and am still a junior member. I just don’t post much but I do like to read here when I have a chance, and since I’ve been on this thread off-and-on for four years, I remember some of you from when our kids were in 8th grade and just embarking on their high school journeys.
I am misty-eyed and thrilled for all of our kids as they go off in the world. Where ever that may be. DO NOT get me started on how I feel about my son’s kindergarten classmates. I cannot believe these babies are all going away to college.
Are any other DC16s here already planning to max out the annual direct student loans? We’ve now determined our family will. No Parent Plus, but there will be debt in our D16’s future. With IBLR and PSLF, along with our financial help, it should be manageable even though she expects to attend grad school for social work and be a school social worker (with the attendant income). D16’s an only child, so we don’t need to provide for any sibling’s education.
@dyiu13 : For this child, who seems to have great options before her, the answer depends on which school she chooses. We fairly much started singing the name of the university which made a really sweet offer, but we will try to honor what she says she wants to do after she has made admitted student day visits.
She knows that we fully expect to have her sign on the dotted line at some point in her college or grad school career, and she knows the option is there for her to use if need be, so, could be.
Where the loans (max or not) are concerned, because of one university, the ball will be in her court.
Hello all -
Not a parent, but I thought I would just drop in quickly. I just wanted to say thank you to all of you! As a senior, it has been an incredibly stressful year. I’ve spent hours on CC looking through old threads and creating my own to ask for advice. And who has always chimed in? The parents! 
It might sound cheesy, but my own parents are really not helping with any of this, and I know I can always rely on you all as a community to give me solid direction. So, thank you!
And congratulations to all of your sons and daughters. Best of luck making decisions!
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I meant to say I’m so inept with technology. Apparently, I’m so inept with typing, too! 
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Page 1200! Woohoo!
@readingclaygirl , There are many scholarships specifically for education majors-you’ll want to look at some, if you haven’t yet. But I think the GRANT you might want to explore is the TEACH Grant. It does not need to be paid back, and is a federal program, so it’s available in all 50 states. But there are specific requirements, each state has a list of high needs areas, such a ESL, math, special ed and you need to teach one of those for a specific amount of time once you graduate. You also need to major in an approved major, AND your college has to participate in the program. If you hit all the points, the grant allows for up to $4,000 each year. If at some point, you cannot meet all the requirements, it becomes a loan that you have to pay back at rates similar to the Stafford loans. THOSE loans can be forgiven up to a certain amount, again with certain requirements, and if you’ve been making payments on time for I think it’s 5 years.
Your FA office should have all of this information.
Good idea to look into tutoring, either at your college or in the local school district. MY niece (now a teacher) was a tutor in a local elementary school for all 4 years in college. She got paid doing what she loved and was good at, and it helped build her resume. D certainly plans to look into it.
@dyiu13 for social work majors, some states have Title IV-E funding they use for training people interested in child welfare area of social work. I know in my state, they provide stipends for students in exchange for agreements to work in DCS high need areas after graduation- much like the TEACH grants for educators.
and @readingclaygirl =see if you have GEARUp in the community near your school (its a program in HS and middle schools to prepare kids for college)-- my D worked for them at her college for some extra $ and great experience; local YMCA after school care programs (or other agencies) can also be a great opportunity for education majors to earn some extra.
Thank you all for the financial advice. I appreciate it
@bookmom7 the sign up sheet for massages has been posted. You may call ahead and choose a time or sign up when you board the ship. I only ask that each guest limit themselves to 2 per day and make them at least 4 hours apart so that all have a chance. You may not simply hide out in the massage room until your cruise ends!