We are small business owners and our business is structured in such a way that on both the FAFSA and NPC we look Good! In reality, we really do not have the amount of free cash that the calculators imply. None of the calculators work well for small business owners. When D15 wanted to go to a small private LAC, we told her she needed to get substantial merit aid to bridge what would be a substantial gap in what we really could afford and what it looked like we can afford. S is in the same boat and he is being very pragmatic about what schools he is going to apply to and how he will select his choice. Merit aid is high on his list.
@Agentninetynine, Forest Gump is a great movie. D has seen it but S has not. It may be a good family night movie for us this summer!
My MIL is mostly a lurker on Facebook, and her only friends are family. FIL isn’t on Facebook and my parents weren’t really computer users before they passed. So, no social media worries here. We don’t pass on scores to family, though.
MIL does pass on stories of our niece’s great reading accomplishments, but only to family – “only kid in her school’s 4th grade reading Harry Potter” and we think but don’t say, “Yipe, isn’t there a better school she can transfer to?”
AP English Language this morning.
S is watching Forest Gump in APUSH now, too. And McFarland, USA (the cross country movie about migrant worker kids) in Spanish. They usually watch “Buscando a Nemo” when they have a substitute in Spanish, so S is looking forward to “Finding Dory” but may want to watch it in Spanish.
One of the local schools put on Spamalot a couple years ago, and we’ve made sure the kids have watched classics like Holy Grail. Not sure I want to watch Meaning of Life with my kid, though. Awkward.
Hahaha! @Ynotgo. Max and I have had those times when we thought a movie from the 80s or 90s would be fun to watch with the fam. They didn’t seem so racy before we had kids. Good luck to your son. I feel for those kids who have two weeks of AP misery.
@jedwards70 I’m so sorry to hear that – hopefully it was deleted. My S did well on an ACT and his principal walked into his homeroom, asked S to come to the front and announced the score to the class, also mentioning that S could “count on a full ride anywhere.” S was not happy at all. While we appreciate the effort to recognize the achievement, S is a private guy and has worked hard to not make academic comparisons a thing among his friends and peers (who have a wide range of interests and abilities). He also took the opportunity to correct the principal’s assumption about full ride scholarships, although I’m not sure his “That’s not true” had much effect.
I am often in conflict about recognition of this type. While I think in general, academic achievements are often more deserving and less acknowledged than achievements in say sports, many of those other achievements happen in public so are already acknowledged. Also, in a setting such as an awards assembly, people expect to hear about and be recognized for academic achievement. Taking a kid by surprise in front of his peers is poorly done, in my opinion, whether it’s in the classroom or on social media. But given that the intention is good, I think we have to just try to let others know that S prefers not to have that information shared yet, or keep it to ourselves (which of course is hard when you’re proud).
What do others think? What’s the best way to handle as a grandparent, school administrator, etc., knowing kids have a range of tolerance for this type of thing?
Last AP test today for S17! No end to the tests anytime soon or the crazy schedule. He informed me that he is likely to skip AP Physics today (with the blessing of his teacher). The kid needs a nap! And to do other homework. He’s got dress rehearsal tonight, opening night tomorrow. Performances (he is head fly) Fri Night, Sat Night, Sunday afternoon. Saturday daytime we are off for a preview day/tour. Monday is no school so we have another tour at a local LAC and then he’s got a practice ACT test.
mean mean mom.
Pretty proud of the kid. He has a classmate who constantly bashes their AP english teacher. They did a final MPC practice that they will not get back till after todays test. Friend is convinced he will not pass the test by not having that back as well as the fact they’ve done no additional practicing this week (much of the class, missing class for other AP’s…makes sense to me. S is like…if you aren’t ready now, you aren’t ready and that isn’t her fault.
I love The Holy Grail! And many many other Python movies. They have been watching something in AP Lang…no clue what though (said friend was complaining about movies, glad to hear the other kids are in the same boat!).
I have considered that @Agentninetynine. Not so much from a scholarship standpoint but from an admissions one although it’s a great point and one to take a deeper look at for several of the schools. It’s a fine line for him I think, finding a program that wants to grow in his area…but isn’t so small or underfunded as to not meet needs. I suspect a few, perhaps more than a few, on his list may meet that requirement and still allow him to change his mind later if need be. That is a bummer about Georgetown. Does American offer anything? Not that they are a lottery school but just curious.
Thanks @Midwest67 for clarifying. Yes, I am all too aware that costs will rise, though a few of his schools do offer a lock in on tuition if I recall (can’t recall which ones though mind you). I am relatively comfortable with that aspect. I need a 4 year merit package that gets his net COA at or below what my EFC would be with 2 kids showing in college. Those numbers I can work with. The one kid number…not so much. In our experience R&B can actually go down, if you plan the live off campus options right. It can go up too, depending on what you let the child do lol.
@IABooks oh, I’d be cringing! I don’t know if there is a good way to handle it, because the principal is in a position of authority over both you and your kid, and making him/her mad is not going to be helpful because they can poison the well with regards to your kid if they wanted to.
On my social media feed the tendency seems to be not to talk specific numbers or acceptances, but more along the lines of “Bob’s going to X University!” with said kid beaming and holding up a letter. I love those. They don’t tend to post specifics like “Bob is a Presidential Scholar”, etc. That way we all just get to be happy for Bob.
When my older kid got her driver’s license and we bought her a (used) car I posted a picture of her sitting in it smiling-you can’t tell what kind of a car it is other than a white SUV. There are ways to communicate what’s important (she got her license! Watch out friends and neighbors, if you see a white suv driving like a maniac tell me!), and what’s just kinda braggy. Which we’re all guilty of on occasion so I try and be understanding that in all the excitement sometimes there’s TMI
@MotherOfDragons It is touchy. I think from what S said that night, his reaction may have come across as a bit … sullen. When the principal called him up, S was kind of expecting to be scolded because he had been talking to his friend instead of whatever he should have been doing when the principal came in. I think the surprise, the attention and the misinformation combined probably didn’t lead to the best situation.
Someone should tell the principal about full-ride scholarships but it won’t be us as we’re hoping S will be NMSF and will need a nice little letter from the principal.
My son would have been mortified @IABooks. I’m stunned a principal would not have the sense to handle this in a different manner. An ACT or SAT score is actually private information. The test is administered separately from the school so he has no legal right to announce the score. And the full ride comment? Yeesh. But, what are you going to do? It’s over and done with and as @MotherOfDragons mentioned there could be blowback if you complain. I would however, give him an earful once your DS graduates.
Yes @eandesmom, I screwed up, big time. Cannot believe I confused Georgetown with a school that gives merit aid. I’ve been planning a trip late June to visit D in SC and then drive up to D.C. to tour Georgetown and American (which is number 1 in the Hall of Fame for Bait and Switch merit). Total visit revision.
Not just from the 80s and 90s—Breakfast at Tiffany’s seemed fairly light and innocent back in the day, but then having to answer all your 10-year-old’s questions when you watch it as a family, well…
@dfbdfb I am not sure many 14 yr olds are making that connection.
(Lol! I am guessing most 14 yr olds today don’t have the exposure for references to either one. Oldest ds loved MP which is why dd is familiar with it. )
UGH @IABooks that is just not cool on every level. I am sure he meant well but jeesh, save it for the end of year academic assembly if you have to do anything and get permission first. I know our school made a big deal out of a girl with a perfect ACT and I’ve no idea if they had her permission first or not. I would sure hope so.
That bites @Agentninetynine. As for American, I do have a close friend whose D just graduated a couple years ago. Full pay family, at least per FAFSA. She got a lovely package, brought it in lower than her in state flagship but it does sound like it’s pretty schitzophrenic on the offers from what I’ve read. Her D loved it and has done really well job wise (International Relations I believe) and is now looking at grad school. Anything else in the area on Spykids list? I’d imagine you’ve got tickets and all that rot already. Arrgh. This is why I’m crunching it all now. We could conceivably go somewhere in late August but it has to make a ton of sense on every level to go anywhere further than your neck of the woods or the eastern part of my woods…aka driving distance.
I don’t want to underestimate “showing interest” but…
@Agentninetynine Did you guys look at George Washington? Very strong in IR and politics, awesome internship options, decent merit but not the best.
It’s remaining on D’s list (they have just enough Arabic for her needs) but moving down-----she did not like the dorm and dining situation when we visited. Almost all freshmen live in one massive 8 story dorm on the Foggy Bottom campus. The rest live a shuttle bus ride away on the Mt Vernon campus (what used to be a women’s college in the past). The lone dining hall on the FB campus is closing after this year in favor of students eating at the food-court-like option or off campus (the meal plan will just be a declining balance for the on-campus locations and a declining balance for participating off campus locations) D felt like that wouldn’t foster a sense of community. Plus, her options as a dairy-intolerant person would be very limited. She’d basically be spending all her $ across the way at the Whole Foods.
American is still on her list. She knows we could only afford it if she receives one of their gigsntic scholarships. Apparently administration at American is a mess (per parents of attending and admitted students) but the faxulty are fabulous.
Georgetown would be the perfect school for my D with the international relations plus their Arabic offerings (more Arabic than any other school in the country—caveat I did not look at the UCs or Stanford because of finances). There is no way in heck we could afford to send D there! She says she’ll keep it in mind for grad school
Can someone tell me why I get random lines in the middle of my posts??? Is it because I use an ipad and sometimes take a very long time to write? (Not that I’m a slow typist----between dh working from home half the time and homeschooling dd…)
About 60 pages ago we were talking about wildlife in our area. One of our local elementary schools is on lockdown right now because of a bear (black, not brown @dfbdfb ) roaming the area. Apparently it’s in someone’s backyard eating avocados off their tree.
@MotherOfDragons grasshopper? (referencing The Ant and the Grasshopper, not Karate Kid) I, too, am procrastinating. Reading all these posts is much more fun than my real job.
