Hopefully they will publish that information soon. But the article does seem to say that some of the merit will stay available for talented instate and OOS students.
I find myself dreaming about news articles late next spring. The University of Louisville closing the deal on the strongest incoming freshmen class in school history, rising ACT scores, record number of valedictorians. Much attributed to the opposite at UK.
I have had the NMSF process to obsess about and distract me lately.
@mommdc on their scholarship page, UK previously had check back in early August. Around 8/15 they changed it to mid September. Maddening.
Current frustrations:
- Why does the school take so long to send transcripts?
- Why do some SAT send requests say AWAITING FULFILLMENT for an eternity.
- Why did I quantify the exact numbers of essays DP Jr. needs to write?
I am terrified that the guidance counselor, her first year in this role, will drop the ball and not send anything to the colleges like she is supposed to.
Sigh.
@bearcatfan
I don’t “like” your post, and I don’t find it “helpful”, but I sure empathize!
@bearcatfan and @DavidPuddy DS has 2 schools that are waiting only on his Counselor rec. DS has put in a request to meet with her and if he doesn’t get anywhere, my DH and I will be scheduling a meeting with her. I know she has been busy with schedules so I’m trying to be patient, but I share your fears as well.
I am having a brain fart: for our 2018 kids, when does FAFSA open? January, 2018?
@HeliMom74 I believe FAFSA opens October 1st!
Thank you, @dancinginastorm ! It’s always good for a laugh whenever I figure my family’s EFC. When my husband and I did it for the first time for 2015 daughter, we laughed and laughed and laughed. We were wealthy and didn’t even know it!
@S18D20mom
Yeah, it’s early. I know it’s early. I know counselors are busy. I know there is no deadline anywhere next week, but still.
I would definitely be patient for letters of rec. But these are transcripts to giant universities. Just “click send” or whatever!
@DavidPuddy and @S18D20mom Luckily our school uses something called Parchment, where we ourselves can send the transcript. The counselor said she would upload it to the Common App, but we’d have to do it for schools who don’t use the Common App. Guess who went ahead and sent requests for ALL the schools? One particular school secretary sends it and she doesn’t have to wait on anyone … if it’s loaded (which it is) she sends it. That won’t happen until Tuesday, though.
The counselor still has to do her part, though. Sigh.
Recommendations are rolling in - we had to pick and choose among the different apps (some allowed three, some only one) and asked them to email them to schools who will take it but don’t require it. Spanish teacher already sent hers - I guess, she emailed my daughter that she was “done.” The calculus teacher has already told her she’s working on it and she’s a good one, I’m not worried. My DD has to check with another teacher to makes sure she got it. Again, she is on the ball and I’m not concerned.
That’s the bad part about doing something over a long holiday weekend. Apparently some people have lives and other things to do, and cannot rush to do my bidding immediately. =))
S heads back to school tomorrow. I believe all the school buildings in the district are ok, though some students and teachers were affected by the storm. One of S’s favorite teachers may have lost her home to flooding. Now he’s not so sure if he should ask her for a recommendation for UTD McDermott as he had planned. He’d already asked her generally in May if she’d be willing to write recommendations for him and she said she definitely would, but under these new circumstances she may be overwhelmed.
Thanks to crowdsourcing I’m not worried about NMSF; S has already finished the essay and I will help him do the NMF application as soon as he gets login information, so it doesn’t bother me if it has to wait until I call NMSC next week. I’m not hovering on the McDermott application at all, but NMF is worth a lot of money for us so I will sit with S and make sure everything is done and if necessary I will bug the GC about the school portion. I’m all for the student taking ownership and responsibility but for NMF I’m going full Blackhawk helicopter mode.
I admire all of you patiently/impatiently waiting on guidance counselors. I couldn’t do it. ^:)^
Well, I’ll throw this out there …
How long do the guidance counselors take on this kind of thing? Anyone have previous experience? Is it days? Weeks? At what point do we start to bug them? Isn’t it just mostly pressing a button?
Of course, there are two paper guidance counselor forms that need to be done - she is bringing those in Tuesday with an addressed, stamped envelope (even with extra postage!). I could see those taking an extra five minutes. 8-|
Another dumb question: do I open a separate FAFSA account for 2018 son? Does the one parental FAFSA ID still work for both kids?
Do schools require FAFSA? We’re full pay everywhere (I’ve filled out a few EFC webforms and after they crunch the numbers for a few seconds basically reply, “LOL, pay up sucker!”) so it seems like a pointless exercise.
D’s school’s counselors have announced that they will come to all of the senior English classes to discuss college app/transcript protocol next week, after they’ve had a couple of weeks to settle class schedules. No doubt they have their hands full.
D and I just reviewed her Common App, which is 95% complete, including supplements. She just needs to ask her counselor about a few things and have her essays go through another set of eyes. I’m so proud of her for getting this far with only moderate prodding from me! Her ASU app is ready to go, but she’s balking at hitting the submit button. I think she’s not ready to roll that ball down the hill just yet. Some of her overachieving friends have submitted multiple apps already, so she’ll cave to the peer pressure soon. One can only hope, right? :))
@droppedit This is my first year, but I have heard that some schools will not consider you for merit unless you fill out the FAFSA. I have also encountered some local scholarships that want to see your EFC (those consider need).
@droppedit, my plan had been to fill out FAFSA only if required for merit scholarships because we will not qualify for any kind of need-based aid. UTD doesn’t require that so we’re off the hook, but you would need to check the FA page for all the schools on your list to see if any need FAFSA for merit aid.
@droppedit We are not planning to fill out the FAFSA. If something comes up that convinces us it’s worth the time and effort, we will, but it seems pointless at the moment.