I’m so surprised at those kids who aren’t pushing to get their licenses. When my D got her license, it transformed her social life…and my wallet. Seriously, though, even though I was always willing to drive her to meet her friends, she didn’t take me up on it that often. Now she goes to Starbucks or Barnes and Noble all the time with her friends for study sessions or just to grab a cup of coffee and chat. I think that’s the benefit of being such a studious kid: your parents are psyched to see you going out with friends and relaxing.
@LMHS73 thanks for the information. I assume your D stayed overnight with her friend? At my D’s school it’s unfortunate that the kids don’t really mix with kids from other grades, so my D isn’t close enough with any of last year’s seniors to call them up and ask to stay with them. In some ways, it sounds like such a good idea because they will get a more accurate picture than if they just do a tour with mom or dad, and it saves a lot of money between airfare and hotel. We still have a few more tours to do, and wow does it get expensive!
I thought today’s comments about ECs was interesting, because I found myself saying, oh @bearcatfan’s D is the ballet girl, and @daffodilpetunia 's D is the musical theater girl, @chippedtoof 's S is the service kid. So this got me to thinking how important these ECs are to helping the AOs identify which students fulfill the various categories they are looking for when they build a class. (And I hope you guys don’t mind how I identified your kids, that was just an instant thought).
Someone from UNM called S at some point this week, congratulating him on his admission and asking if he had any questions or needed help with anything. He said he was good. 
@melvin123 My daughter is likely more known as “the ballet girl who fell on her butt during class,” =))
That’s what one of her essays was about. :))
Speaking of driving, my daughter drives her and her sister to and from school. She drives herself to and from ballet, and will sometimes drive her sister to HER stuff. She really likes to drive (it’ll wear off, lol).
I’ve never asked her to chip in for gas or insurance, since I’d have to provide the rides anyway. She drives my husband’s 2004 Honda - they “share” it but since he is retired it’s pretty much hers to use. Once she gets into school and needs to do clinicals we will help her buy a car. She still has to text me when she gets there and text me when she leaves - that’s not negotiable. I figure we can stop doing that when she’s 35. 
DD’18 just got her first college acceptance letter in the mail yesterday afternoon! Big State U. - safety school comes through. Happy Day!
FAFSA: I just read to file this as close to Oct 1st as possible. Wish I had read that sooner. I need to get some big bills paid (braces balance, driving lessons, etc.) before I file it because obviously I don’t want that money sitting in my account. Anyone know (roughly) how long we have until the funds for loans runs out?
@Kayak24 It depends on your state and the colleges. I think you have several weeks if not a month or two to get that done in plenty of time.
I checked, and the earliest FAFSA deadline on DD’s colleges is December 1. I have heard that some states have different deadlines for state aid, but these are all Ohio schools and their deadlines run from from December 1-March 1. I would think, however, that earlier is better (but it doesn’t have to be October 1).
I’m thinking loans are always available? It’s the free aid that could be distributed.
I will work on it next week. I prefer to let early adopters work out the bugs, lol.
Some people on the Facebook page are saying we need to have paper copies of everything the day we file, in case we are pulled for verification. That’s a good idea, but I’m not breaking my neck to get exact balances down to the hour. I will get balances to the best of my ability, but some banks don’t even calculate any kind of interest until the end of the month. So I will go with the latest I have, even if it’s from the previous month (depending on what day I file).
There is an asset protection amount for parents, based on older parent’s age. For age 50 I think it’s around $20,000.
The first year we filed FAFSA, I had balances all ready, but it just asked if parents had assets over $xxx amount and we didn’t so we said no and it skipped us entering actual balances. The kid did have to enter their bank account balance.
I can look them up online or call the bank to get daily balance. You need to report assets as of the day you submit (signed by student and one parent) it, as far as I know.
The filing close to Oct 1 is important for students from very low income families.
The Pell Grant and the student loans are available all through the school year I believe (for Pell Grant EFC has to be under a certain limit).
But some other grants (SEOG), federal work study and Perkins loans are given out first come first served, so if you depend on maximum aid possible it is better to file earlier.
Some states also have early deadlines so for students in those states it is also important to file early.
We get a state grant but deadline is in May. The school my D goes to has a priority FA deadline in March.
So we didn’t do the FAFSA right when it opens, but well before deadlines (Jan/Feb the first two years).
My D was home for fall break last year, so we just did the FAFSA then.
So go ahead and spend your balance down with those big purchases, if possible, before you submit FAFSA.
@Kayak24 I don’t think the fund for loans runs out, but some colleges might have scholarships and grant money that runs out. Did you read that on a college website?
I once forgot to file the FAFSA until June one year when we were dealing with medical problems, and when I finally remembered, I made a mistake with my D’s birthday. (It can be confusing when you have four kids and very similar birth dates and there’s a lot of chaos in the house as you’re rushing to get it done!)
The birthday mistake was a mess because certain mistakes can only be amended by mail. So it was probably late July before it was settled and it worked out with the loans.
I would not recommend this method! Especially for a freshman!
I was very thankful when I heard the FAFSA changed October.
https://fafsa.ed.gov/deadlines.htm
You can look up state deadlines in link above.
I think some of the states that recommend filing asap in October are:
Alaska, Illinois, Kentucky, Nevada, NC, ND, OK, OR, TX, VT, WA.
But you would have to be eligible for state aid in the first place.
My little issue (not the big issue of our retirement savings in non-retirement accounts) is that we are saving for a car emergency but not ready to buy cars now because ours are still running–even if I have three malfunctioning doors. My van has 220,000 and H’s is also old with high mileage. If it is worth it later, I might try to beg for mercy. I have a friend who had a chunk of savings for significant and necessary home repairs and she wrote a letter and the college gave her a break and increased her aid.
I think I will try to bring down accounts as much as I can … naturally. I can try to do the FASFa prior to a paycheck being deposited. I will pay all normal bills as early as is allowed. Property taxes are due Nov. 1, so I could do that, too.
@mommdc I didn’t realize that was related to the state you live in.
My oldest D went OOS we were ineligible for state grants so I never really had to worry about state specific deadlines. And my state isn’t in the list.
I have never been asked for verification. I was warned by a FA person it is more likely to happen if numbers don’t match up. But I wasn’t asked for verification when I made the big birthday screw up, but probably because it wasn’t a financial number mismatch.
@mommdc We have some money in a regular savings account with minimal interest and they only compute that stuff once a month, for statement purposes. The paper statement reflects what the bank knows at that moment in time, so I’d think whatever your last statement is would suffice, right?
Essentially, in all of this, you’d go by your last best information, correct?
Obviously the stock market would be different, and I could see needing that as up-to-the-minute as possible. But even then, there has to be some leeway … ie, my portfolio can look different at 1 p.m. but if I filed at 9 a.m. that’s what I’d go by.
Can any FAFSA vets chime in on this? This is why I don’t do my own taxes. 8-}
@bearcatfan I can’t imagine slight variations or even typical weekly or monthly variations making a difference for the average person.
I imagine anyone who would be verifying would realize bank accounts go up and down a bit every month. The problem would come if there were a large deviation from normal or if someone would fudge numbers in order to qualify for something they should not be eligible for.
I remember one year having to estimate a balance and I know I probably overestimated, but I figured it was safer to overestimate. I think I even included an IRA balance when I shouldn’t have. But these were small amounts and would not have hurt us or benefitted us anyway because we weren’t eligible.
Assets are hit at the 6 percent, or whatever it is, rate, so even my idea of paying bills early is probably not worth the effort. It is what it is. Chump change.
@glido Congratulations on your D’s acceptance!
I had a meeting with my D’s GC, who is very experienced. She said the most important thing is the kids’ transcripts, so the kids should not obsess over their essays. She also said (i) less than 5% of the essays she’s ever seen have ever really stood out, and the rest are just adequate and do the job, and (ii) she has never seen a great essay overcome a bad transcript. Just thought I’d share for anyone whose kids are having writer’s block; don’t fall into the trap of believing that you have to have the “perfect” essay and become a slave to it.
I suppose we will do FAFSA and PROFILE next weekend. Oh joy. We have always done our own taxes; can’t see it will be harder than that. We did FAFSA for D16 no problem, but never had to deal with PROFILE before.
I submitted FAFSA for 8 years with DS - Undergrad/Grad school - I don’t ever file our taxes until October so until the date of FAFSA submission changed (last year) all our information was always an estimate and not once in those 8 years were we ever flagged for verification. We don’t qualify for any low income aid. We did the FAFSA so that DS could obtain loans as needed as well as scholarships, grants etc.
Now, this year, I am a little ahead of the game, filed our 2016 taxes yesterday, before October! Yeah me, my Tax lady was doing the happy dance LOL
I will be filing the FAFSA next week so that DD doesn’t nag at me daily.
I do remember seeing the asset thing last year, now that DH and I are both over 50 we don’t keep large amounts of cash in non-IRA type accounts and didn’t have to itemize our assets last year.