About FAFSA. We’re filling out the online form because it’s required for some of the public colleges. We won’t qualify for need-based aid so I was wondering whether we need to include any of the private colleges in the FAFSA college list.
@vistajay I was a hard core partier but that was before college, ages 13 to 17, by 18 I was on my own and could not afford the time or money to party. I always expected my kids to give me grief in their teens but so far they have been angles compared to my behavior. We have offered them wine, champagne, Brandy Alexanders on special occasions and all three have turned their noses up to it. DD is currently 20 and has spent a good amount of time in Germany, she has tried wine and beer there but doesn’t like being around drunks, she hates beer but where it is legal will have a glass of wine occassionally. We joke they got their father ‘s "goody goody’ genes.
@vistajay, I know my kiddo will party - I have no illusions about that! She’s pretty open with me, and visited her sister this weekend and I know she imbibed. She was under strict orders from older sister not to OVER-imbibe though, and she didn’t. 
As far as reach schools go, D knows what the budget is, and that she will have to turn down acceptances if they aren’t affordable. @Kayak24, you might be surprised at the FA awards at some meets full need schools. We were! We didn’t count on anything, though.
@Astro77, Pitt has great engineering as well. They have a coop program and in the first year all engineering students have the same curriculum, after that they can choose their engineering discipline.
D is a high stat kid - not tippy top but high enough to be above the 50% line at ivies and other top schools - and her EC’s are very strong. She could be a contender but she’s never toyed with the ivies; like @LOUKYDAD she wants to be close enough to home to drive, even if its 5-6 hrs. Its just a mind-set. She obviously knows time-wise a 5 hr car ride is the same as a 5 hr plane ride but she doesn’t want to be so far away on the EC. All of H’s and my families are WC so this is her comfort zone, despite being a pretty well-traveled girl. Sooooo her list is limited by her choice of geography and she is totally content with that. She threw a midwest and Texas school on the the list but its unlikely she’s attend if accepted. If things go her way, she’ll be firmly ensconced at one of the better UCs or a private with some merit aid (fingers crossed) by this time next year. And selfishly, I am super happy she will be relatively close by.
@sushiritto - will be interested to hear your thoughts after touring USCal. We found the official tour to be great - everything else we toured after that paled by comparison. They have a cute tradition - when a co-ed passes by a student tour group and they are acquainted with the tour guide, they flash the Trojan victory sign and give a loud shout out “FIGHT ON (insert tour guide name)!” and the tour guide responds back in kind. Its done in in an over-the-top, playful way. This happened probably a dozen times during our tour and it always got smiles out of the group. We still giggle about that one. Such a spirited school, you can really feel the strong sense of pride in the students.
@Veronica02 , school spirit was high on my D15’s list, bc her HS had little. She LOVES USC and just soaks up every tradition, attends every big school event, etc…S18, in contrast, goes to a HS with big school spirit and cares little about it for college. In fact, I think he wants a break!
@Kayak24 - this is our 3rd time around this track. Generally, I think there are a lot of people who apply to too many schools. However, high stat kids are in a different situation because so many of the highly competitive schools are unpredictable. There is no way to know whether your DD/DS will get in (I know a kid who got rejected from Cornell, but got into Yale. I know a kid who got rejected from Notre Dame, but got into Stanford) . . . PLUS, you have NO WAY of knowing what Financial Aid package you will get! The awards are all over the place. You simply have to put the applications in. Just to be clear: a 4.0 35 ACT and NMSF is a high stat kid. JMHO, your DD should apply to a lot of schools unless she is dead set on a specific state flagship that she is sure to get in. Best of luck.
Looks like we will land on 12 total applications, which is about 4 more than seems reasonable. A couple of those 12 are “no application fee and no essay”, so the work there is minimal. They would not have been applied to otherwise, and are not likely contenders unless something very strange happens.
Applications have been submitted for five total schools. Hopefully four more applications will be submitted this weekend. That will leave three “labor intensive” applications remaining.
Three responses so far.
DD received a fee waiver from my alma mater today, which she steadfastly says she will not attend (although I think it is a good fit). For some reason hubby, who spent the last 17 years mocking my alma mater has decided to put down the proverbial Dad foot and said she MUST apply. I said “why, she won’t attend”…he said “if it comes in less than our in-state option (which it did for DD2016) she darn well will ‘consider’ it.” So it looks like it will be a nice even 18 applications.
@1822mom I bet they would be friends! It’s so heartening to know there are so nice kids out there!
Speaking of which, we went to a school sporting event tonight as a family and my “shy” DD said she was meeting a friend, as she often does. Well she did…and it was a boy! She said he is just a friend but of course we had to chuckle about it! She was kind of giddy
Astro77, it’s so cute/fun/terrifying to watch our shy Ds navigate the boy waters, isn’t it? My D now has her first official boyfriend, as of last weekend. It’s a guy she’s been very close friends with for several years, and my emotions are all over the place. :((
Ah boys… btdt last year. Mercifully short and sweet, ended amicably at first, but there was a lot of drama at the end of the school year for D. She has sworn off boys for the time being, to the point of remarking this afternoon - hmmm I see the benefit of a women’s college… :-?
Completed the FAFSA today - pretty simple (after gathering all of the paperwork & figuring-out the totals) and I’m happy to say that the Data Retrieval Tool actually worked!!!
Thanks to those brave souls who went first & reported to bugs to us!
On to the CSS Profile tomorrow…
For inquiring minds: CSS Profile = College Scholarship Service Profile
I’ve fallen behind!
About party schools, for my D it’s more the duration (weekend only please) and intensity (no 3am yelling and banging doors and people puking in the halls).
I started looking at the instructions for the CSS profile & I noticed that a bunch of schools also require certain applicants to send tax information via the college board IDOC (Institutional Documentation Service) & I’m thinking WHAT NOW??
After searching around for info, I gather that the schools pick-up the tab for this service & if a college wants that kind of info from you, they (or college board) send you an IDOC cover sheet with instructions on what they want you to send to the school.
I’m actually SHOCKED that the college board hasn’t found a way (YET) to force us to pay for that service 
I feel like I dodged a bullet in this one as I was just blindly preparing (like Pavlov’s dog) to open up my wallet again. You know - college board rings a bell, and then we just pay them whatever they want. :((
CSS Profile submission to first school = $25 (includes a $9 filing fee) and then its another $16 for each additional school.
FAFSA newbie here - Is there a separate form for student and for parent? I just found the one on fafsa.ed.gov but that just has student info and a small amount of financial data from us. Is there a separate one for parents? TIA
We’ve not had to worry about boys here 8-|
She’s been friend-zoned by dozens of them, or they start “talking” and then she hears they are dating someone else. (Talking = texting and snapchatting). I am not looking to marry her off AT ALL but I know she’d like to go out on a date someday. I think college will be a whole new world for her. :-SS
@bearcatfan it’s shocking to me how very few kids at my D’s HS date. I’ve heard that at a lot of colleges it’s the same.
@amominaz the FAFSA is the application for the student to apply for aid.
Parents are only needed to provide financial info and one parent signs at the end.