D applied REA, she’ll find out sometime “mid-December.” That ambiguity is not helpful.
My S18 also got his South Carolina acceptance yesterday with a scholarship offer. First acceptance so very exciting!
@suzy100 - That’s painful. I like the “you will find out on xx day”. Thinking of keeping the kiddo home that day (December 15) so we can pretty much obsessively check her email and portal alllllllll day!!
Another December 15th here. We can commiserate together. My D is lucky that two of her rolling admits are already in but the others are all 12/15 or later.
The saga continues! FA email estimate came in $10k higher than I was told on the phone yesterday. Ugh! Idk if D will go for this now. To be continued…
Same here, @AmyBeth68. Even if nowhere else accepts her, she has a good option. Not her “favorite” option, but a good option.
You mean you would need to pay an additional 10K/year or over the four years? @Kayak24
My D applied ED, @kayak24!!! Best of luck. I am excited for you!
@Kayak24 - New wrinkle with the unexpected 10k. In our house, we’re (I’m) always weighing & reweighing the free (or almost free) potential NMF route against other opportunities that present themselves. How much extra $$ is too much to pay when compared to a free-ride? Always a challenge.
I’m looking forward to the next chapter in the saga…
Finally got the FAFSA in . . . #:-S
It’s amazing to me how many of you are done/near done when DD hasn’t submitted a single app yet, and won’t start to get decisions back for another four months or so…
@amominaz , $10k per year! 
The explanation was that they removed one-time income but it gets reallocated and counted as an asset. So the one action brought down the EFC and the other action brought it back up again.
I’m told we can appeal but that they will need the completed 2017 tax returns (which I won’t have until April due to the family business). Obviously, that’s a challenge given an ED scenario since we’d have to withdraw the other applications, correct?
Ugh! [-(
@Kayak24 I feel for you. Something I’ve struggled with is at what point do you walk away from FREE in order to get a perceived “better” education or better fit? That point differs for each of us, but man, is it painful. Ok, here’s a thought for you re this “asset” (former one-time income) - maybe you can put some of it into your 401k because then it won’t count as an asset in future years? I don’t know whether this is enough to help you at all, just a thought. Or, you can throw your D one heck of a graduation party!
What good is rolling admissions without rolling complete merit/need offer letters? 
This is kind of the way I have been thinking of it @melvin123. D18 shouldn’t be punished to not go where she would like to go because she was high achieving and forced to go where she gets the most merit aid. We are giving her the opportunity to apply ED to the one school she has liked since before high school. If she doesn’t get accepted there, merit aid will play a significant factor in the next decision. But, we are fortunate that we can pay for it. I know that’s definitely not the case for most people.
@melvin123 , want to hear the kicker? We did not receive one dime of the one-time income but had to pay tax on it! Long story short it’s from an inherited family business where I am a small shareholder. The business reports its income on the taxes of the shareholders but retains the income. We don’t get any of it. Unfortunately, the colleges still treat it as if we earned that money (in the case of 2016, this appeared as if our actual household income was doubled). :((
As far as walking away from “free” - that would be much harder to do if any full ride NMF schools were near where we live. They all require a plane ride, which adds extra anxiety for a kid who is a homebody.
“D18 shouldn’t be punished to not go where she would like to go because she was high achieving and forced to go where she gets the most merit aid.”
@amominaz , that’s a great way to put it. I feel the same way and also feel that D shouldn’t be penalized due to this darn family business stuff. So, I am willing to do what I can to help shoulder the financial burden. She will take student loans and I will try to make up the difference if she ends up at her dream school. I feel I have to support her hard work however she wants to choose her path.
@amominaz My husband and I have been discussing the same thing as it relates to my D18’s top choice. She’s already been accepted there and I feel like the stress of waiting on merit to see if she can attend has added a new layer of complication to the already complicated college process. I said to my husband the other night…maybe we should just make it work regardless. It’s not easy…
@Kayak24 I’m in the same phantom income boat. If only we actually made what our tax returns say we made!!! One question for you, how did the FA office determine the value of your shares of the business? Did they take a significant discount for the value based on the lack of marketability and control? It’s great to say that you own 20% of a company worth $1,000,000, but what you own isn’t worth $200,000 if there is no market for your 20% share, or if your right to sell is restricted. Maybe that’s a personal question. I’m just curious how FA does this, and I wonder whether colleges have agreed upon a certain guideline, or whether it depends on the individual college’s FA office to determine how they want to look at this.
@Kayak24 While the FA offer isn’t great news, the fact the you’re willing to make it work is wonderful news. I’ll cross my fingers and hope your D gets into her dream school.
To answer the earlier question, my D submitted REA and we’ll get an answer by 12/15. However, the odds of acceptance are terrible. She also submitted an EA app and we’ll get that answer by 12/24. Right now D is trying to catch up on her schoolwork. Those app essays really put her behind the 8-ball at school.