My S has a joint savings account with hubby. S only has a debit card tied to the account.
@bearcatfan my D has a debit card linked to a checking account I can add to, but I also just added her as an authorized user to my chase visa. It was as easy as logging on to my account and clicking “add authorized user”, her card arrived about a week later. But it doesn’t have the swanky features @liveonboca 's capitolone card seems to have! It does the job though and I’m thinking going forward this card may end up becoming the card used for her purchases only anyway, which will make it easier to track.
Welcome @MinnieFan !! Congrats on the acceptances your D has so far! <:-P <:-P <:-P
Speaking of acceptances… D received an email last night from Southwestern to check her portal, and she is IN! 
<:-P That was fast! I think less than a week since she hit “submit”!! No word yet on merit, they indicated they have forwarded her app for merit consideration and to keep checking the portal. I’ve been expecting college news this week, but that was not the school I was expecting it from! Since she missed the EA deadline I figured it would be January at the earliest. Anyway, she’s got a Texas school in the bag now! #:-S Thanks everyone (especially you @ShrimpBurrito ) for encouraging me to keep trying on that school! >:D<
Wow, what fantastic news, @1822mom! They are soooo awesome at Southwestern. :x I can’t wait to hear how all of this turns out for your D!
@1822mom Congrats on the acceptance! Nice to have an option close to your future home! <:-P
Great news @1822mom!
Hearing about all these great schools makes me want to pressure D to look at some more… :-? ~X(
Congrats to your D, @1822mom ! Southwestern is one of the few that still turns my head when I see mailings from them. 
The other two are Tulane and Pomona, FWIW.
Congratulations on the acceptances and awards!!
@bearcatfan , my three teens are all authorized users on several of my credit cards. I did this so they have an emergency card in their phone if they don’t have cash (and I set their limits at $400), and so it can help establish credit for them. None of them use it without asking me first.
We are totally in the same boat. My son has been #1 the whole time. I don’t think it will change, but we never planned this stress. If he had started off somewhere else in the rankings, we would never have thought twice. Now he feels to pressure to make sure he stays there just because he has been for 4 years. My younger son isn’t in the top 20 and I feel so much less stress!!
I guess I fall in the middle on the deferral at Princeton. It would be nice to have a decision, but it’s also nice to know you get a second chance (though an even longer shot in the RD round). I was not aware how many deferrals Princeton issues, so that seems a bit disingenuous to me. However, that’s the school S’18 wanted to take a shot at early for a combination of factors. He seemed ok with the deferral, then a bit depressed as he learned how many people were deferred, and now it’s a new day and he’s moving on. Fortunately, he only has one more RD app to submit, so the EA app didn’t slow down his momentum.
Besides, what could be wrong today when Star Wars is coming out. He’s seeing it with friends tonight.
May the Force be with you all.
@bearcatfan , not sure why you cannot add you kid as an authorized user on your credit card. That’s what I have done for my 20 and 17 year olds. Perhaps it is a credit union thing? You may just want to get another low fee, low limit credit card from another company and have her on it as an authorized user. We also set up a checking and savings account for my 20 yr old at her college, with a national bank so she can access branches just about where ever. I electronically transfer allowance money to her account through PayPal (for free) at the beginning of each month.
@bearcatfan Hi! Yes she has applied to SU, I just decided to list her acceptances until all 12 are back. And yes…loll t Ithaca is way out of the stone ages! I toured it as a prospective student 30 years ago and did not apply, when I toured it with my daughter I wanted to apply now…but I felt that way at most schools…oh to go back in time!
@mstomper we are in the same boat, the merit is very nice but we need to see the whole picture!
@glido she does have it together most days but we have had our fair share of procrastination and mini-meltdowns. Our original goal was to be done by Thanksgiving and she had all but 2 done then but our for real deadline in this house is this weekend ( which she will make with only one essay left). Next week is mid-terms then we all need break from the intensity of senior year, especially my poor D20 who has been cast aside more times than I can say this fall. Between college stuff, D18’s final tennis season, caring for my Dad with dementia and (trying to get Mom to cope with it), working for a major toy company in the field in the busy season and working my own business my poor D20 really needs some attention and this house needs some peace and Christmas!
Thank you everyone for the welcomes…very happy to be here.
I put my D on my capitalone card. I really like how the statement separates out how much she spends on her card verses how much i spend on mine, and that she has a different card number so if she loses hers it won’t impact my card number. I let her use the card as she would want for the first month - boy was that a shock how much she spent! This was really useful in showing her how much money she would like to have in discretionary spending, and from there we went through all the calculations as to how much of an income she would have to make in order to live how she’d like to live. After this, I put a limit on it, but the thing that I really like is that if she is in an emergency situation, I can simply call capitalone and they will lift the limit as long as combined we stay within my limit.
I have done some preliminary phone calls and it looks like I have a couple options:
- Add her to an existing card. This might be the easiest way to go, but then if she loses it I am temporarily SOL. This also does nothing to help her build her own credit. But she will also have plenty for textbooks.
- Get her a card with an amount held at the credit union with collateral. This apparently helps her build a credit history, but I would have to put a cushion in her savings account (or maybe open a separate account for her just for this card). She would pay it off like a regular card, and it helps her build credit. The money is not used like a debit card, but just as collateral. She/I would still pay it like a regular card.
- We could get a card together, where she is the primary and I am the joint/cosigner. She could also get own low card (only $300 which will pay for, like, one textbook). Both of them help build credit history. These options require proof of income - she has her little job, but I have no monthly income aside from my husband's pension right now (early retirees - not collecting SS yet).
I’m thinking #1 or #2. Leaning towards #2. Or I might do both.
And yes I am overthinking this. =))
@1822mom Congratulations on Southwestern!
My D checked prices on new, used and rental textbooks and picked the best options. I think they were about $600 for the whole year because the science and foreign language books were good for both semesters.
When my two older kids got their license I added them to my CC. My D was able to get her own Discover student card at 20.
I pay for certain things and for some things they pay me back.
Boy am I nervous about ED decision tomorrow!! Keeping busy at work to remain distracted but on a better note - D was notified that she was selected as Student of the Week in the local newspaper (nominated by her school), and her school is one of many in an affluent area (we don’t live in that area), so I’m really proud of her! That lifts the spirits temporarily heading into the moment of truth tomorrow.
@1822mom Congratulations on Southwestern!
Good luck to all of the kids hearing back tonight and tomorrow! I know how anxious many of the parents are. I’m sending prayers out to the universe for all of you.
I have some notes to share about Southwestern, for @1822mom and anyone else who may be interested. I visited in Aug 2017 with D18 and S20 (it was mostly for S20). We saw Trinity a couple of days later.
SU’s campus is stunning. STUNNING. Visually it reminds me of Tulane. It was very quiet and serene when we were there. Not much of a buzz when compared to Trinity. Facilities are fine. Slicker and more modern at Trinity, but SU has a relaxed, homey feel to it. We felt VERY comfortable on campus.
SU’s big thing is interdisciplinary learning. They encourage students to find connections between seemingly disparate fields of study. Professors are on board with this, and you’ll find anthropology profs working together with chem profs, etc.
Another good word to describe SU is personal. Class sizes are very small. They top out at 30-something. They didn’t just talk about the personal thing; they demonstrated it during our tour. My S’s name (and the names of other prospective students visiting that day) was printed on a Welcome sign when we walked into the Admissions Office. The info session was stellar. Unlike any I’ve been to. The AO spoke personally with each prospective student and customized her speech so it was relevant to all of us there. It was more of a seminar, actually. Interactive. Blew me away.
The school feels heavy on Fine Arts, less so on science, especially when compared to Trinity.
Speaking of Fine Arts, every Friday night SU hosts a concert or some other form of entertainment on campus. They often catch big name bands who are coming through Austin. We were told that as strange as it sounds, students rarely go into Austin, which is only 30 minutes away. A car is really not necessary.
They have this Pirate Bike program. Dozens of painted bikes are on campus. At any time, any student can hop on a bike and park it wherever. No bike locks, no registration or anything. Just a bunch of loose bikes everywhere. We were told that they’ve only lost two in the 8 (?) years they’ve been doing this. One was taken by a graduating student who loved the bikes so much he just couldn’t let it go. :))
On Niche you will see bad reviews of the food at SU. On our tour, we were told that they had just changed food service providers (I forget what the technical term is), and that it is now much better.
SU is very proud of their Career Services. Some publication ranked them very highly, like third nationwide. At SU they love learning for learning’s sake, but make sure that knowledge translates to the real world as well.
SU is located in the heart of Georgetown, TX, which is often used as a filming location for TV and movies. It’s impossibly sweet and beautiful and charming. They have fantastic restaurants, too! After our two days there, I called my husband, and in all seriousness, told him I want to retire in Georgetown.
In case you can’t tell, I really, really love the school. My kids fully appreciate it, although it is not really what they are looking for. D18 had it on her Common App list, but then replaced it with Grinnell, as they have a Linguistics minor, whereas SU has nothing in that realm. S20 has it on his mental list. SU is eerily similar to his current small private HS, which we all love, but he thinks he wants something different (bigger, buzzier) for college. Both kids enthusiastically recommend SU to their friends who want that type of college experience.
Thanks @ShrimpBurrito !! I will share this with my D who, though she applied and is accepted, really knows little about the school. It’s good to get that personal insight! But yes, my D loves small, cozy, personal… so it definitely sounds up her alley.
@Kayak24 Best of luck to your D on her ED tomorrow. And good luck to everyone else hearing decisions soon.
@1822mom Congrats on the acceptance to SU. @ShrimpBurrito makes it sound like a wonderful school to go to.
@suzy100 Let’s replay the Victory March! :D/
@MinnieFan Welcome to the club!
I’m beginning to feel like Charlie Brown on this board. :(|)
Thank goodness CA community college is automatic admission. D has that going for her. X_X