We get one visit in Junior year and two during Senior year. Each visit has to be documented on letter head from the college. I asked the school about going over the 2 days as DD was invited to compete for scholarships at multiple school…they said only two allowed.
@SnowflakeDogMom My MIL lives about an hour south of Huntsville. It is a gorgeous part of the country. DH and I have even thought about moving there after DD23 is out of school. DS18 was accepted to UAH and even got a lot of merit but he wanted the football/band/big school atmosphere.
Our kids get 3 visits per year, beginning sophomore year. However, during Senior year, all visits after Jan 1 are only allowed to be to schools that you have been accepted to. We banked all three of our daughter’s this year for that purpose and we are off for two days at Duke tomorrow morning.
@Snowflakedogmom…just 2 excused absences for college visits, must request approval prior to absence and then return written documentation (name included) that student attended visit. And this only applies to jr and seniors. We took DD to visit Loyola Chicago as a sophomore when we had DD#1 on an accepted student trip to Marquette. It was not excused. I appealed, it was drnied. We joke to this day that we guess sophomores are not supposed to be thinking about college.
IIRC, D gets two excused absences her junior year and five senior year. I think she’s only used two this year.
My son’s high school gives no approved absences for college visits. He missed two days last week to go to the East Coast from CA, unapproved. He told his teachers, but I actually called him in sick to the office because otherwise he would have unexcused absences. I really wish the high school had a different system.
@TexasMom18 My DD was the opposite, she did not want the Football/Sports culture nor did she want a large school. She was pleasantly surprised by UAH - from the size (just right) to the campus (quite nice and modern without looking like an office complex) to the general area (its Rocket City, lots of Tech, lots of cultural diversity and home to NASA). She got tremendous merit as well, it was an easy YES when we looked at all the options.
Our seniors get some excused days. 4? I don’t know about other years. My son has a medical exception, but has been pretty healthy this year.
@SnowflakeDogMom Our school only officially allows 1 day Jr year and 2 days Sr year…but the teachers have been very accommodating for the most part and let him makeup work, even if the absence is technically “unexcused”. He has also had to miss for scholarship interviews and they have excused those, even though it is not in their policy.
@pickledginger - we just use sick/illness to excuse college visits, since D18’s high school doesn’t grant any days for college trips, and even if they did, the paperwork and getting separate signatures prior to the trip from six different teachers, then returning with documentation… holy cripes … senior year I.B. exams are enough of a burden without all of that extra hoop-jumping.
@SnowflakeDogMom our public HS allows two excused absence days for college visits.
In hindsight I would have just called her out sick and dealt with making up the hours - the attendance rules in TX are just stupid - DD “owed” I can’t even remember how many hours due to her attendance. These hours had to be “made up” via in school and community “service” hours. We “created” a neighborhood character early on who signed off on all sorts of household chores to make up attendance hours, as well as several of her teachers were very creative. DD has always had attendance issues due to anxiety, yet she’s a straight A student so her grades never suffered we just had to deal with the make up policy.
I do not understand how mowing the neighbors lawn makes up for the missed calculus class, its a very odd system.
Basically, the school has learned the loopholes in the attendance rules and we all get creative.
Call your kids in sick! College is too important a decision to stress about missing school.
Is it too soon to apply for the Plus Loan. College said too early to apply because the approval has an expiration date?
I pull my kids out of their last period study halls sometimes if we have to be somewhere early. I even did that for a college reception, since I wasn’t about to ask the college rep to sign a stupid note.
I say it’s due to a “family matter.” Someone in the office unofficially told me to phrase it that way - if you say it’s for a doctor’s visit or college visit, they demand a note. If it’s a family matter, they don’t ask and you don’t have to tell.
Sometimes my oldest will stay home for the first part of the day and go in for physics if she’s not feeling well. I just write a parent note that she didn’t feel well.
@Toeupwms, I’ve already applied for my son’s school. But I’d listen to your college’s advice, if they told you differently.
Finally a decision…USCal.
Placed room deposits and DD spent hour looking for roommate matches.
USC presidential for 50% was enticing, but a big outside scholarship for the other 50% tuition decided it. Now all the smaller scholarships can knock down that $20000 room and board costs for Los Angeles. She already has $11000 add on, so her costs now are less than $10000 per year. Students job and/or small loans covers that.
Things worked out finally. DD did not even plan to apply to USC but was told to days before the Dec 1 deadline by her college counseler to put in her application there. We were lucky to have the best counsiler in the school, who has a great eye for student school matches.
@sekere62 Congrats on all of the scholarships. Less than $10K per year is a bargain for USC.
@apraxiamom and @Toeupwms - This was finally explained to me in a way I could understand it:
“Don’t apply for the Parent Plus loan yet. Determine when the money will be due to the school, then count back 90 days. That date is the earliest you should apply for Parent Plus, because that guarantees that the disbursement window will overlap with when the school will take the funds.”
For us, the first payment is due in early August. 90 days prior to that is the first week in May. So, we have to wait until AFTER the May 1 deadline. Which is awkward for those of us who are sweating being approved for the loan.
Congrats @sekere62 that is a heck of a deal for USC!
@bearcatfan coming from NV, TX has what seemed to us to be ridiculously stringent attendance rules - a “family matter” doesn’t cut it - they don’t care - if its not a school sanctioned event then its an absence and they only get so many a year, when they are exceeded then the student has to “make up” the hours missed. I believe there is an allowance for sick with a Dr’s note but even those can exceed and fall into make-up hours.
I was told this was because TX schools are paid based on daily attendance where in NV (at the time, things might have changed) attendance was based on either one or two days out of the year - that established the schools load and that was the data used to calculate the annual funding.