Deleted repeat comment
My D19 and I are visiting Ohio Wesleyan in Feb for a scholarship competition (still need to book hotel and try to get overnight/have her see a class). We are also going to see Manhattan College in late March or early April. The last possible travel may be to SoCal to see Cal Poly and/or University of San Diego (she has not heard back from these last two so that trip is far from certain).
Anyone else scheduling visits before decision time?
If your kid applied ED somewhere, and theyāre certain thatās where theyāre going, would you skip accepted students day if you had to travel quite a ways? The accepted students day is in April. Then thereās an orientation in June, and school starts in August. So thatās potentially 3 trips.
@megan12 If itās a long expensive trip during the school year I wouldnāt bother. Iād save the $$ and time and just go to orientation if that time works, and they want to go. Most of the schools have ED Accepted Facebook goops set up so the kids can get to know each a little bit. I have a son that was accepted ED but has not joined the FB group because he does not do facebook. He might go to accepted students day because itās only a 25 minute drive, but the dayās planned activities arenāt much different from a Fall prospective student day he attended, , so I am not sure of the actual value. He might just like to blow off school one day at attend the day though 
guess it wouldnāt hurt for him to meet some new kids too, but weāll see.
@megan12 If the logistics of getting to Accepted Students day is difficult and expensive, then Iād definitely have my kid pass on it.
My D16 got accepted ED and went to Accepted Students day (frankly, I have no idea why she did that as I think about it now). It was a 4 hour drive one way and her HS happened to not have classes on that day. She ended up going to orientation/registration in June and then a pre-orientation activity before classes started in August. If the accepted students day would have involved getting on a plane, staying overnight in a hotel, and missing classes, then it would have been a no-go.
@megan12 Iād skip it. I think all of these extra days/events are overkill.
@megan12 , we are in that situation and going, butā¦ we got cheap flights, and we have family to stay with (and want to see), and there isnāt another event in June. If flights were expensive and we had to get a hotel too, and we couldnāt double up with seeing family, the calculus would change. D will miss a day of school, but I donāt think itās the end of the world by that stage.
@megan12 we are in that situation, it would involve flights and hotels and missing school. We are not going. It would be nice to visit while in session but he did have an overnight event there over the summer and enough touch points to feel solid about things enough for us to approve the EDā¦
Decision was made based on the summer experience and heās committed. If it was a drive, we would do it but, no.
Iād save the $$.
Time to get in a brag!
My D just got a new job and she is saving 75% of earnings towards college costs (she might be able to just work summers after and not work in school if she chooses school she is leaning towards). She also has possibly two options where I will give her money after college with no need to work but she is not as excited about those.
I am also going to have her start saving in a Roth IRA.
@megan12 we are driving distance but my d19 will only go to get accepted student day at her ED if they offer it on a date that she doesnāt have to miss school and doesnāt already have an appointment to get her wisdom teeth out. I can see the offered dates from last year and if they are the same time period, there should be a perfect visiting day. Otherwise, she will skip it.
Thank you @eandesmom for getting this together. These lists always helped me in my research. To inbox you, do I just go to new message and list you as recipient?
Thanks for all the comments! You all confirmed what we were thinking. I suspect that accepted students day is just going to be one final advertisement for the school, which we donāt need. Weāre already sold!
Donāt you guys think it would be nice to meet fellow accepted ED kids at an Admitted Students Days? Iām not saying it makes sense to spend a lot of money but, if the school is just a drive away, seems like it would be worth it. Our S19 only applied to schools RD and will go to as many of these events as make sense for him and a big part is that I want him to meet kids who could be his classmates. And missing school? Eh. A few days shouldnāt matter. Heās got a hard schedule but, at some point, visiting colleges is more important. If an ED student hasnāt visited while school is in session, it would also be a great way to see what thatās like.
Thanks, @eandesmom, you rock as always!
I saw upthread that @JBSeattleās daughter got a job and is saving most of it for college and I am admiringly jealous.
My d has a job at school, which was paying sporadically until right before Christmas break, when she got a huge-to-her check of about $480.
Thereās $100 left. She blew most of it on the Nintendo Switch & games & accessories. At FULL PRICE, mind you. She knew I would be mad, so she did not consult me, queen of shopping deals.
I was so mad. I had told her that it would be wise to set aside 50% of everything she made for school/savings (not to mention the $1k upcharge on our car insurance just for her).
But noo. Sheās just the kind who, when sheās got money in her pocket, itās burning, and sheās gotta put out the fire.
@homerdog , we agree with that and that is part of the reason my D will be going. The other thread about whether Iād not to visit highlighted some advantages for ED students that we hadnāt considered before. That said, we probably still wouldnāt do it if it involved undue expense or time; my Dās is on a weekend.
Wow, @eandesmom - lots of effort to make this wonderful list! Thank you for putting it all together.
Sure, it would be nice to go but if my d19 has decided she would prefer not to miss her classes, Iām going to let her make that choice. She does a pretty good job in figuring out what works for her. Iām not dimming her view of her new school or taking away her confidence in her choice by pushing her to a different choice on something that is relatively inconsequential since she is already committed.
DD saves almost all of her work earnings. I do buy her makeup and clothes, and give her a very small allowance for extras ($17/month) so she doesnāt need to spend much of her own. Mainly meals out or the occasional movie. She got about $150 cash at Christmas so sheās set for spending money for a while. During the school year she only makes $35/week though. Hoping she can get a good job this summer that she can come back to on college breaks. There are so few options in our small town though.
@Gatormama
It is funny because my D does have expensive tastes (always orders most expensive drink at SBUX, likes getting mani pedi etc and fashionista). I am a banker and her Italian grandad is a banker plus my wife is even more conservative about money than I am! In 8th grade I made her come up with a plan to pay for part of an expensive WA DC trip and she made several hundred dollars babysitting which she put towards the trip. think my D was also thinking that if she starts working now that she may not need to work during college.
She just completed her second day of training yesterday and seems pretty comfortable as she has worked retail in the past (small boutique shoe store is the current gig).
Funny thing is my younger D does not have my older Dās work ethic but she is much more of a saver. She likes keeping money and not spending it.
@Gatormama Sounds like my S17. Only he would have $0 left of $480. My D17 used to be like that, too, but she has become a lot thriftier over the past 2 years.