D17 had an internship last summer and already has next summer’s internship offer accepted. She was planning for a co-op this next semester but in the end turned down the offer. I feel she is better off either graduate a semester early or gain another minor rather then spend the semester doing co-op. Reason is that she will have 2 summers worth of internships and that should be sufficient supporting job search and she is for sure going to make more money after she has the degree. She should take the full advantage of school when she is there. She won’t have access to such environment easily after graduation. She agreed with me!
May I digress for a moment to rant about how much I dislike collgeboard.org?
I just had to submit and pay for DS '20’s AP tests. I am quite grumpy about the money-grubbing College Board making students register and pay for tests so far in advance when many students do not know where they will be going and if the AP credits will apply. DS’s likely college will accept credit and paying for the tests is not a great burden for us, but for many, this is not true. With 3 kids AP testing and SAT testing, I wish I could have sent CB the $2500+ in pennies.
Sorry, back to our regularly scheduled admission angst.
I agree it is ridiculous to have to pay for AP exams this early in the year. However, although CB is partly to blame – it is not entirely at fault. They are only requiring registration to be made earlier, and they make it clear to schools that payment is not due until June 2020, and leave it to the individual schools as to how they will collect fees. Our school decided to charge students $40 upfront for registration, with the remainder due in March. Still not exactly ideal for those who don’t even know if their colleges will provide credit for the exams, but at least it takes a little pressure off families of seniors who have many application fees to pay by the same deadline (Nov 1). We were just going to eat the late fee until our school admins relented and decided to break up the fees for students signing up by Nov 1.
This is DS’s first AP class so I’m not familiar with how the school bills, but apparently our state pays half the cost. I’m thinking the school will just put the fee on our account and it has to be settled before graduation. They haven’t said anything about it yet anyhow.
Just finished the CSS and I swear it made the FAFSA look like a cake walk. I’m also annoyed and confused because after it was sent it said one of my son’s schools (GWU) wants his tax returns from 2018. He didn’t file any and I wrote that. He made $2250 the whole year, student exempt. I don’t know what they want…does he just need to fill out an EZ form and send it to them? Does he need to actually file? What a PITA. I will try to call tomorrow to clarify. Has anybody else dealt with this?
I believe there is a document in IDOCs that your son can sign that says he didn’t have to file for 2018.
It actually says IDOC would not meet the request.
Maybe a verification of non filing letter would work? It is a type of transcript available from the IRS. https://www.irs.gov/individuals/tax-return-transcript-types-and-ways-to-order-them. Maybe along with a wage and income transcript?
Thanks will ask! It just feels like one more hoop and I am nearing the end of my rope. I just want this all done and apps in!
Long time lurker here, I figure this is a good time to start posting. D20 submitted 3 applications on Wednesday and 3 today! So relieved to have all of her Nov. 1 deadlines completed! Congrats to everyone with acceptances already! Good luck to all of our 2020 kids!
That’s weird. I wonder why? All we had to submit was the signed IDOC and dd’s w2 (and 3 schools requested those). I hope they don’t come back and tell us they need something else.
@mtemmd Just to be clear, you’re not waiting to complete the PROFILE before submitting apps, right?
S has 16 applications to submit, for 7 colleges. He hit submit on #10 tonight. Slowly but surely…
DS only has one ED (three essays) app to work on. He is still working on essay number 2 (almost done) and 3 (far from finished)!
How did your kids do it?! Very impressed!
On a different note: DS brought home brochure from school for cap/gown/graduation gears this week! Will be doing Halloween shopping too! ?
@makemesmart We had to pay for the cap and gown in August; we hadn’t even bought school supplies yet ?
@GirlMom01 Welcome! Congrats to D20 for making her EA dates happen. Is she done?
Been awhile since I have been on CC. My D20 decided to be one and done on the college application front so has applied, been accepted, confirmed admission and put in her college housing application with her roommate. She has received a $4,000 scholarship at this point and is in the running for a few others. Now she needs to complete the common application for scholarships for the university and get the honors college application complete and look into any other possible scholarships to apply for. She will be invited to a “future student of distinction” visiting event to go to where she will be able to meet with professors and deans and have some other special visiting opportunities along with some other scholarship opportunities at the event.
Have to admit it feels like such a relief to not have all the drama and stress of looking at all the options but also feel a bit like we are “missing out” on some of the experience:-).
Besides that we are just riding the senior year wave. Had homecoming events this past weekend, she is competing on the XC team that is wrapping up these next few weeks, she is taking 2 band classes, 4 AP classes and is a TA for the science department, working a part time job, volunteering with an animal rescue group and socializing as much as possible. Oh and we occasionally are gifted with a moment of her time if we are lucky;-). Just bought the cap and gown, decided to skip the Jostens announcements and will make our own with photos on Shutterfly. We have her senior photo shoot this weekend. WHEW this is insanity!!!
Wishing you all good luck on your college journeys and I will be reading along to see the process. I have an idea that it will be a much different process for my D23.
Not waiting for apps to do profiles. FAFSA and CSS are done. Or mostly done. This morning I got an email that a couple of colleges want more info for CSS. Just trying to figure out how to upload. And want to clarify with GWU to see if the letter from IRS is sufficient. I think my brain is fried
Have a question about FAFSA and need-based financial assistance (not sure if this is the right forum but I like this thread, always get very focussed/helpful answers from parents at the same stage - so thought of trying here first):
For DS20’s #1 college, we used their NetPrice Calculator and found that we are “not” going to get any need-based aid. This college is ‘officially’ need-blind in admissions - but people say that asking for need can potentially negatively affect the admission. We are conflicted on how to answer the question: are you planning to apply for need-based aid?
On one hand, don’t want to leave any possibility of aid (we are on the border in terms of efc) but on the other hand we already know that we are not going to get any assistance anyway and why reduce the admission chances. any thoughts on this? are colleges reevaluate financial need in second year? (inconsistent income between years makes our case very tricky - basically we are ok with full-pay for first year but don’t want to leave it there for future years). TIA.
@bigmacbeth Thank you! She is done for now, I’m giving her a few days and then will discuss a strategy if bad news comes in December. Fingers crossed that won’t be necessary.