This! I was listening to a college admission podcast and the AO said that it was a real red flag when someone did not follow the guidelines. They either assumed you can’t follow directions or don’t think the rules apply to you. Neither is a good look. I suppose if he calls and asks that wouldn’t hurt
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Yes he was! He didn’t even want to check Wisconsin for like a day he was so worried. So yes, a complete happy turn around!
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D25 has not much wanted to engage with making post high school plans. So we haven’t pushed. But yesterday we suggested signing up for a couple of summer classes at the local CC…and to our surprise, that idea was actually met with some enthusiasm. So we shall see. I really like our local CC, and think it would be a good fit.
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It’s sounds like giving them the space to consider what they want post-HS is working. What classes are they considering? Or is it still just in the general idea of classes stage?
That changes the equation. I would not be inclined to contact them in that case. I’m guessing that this award is just icing on the cake. It’s not going to make or break his chances. Don’t sweat it.
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Thinking of an in-person Art class, and maybe an online Communications class that fills a gen ed requirement (unfortunately, most summer classes at this CC are online.)
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And D25 and the rest of the team just ended her high school dance career with a 1st place at State in pom! Lots of happy tears!
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Rough weekend in Casa de Kumihama. S25’s first ever girlfriend broke up with him on Friday night. It has been a tough weekend of tears and grief. Sad for him, but I know teenage heartbreak is a right of passage. It sucks though.
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I’m sorry that’s rough.
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We are back from a scholarship weekend at Trinity in Texas. It was fun, nice to get out of the rain and cold at home! S25 is highly unlikely to get the full ride but it gave him the opportunity to see the school again, he likes it, strong second string contender.
He officially withdrew his acceptances from Elon, Rollins, Sewanee, and Auburn this morning…which makes me nervous for no reason at all! U of Richmond’s financial aid offer came in and it’s fine, but probably not enough for us to really consider it against SMU Cox.
Honestly, I think unless Notre Dame comes through in a hail Mary (ha that’s kind of a Catholic joke), he’s probably going to SMU. No final decisions yet, but the wind is blowing that way.
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My S25 was not thrilled for me to tell him I’m no longer comfortable with him withdrawing any applications until basically the last second. My husband and I are both feds. If we both get fired we’ll be in a world of hurt. I mean, we have savings, we will be able to pay the mortgage. But it will take a long time to find new jobs as all the Feds will be flooding the market, so the proportion of our savings that was going to help go to fund college will pretty quickly drop a lot. He’ll have his 529, but right now there’s only one school that is fully funded by his 529, and it’s the one he doesn’t particularly want. We’ll see. Hopefully there will be some clarity over our futures in the next few months and we stay employed. Regardless, though, he’s not committing until very late on April 30, so that we have options open in case our lives and financial situation changes.
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@OctoberKate , I’m so sorry you are going through this uncertainty. I’m sad about lots of things in the world right now, and this is part of it.
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@OctoberKate I’m so sorry. Public servants put others above self, and it’s really hard to see them demonized and pushed into so much uncertainty. I’m a state employee. I’ve been through 25 years of budget ups and downs and demonized on occasion by politicians, but have never been treated the way that federal employees are now. Thank you and your husband for your service, and I hope things improve - soon. 
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City employee here and agree with this 100%. Sending thank yous and hugs.
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Not a fed but as a college employee, my salary has already been frozen for 3 years, finally got a 2% raise last year, and the college is very much pushing how to cut 30 plus million in the next few years, I think it may be safest to choose a non Tuition Exchange school that is affordable. While the free tuition is nice, if that program gets cut by a college, the 13k COA with TE can quickly turn into 40k plus a year COA. Which is just not doable for us.
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Thanks for the kind words and hugs. It’s just… a lot right now. Sigh. We’ll figure things out, and there will be a plan, and worst case scenario we have enough money already aside and designated for him for his super safety school. I just hate that our lives and work and adult problems have to be part of his calculus right now when he’s already got his own stressors and anxiety inducing things going on. There’s so little time left to be a kid and so much of senior year is anxiety inducing as it is, I wish that all of this weren’t also part of it.
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On a separate and MUCH happier note, we did his court of honor for earning his Eagle Scout rank on Saturday. It went So Well! More people came than I expected, food was good, boys gave good remarks, the adults who participated and shared thoughts about our boys said lovely things. And my kid just hit it out of the park in his remarks. It was a really lovely day.
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Need to vent. Been divorced almost 15 years. Ex is involved, shared custody, pays CS, but chose to only contribute extra to his 2 son’s ECs. I have paid 100% out of pocket for all D25s ECs. S23 is at Cuse on TE and we split tuition (yes, dad did pay more this year as I am financially strapped at the moment).
I told her dad that with current environment, perhaps a non TE school is best. He says she should go to a state school as ROI for her major is low. I remind him that her first choice oos school is the same cost as instate public. He says, well how is she going to pay for that and maybe she needs to rethink options?
So here I am furious that our son can go to a school 12 hrs away that we spent basically 20k/yr on yet his daughter who wants to go to an oos state 6 hrs away that will cost about 18-19k/yr is told that she has to stay in state and consider other options (as in, live at home or something) because he perceives her ROI as being lower?
I am so damn tired of this girl being treated as less than because she doesn’t fit her dad’s ideals of business, etc in her future. Yes I know ROI and COA need to be considered (and yes she knows grad school is likely). But how do you honestly tell your child that they don’t “deserve” the same choices and same amount of financial support because you don’t “agree” with their choice in major?
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Mine isn’t yet withdrawing apps except for a few glaring obvious ones. Actually, I was looking at the list of schools and in hind-sight, which is always 20/20, sorry we wasted applications on a few. Fed here, too, just me and not my significant other. It’s been wild.
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That is pretty crazy. It sure doesn’t sound too fair.