so true - I have one of each too! One virtually never spends a dime and the other all $ comes in and out quickly. We’ve had same rules, training wheels, etc. Some of it is just innate personality… That said, the spender doesn’t use their CC (that comes to parents) w/o asking or truly overspend in an a harmful way..wish they’d save more but alas.
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Just checked it out online and it looks perfect. We are lucky there’s one in the next town over and we will make a trip. It looks like reasonable quality where one could buy a few pieces and mix them in as needed with other things. Plus, it’s not stuffy. Thanks!
Well S25 had his window for class registration yesterday, and it went reasonably smoothly. Of the five classes he was registering for, there was one that was kind of a random grab bag. He was using one slot to fulfill a GenEd requirement - it could be any of the approved classes that satisfied the requirements for a “Global Challenge”, “Humanities Non-Literature”, or “Humanities Literature” course. There are a lot of classes listed that meet those requirements, but a good number of them require you to be not a freshman, a lot of them were already filled (I assume by upperclassmen getting them out of the way), and a ton more conflicted with classes he HAD to take that were only offered at one time. Ultimately, he didn’t have a lot of choices, so I was glad that one of the choices he did have seemed at least remotely appealing and interesting to him.
The only curveball we got was with that calculus class. He * did * decide to take the lower level calc class, and just forgo the credit from the AP exam. About 30 minutes after he was done registering he got a message from the advisor who was overseeing registration for students in his major - letting him know that he could register for the higher level class. He told her that he purposefully chose the lower level, and why. She said “you better contact financial aid and make sure it doesn’t affect your scholarship.”
Uh, what?
Why would it affect the scholarship? He’d gotten the merit scholarship awarded before he sent the school any scores from the AP tests, so they gave it to him without him having any credit. Why would choosing to not use the credit make a difference?
So he reached out and the financial aid office said that as long as he completes at least 24 credits this year with a 3.0 or better, then he’ll keep the scholarship. (He’s registered for 16 for the fall semester.) They also said that it will be up to the registrar whether he can have credit for the lower level math class, since he’s already gotten credit for it through the AP test. What? He can’t choose to not use the AP credit, apparently. It shouldn’t make a difference in him having enough academic credits, as he’ll have 13 for the semester even if the math doesn’t count, and he’s planning on at least 15 in the Spring. But still.
So then I posted about it on the Clemson parents facebook page, just to let other parents know about this whole “could lose your scholarship” thing so other people aren’t as surprised as I was. And of course to THAT post every single parent (but the one who is doing the same thing and said thank you) was all DON’T DO IT! TAKE THE CREDITS! And they were all insisting “it’ll be fine, the classes aren’t that hard, it’s not like it’s the engineering calculus. Your kid will be bored, he’ll wish he had the credits, it’s really not that hard, my kid did it with No Problem.”
Which of course then made me doubt this whole plan. (I know I shouldn’t believe everything i read on the internet. But that’s what started this rabbit hole too - believing that the flipped classroom was terrible and that he’d have a horrible time trying to jump straight to level two with that terrible set up.)
Anyhoo, I tried to lay it out for S25, to let him know that there may be some cons to this approach, and it seems like he’s still comfortable with his choice. I told him that he has about a month to think about it. They are letting kids register in very small chunks each day, and then you can’t go in to change anything until everyone is done in late July. So if he decides he wants to switch it up, he can try to do that at the end of July. I may suggest he reach out to his advisor to talk to her, but so far, he’s been totally not interested in reaching out to people. (Frankly, that makes me worried - the most successful students seem to be the ones that use the supports that exist - that go to office hours, and use the academic support systems that the colleges have. If he’s this reluctant to ask even basic questions, then I am nervous about him reaching out for help when he really needs it.)
In other totally non S25 related news, my husband and I went to a concert last night! For my birthday he bought me tickets to see the Indigo Girls… which were my very first concert 35 years ago. He was so excited about his gift that I didn’t have the heart to tell him that while I was sure I’d enjoy myself, it wasn’t like they were still my favorite (or, frankly, like i’d even thought about their music for at least 20-25 years). And then, to make it even funnier, he kept trying to get out of going with me! He kept saying “Are you SURE you don’t want to take a friend?” Snort. Sorry buddy whose musical taste leans more toward Pink Floyd with occasional bits of Black Sabbath, you’re going to the Indigo Girls. I think he surprised himself with what a good time he had! 
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Glad he got his registration sorted out! That sounds like a complicated situation.
And how fun that you got to see the Indigo Girls! They were the soundtrack of my college days. “Closer to Fine” was my anthem!
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You are definitely younger than I am if this was a college soundtrack! But a critical test for DH – when he was in the trial period as a mere novice boyfriend-- was whether he could handle being one of the few men at an Indigo Girls concert. He passed!
Still really love them… and him too!
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First day of summer today; it is already flying by! How is everyone doing?
My daughter got her fall semester schedule; academically it sounds very challenging, but her advisor was easy to work with, accommodated her schedule requests, made some good suggestions, and was very nice and welcoming. She also has her roommates sorted out and they all seem very sweet.
Between those two things, she is feeling very confident about her choice. She also received a nice sized outside scholarship and we are of course thrilled about that. So all is going well here.
@OctoberKate I think it is normal to be nervous about our kiddos’ success and challenges, but Clemson accepted him for a reason. He is going to do great. It’s going to be okay.
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Thank you for the pep talk! I know in my head that he’ll be fine. Even if he doesn’t do great academically, he’ll recover from that and move on and STILL be fine. This is my anxiety talking here. I try to keep my worries limited to this group - you all are my safe space - so that I’m not letting it out at home. S25 doesn’t need to deal with my issues (this is a little bit of me being consistently frustrated that I spend so much of my life adjusting my actions and expectations and moderating or editing my statements because of my mother’s crippling anxiety). Anyhoo, I’ve found if I give voice to what’s worrying me, then I can usually let it go or see that it’s not a big deal. I really should journal, but apparently this thread/forum has turned into my current journal…
In other news re: summer - it’s going. S25 has a job with an excavation/demolition crew (his major is construction management, so his goal for the summer was to work with some kind of a construction crew to get some ground level experience). He is, 100%, the lowest man on the totem pole. Which means he is doing the work that they can give to an untrained, unskilled guy and they typically give him what no one else wants to do. Which is fine - that’s how you start in the job market, regardless of job, and it’s totally expected. But holy cow batman, he’s come home caked in so much mud and dirt and so exhausted every day. I’m worried for him this week - we’re supposed to have temps of 100 degrees with feels like temps of 115ish for most of the week, with bad air quality. He’s been hydrating all weekend to try and build up some, and he knows to bring a lot of water and some gatorade, and take breaks in the shade but it’s going to be a crappy week for outdoor manual labor.
I’m still on the hunt for some dorm/college shopping stuff. I think the people at CVS are starting to recognize me - I usually don’t go to CVS often, but pretty much every third day I’m in there using one of the coupons you get to buy like ONE thing for his med kit. I’m sure I could be spending my time more wisely, but if they are going to give me a coupon for 30% off one thing, then I’ll use it for one thing, and get another coupon to use on another thing.
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Summer report:
C25 has a full time job which they so far seem to like, and that’s a relief. Job is totally not career related but it pays well.
Just bought the airline tickets for study abroad this fall. 
Oh man, the cost! When we travel abroad as a family, we shop with a lot of flexibility, but C25 must arrive at and depart from a specific (teeny tiny) airport and arrive/depart between the hours of X and Y on these specific dates. So basically, unless we wanted them to have a <1 hour layover or a 7+ hour layover, we had like 1 flight to choose from each way. Ouch.
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For all the extra $, you’re paying for an orientation social event as well – chances are there will be other program participants on the flight as well.
Remind us of the study abroad destination! Was it Spain? That’s so exciting, although sorry about the ticket price!
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Yes! Spain for the fall then onward in the spring to William and Mary 
. It’s ok about the price, DH and I agreed we were not only paying for meeting the ticket requirements but also for peace of mind! Better to not have C25 stressed about a tight connection or needing to transfer to a train station or something like that.
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We have been buying and packing up things for the dorm as well. Seeing how small the dorm was in person a few weeks ago has helped us to hopefully not over buy.
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I so so so support this statement. The peace of mind is key with so many things. I have had a challenging time explaining that to my husband - sometimes it really is worth money for me to not worry. It would be different if it were something we couldn’t afford of course, but if it’s a small amount more or something that we can fit into the budget, then sometimes it really is worth it to pay extra to make life less stressful.
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So smart! When my daughter was starting her study abroad in Germany, we bought a discount ticket from one of the online 3rd party sites. It had a close layover, but since it was the same airline for both legs we thought it would be fine. It was not. She called us in a panic at 3 am our time. she missed her second leg and was stranded and the airline would not help her. This was her first time traveling overseas alone. It all worked out, but she was a day late arriving and very stressed. And we had to buy another ticket to get her there.
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Oh that’s sounds so stressful!!
I tend to overthink and over-worry about travel arrangements, such that I plan for the worst. It can make it really hard to make decisions and also hard to enjoy the “now”. It’s something I’m working on! However, in this case, your exact scenario ran through my mind and I thought, just how much IS a night of sleep worth to me 
? Not to mention C25 will be flying the night before regular school starts for my son. I need at least SOME sleep so I can be moderately functional that day. I don’t want sleep deprivation to lead to me sending him to school with a lunch of something very strange LOL
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I never buy air tickets from 3rd party websites. Heard too many cases of runarounds about who is supposed to sort out issues/refund if needed when that happens. Glad she got sorted out.
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We have not bought a ticket from a 3rd party since this experience. This was 7 years ago
Agreed, but I see why people do. I use the 3rd party sites to shop for the best price/times, especially if I want to consider 2 one-way tickets from different airlines. I also do the same for hotels. We have had some ill-timed life things come up around travel and we found that the hotel or airline are much more lenient with changes and cancellation policies when we booked direct. However, many travelers don’t realize there is a difference.
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I totally overthink with travel. I feel like it has only gotten worse in the past few years after a couple of trips where we were stranded in airports. Neither was preventable on our end, but just served to justify my little anxious brain’s worry cycles. Gave me even more possibilities to worry about. (One was during one of the FAA meltdowns a couple of years ago. The other was a snowstorm, but should have been fine except the flight was delayed before the storm for no clear reason). So I will also pay more for peace of mind within reason, even though I am otherwise a bargain seeker.
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I’ll happily use them for rental cars or hotels but never air fares. Especially if it’s an international connection or different airlines involved.
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