Southern big public schools still gaining momentum. Went to a school event and was wearing my Univ Texas shirt and they said UT was an extremely popular choice this year.
I was like, really? From our school?
First time ever, Ive been a part of a forward trend. Felt very proud actually. 
Aw, man. This example validates our choice not to ED for one top choice (we have 12 days to decide, and itās tempting, but weāre not going to do it). Could we make that sky-high tuition work without loans? Yes. Would it be painful, and do we have a D30 coming down the pipeline? Also yes.
Earlier, somebody asked about what do we do now with all of our spare time since our kids are done/almost done with their apps?
You can channel that into an occasional hobby of coming up with a list of stuff youāll have to buy for your kidās dorm room. Even complete with an Amazon wish listā¦this is something that out of town friends & relatives requested when D24 was graduating. They wanted to be able to buy her a physical āthingā for her dorm room. I also used the list as a way to keep track of the various things sheād need. Sort of like creating a baby registry way back in the day but this oneās for launching your kid off to college.
I also channel my extra energy into the backyard. As a result, the backyard is looking great. LOL.
Maybe. Iām not too concerned about him applying to additional schools. He has acceptances at two of the three publics. He needs to shift focus to scholarship applications. All three publics have invited him to apply for competitive scholarships. Most of these need to be completed within the next month.
(confession time)
Iāve already started buying stuff for D26ās dorm room here and there. Our household is on a firm budget for the next 3 yr (with the latter 2 yr having both kids in college @ the same time) and I need to be able to procure things sporadically when theyāre on sale/when I can find a good deal for themā¦not plunk down a massive amount of $$ all on move in weekend.
So, for example, Iāve squirreled away:
you get the idea.
At the tail end of ācollege move in seasonā at the end of the summer, our local Home Depot had a bunch of those big storage totes on sale. I bought 2 of them. D24 started using them this school year. Wish weād thought of doing that at the start of D24ās freshman year because they stack easily in the back of a minivan or SUV and they are easy to store under her bed in the dorm room.
So I asked D24 what dorm items sheās found to be useful/helpful to have. These are her favorites:
A number of colleges weāve looked at seem to have mini fridges /microwave in the dorm room, so thatās not something Iād buy in advance till you know where D26 will end up.
We have a couple of things already like you but in our case from the summer programs C26 did.
D19 had a clear favorite item from her dorm daysā¦. Noise-canceling headphones! Iām not even really thinking about other stuff now tbh. I have no idea what C26 will want (youād think spending 5 weeks in 2 dorm rooms would have given them some idea, but no, other than definitely wanting to decorate boring walls)
For D24ās DIY first aid kit, I put a whole bunch of stuff in one of those plastic shoebox-sized containers that are available at Walmart, Target, your local grocery store. labelled outside of it as first aid kit + put D24ās name on it.
D24 said that she & a bunch of students on her floor have used stuff in it.
I went this route instead of buying one online because I thought sheād need more of some stuff, wouldnāt need other things, etc.
Stuff Iām going to put in D26ās first aid kit:
A lot of parents recommend Narcan for the first aid kit especially now that itās OTC. (I didnāt put any in S23ās kit though.)
I also pestered my S23 until he was able to prove to me that he had plenty of condoms and was fully able to keep himself stocked with them.
Yeah, thereās a lot of variation from 1 college to another re: minifridges & microwaves. Some colleges include them in each room at no extra cost. Some schools have an offer where you can rent a fridge/microwave combo through them for the school year. Some colleges only allow you to have a fridge in the room but not a microwave.
For D26, weāre not doing anything about a fridge or microwave until she figures out where sheās going to attend and talks to her roommate to determine how the 2 of them want to split it upā¦like 1 purchases the fridge and the other brings a microwave, that sort of thing.
My memory is that while HS class of 2026 is smaller than 2025, it is not by much and is similar to class of 2024 which was still near the peak. Also, this was a known thing to all the schools long before this week. I was on the board of an independent school years ago where we were talking about this issue and forecasting enrollment based on decline in kids of relevant birth years. These schools likely knew the general demographic info well long ago. So, I suspect something else going on like certain schools being less popular with applicants than they predicted for some other reason.
Yāall, I leave for half a day and there are 50+ posts to catch up on. 
I have an extensive spreadsheet (imagine) for college/dorm packing that has been carefully curated for years, and Iāll share it here in late spring, lol. I think we have some parents who are sending their first kid (or only).
I shared it in the FB parent group of D22ās school, and we later had this conversation:
D22: āWait, did you post this as-is?ā
Me: āYes.ā
D22: āBecause it has pitch pipe listed on here.ā
Me: āIt also lists feminine supplies.ā
D22: āOkay, but presumably 50 percent of the population uses those. How many kids need a pitch pipe?!ā
D26 got another college app submitted today! Still has 5/6 to go.
But, she was even happier that one of her likelies came in. It was Rutgers-Newark, which is actually the lowest one on her list, but sheās happy to take the W! Double woohoo!
D26 says that UT-San Antonio is now showing as having received her STARS self-reported transcript. Apparently a decision will be available in about 2 weeks.
Now that applications are winding down, what websites is everyone using to find/apply to scholarships?
Yes! We visited a few on D26 list, but many we havenāt. And if they donāt come in as an acceptance AND affordable, we wonāt have spent time and $ on visiting.
I canāt even imagine D26 having the time for this until January. Sheās only half way through, and I think this latest application is making her think that sheāll have to put in some serious work for the rest.
That said, she did sign up for Fastweb and gets listings pretty frequently. Iām doubtful sheās clicked on anything, though.
None.
D26 is burned out on writing essays. Has zero plans to spend hours and hours looking for and writing essays for a small $500 here or there.
S26 is applying for school-specific scholarships. The major scholarships are listed on the schoolsā public web pages. Each school also maintains a database of smaller internal and selected external scholarships.
Her high school lists local scholarships in like Feb/March. She will def apply for many of those- a couple of her friends who graduated last year earned several that amounted to between 8-10K! They also all come as checks made out to the student so she can deposit into her account to use for college related expenses. I warned her that there will be essays to write this spring.
I read your post in the College Visit thread ā oh my goodness, talk about the stars aligning with that second visit! I feel angst thinking of what if you hadnāt visited, lol. Fingers crossed for your D26 that it all works out.
My D26 also had a similar reaction when we visited a school in February ā not enough to ED, because she wanted to see what merit would be like at several places ā but still, we pored over every word of the brochures at the airport on the way home. And like you said, I think it might be to her what Rice has been to D22.
But, weāll see. Decisions come out end of January!