<p>Some company may come in and produce a graduation ceremony video in DS’s year, and any family can purchase it.</p>
<p>It is not very easy to record your loved one while he is walking into the old campus.</p>
<p>I myself took a photo of DS’s receiving his diploma from his dean at RC. It was not easy because of the timing – I needed to take the photo right at the moment DS was receiving the diploma and shaking hand with the dean. I vaguely remember a professional photographer came in and took a similar photo for every graduating student also, which the family can purchase later. (Actually, a video was taken during the whole session and they converted it to a photo for each student afterwards.)</p>
<p>If it hasn’t happened already, in a short time, Yale parents of the class of 2012 will be offered the opportunity to pre-purchase graduation photos, taken of each student as the student receives the diploma in the residential college ceremony (usually from the Master of the College). These are actually good, though essentially candid, and I am glad that we ordered a package.</p>
<p>You can also arrange for posed photos of the graduate alone or with family, against a Yale-type backdrop, usually at the bookstore. We didn’t do this, but they are probably good, also.</p>
<p>I suspect that the deadline for portrait photos for the yearbook has passed. The opportunity for these was offered to the students, and then they go into the yearbook. It looks to me as though the photo sessions for these are much shorter than the HS senior picture sessions around here, and the photo-retouching is probably not as elaborate, but they are also nice.</p>
<p>If you want portrait-quality photos, it is probably just as well to have them done in your home locale.</p>
<p>As mcat2 remarks, the commencement ceremony is videotaped, and then the video is accessible on the internet. It is also offered on CD. If you have a student who is a residential college marshall (banner-bearer, whatever the official name is), then it would be well worth it to have, in my opinion. Otherwise, although each student is captured on the video, there is not a lot of advantage to this (again, in my opinion).</p>
<p>Thanks everyone! Clarified what D1 said regarding no official graduation portrait taken. Had wanted to send photos out with the announcements. Looking forward to the 3day festivities, but also bittersweet time. Loved the time at Yale! Hotel rooms, rental car, plane tickets all done.</p>
<p>D1 also has a job lined up after graduation, to do some research work at the med school during her gap year. Now, the hunt is on for a decent apartment that wont eat up all of her paycheck. Any suggestions?</p>
<p>Last year, DS rent a studio on Chapel St, close to York. It costs about $800 a month (not very sure how much now.) There is a Yale bus stop close by. Not as nice as RC of course, but acceptable. A Yale-affiliated company (could not remember the name…likely called elm campus something…) manages the property. Their web site:</p>
<p>Many live in the “Tower” close to the North Frontage Road. There may be AC there but it is farther away from the college – if your D may continue to participate in any UG activities, she may not want to live too far from the college.</p>
<p>If she has a car, there may be more choices.</p>
<p>These may be too expensive, but they’re nice: The Residences at Ninth Square. They have washer/dryer in the unit, a dishwasher, a concierge to handle packages, lots of great restaurants nearby and they’re a couple of blocks away from the new Elm City Market at 360 State Street.</p>
<p>Is the area around the Residences at Ninth Square slightly less ideal than the area around York and Chapel in terms of easy access to college related activities? If you live at Ninth Square/Orange St., will CTLimo drop you off there or you may need to walk from Phelp gate to Ninth Square? I would feel much better if I walk from Phelp gate to York at Chapel than to Ninth Square at night, say, around 10 pm.</p>
<p>Isn’t the center of New Haven downtown located between Temple and York and to the south of Chapel/Yale College?</p>
<p>Sure, there are trade-offs with location. It’s not as convenient for CT Limo, but very convenient for the train. My grad student S loves the location and walks everywhere.</p>
<p>If you live closer to where Yale’s bus stop is, I heard Yale’s bus could take you to and from the train station. There is a animation map that tells you where the bus is located as of any moment. (I could not remember the link to that map.) Not many Yale’s bus go to the train station though.</p>
<p>Yale’s students do walk a lot (and drive relatively little.)</p>
See link below. To see real time just click the “real time here”. FYI, the Red line goes to Union Station during the week and so does the Blue line on weekends.</p>
<p>With regard to CT Limo, my daughter will be returning to Yale during the summer after an overseas trip (that is, not at all during the academic year). I’m planning on ordering her CT Limo to take her from JFK to New Haven. Do they simply drop off at Phelps Gate no matter where the people (assuming there are more than one) live? Just wondering since I wonder if there really will be more than one person at an extremely “off” time of year for the trip. Or perhaps it’s always got clientele? (We don’t even know where she’s going to be living yet right now).</p>
<p>Yes. CT Limo drops off at Phelps Gate if she takes the shuttle/van
It is not a door to door service if she lives somewhere else on or off campus.
You might be able to arrnage a car/driver for her…though that will be pricier.</p>
<p>That said, we flew in and used Ct Limo one morning and we were the only ones in the van so the driver took us to the Omni instead of Phelps Gate to walk over. If she has the driver take her slightly off route, tip well.</p>
Talking about tipping, how much do you think would be the “proper” amount, if there is any Mr. or Mrs. manners here?</p>
<p>Maybe we are more paranoid than others (as DS’s flight always lands at BDL relatively late.) If it is an off season when very few students go back to campus, we worry that CTLimo may not show up. It did happen a few times that CTLimo did not show up at the scheduled time, but it would eventually show up after a couple of calls. This happened to us one time (out of 6 times: Bulldog days, Freshman move-in, and 4 move-outs at the end of each school year) and it happened to DS several times.</p>
<p>If the pickup time is when many students go back to campus (e.g., after the Spring Break like last weekend), there may be another potential problem. CTLimo may dispatch a van that is not large enough for all students waiting at the airport. So some of the students may need to wait for the next van. The driver would call CTLimo to dispatch another van, so it is not like the students need to wait for another 2 hours at the airport. (But often need to wait, say, 30-40 minutes if you are not those who are lucky to get into the first van that is dispatched.)</p>
<p>In one year after the end of a fall semester, CTLimo dispatched a couple of small vans to Phelp Gate when there were tons of students who were trying to get to the airport. (They should have dispatched a bus instead.) Many students ended up waiting in the freezing rain for more than half an hour, while worrying whether they could catch the flight. Poor students!</p>
<p>BTW, CTLimo (at least the one from BDL) could drop a student off at other Yale facility (e.g., near Yale New Haven hospital/Med school) if you make a reservation online without using the Yale student’s discount – at least this is how CTLimo’s web site is designed.</p>
<p>This is the first time I’ve ever done our tax returns with a child in college… Yale reports tuition for entire academic year on Form 1098-T as you all know. I paid using the ‘Payment Plan,’ so am I presumed to have paid the entire amount in 2011?</p>
<p>Normally, the winter term is paid in January so it would not be on 2011 return. You can have your son log in to SIS and verify when it was paid. If you are on a payment plan isn’t some of it paid in 2012? If it’s ten equal payments wouldn’t you normally only pay 7/10’s in 2011?</p>
<p>Yes, I would have thought so, but when I saw entire amount on the 1098 I thought perhaps the Payment Plan functioned as a kind of loan so that total was paid and then I in effect repaid the loan. Does that make sense?</p>
<p>Kdog044: Winter term (you mean spring?) paid in January? I don’t think so. I was billed for it due December 1 (which caused some flustered rushing about as I was expecting it to be due in January).</p>
<p>babbobubba: I had the same question when I first did my taxes. If you look in the student account history, you will see that Yale also allocated the payment plan as received in June and October. So for tax purpose you can consider it fully paid last year.</p>
<p>Just be careful about going off the 1098T as schools normally put the amount billed and not necessarily what was paid in 2011. That’s why I always look at the invoices from the school on their web site. Again, your student should be able to say definitively by accessing the information on SIS (Student Information Systems). [Student</a> Information Systems](<a href=“http://www.yale.edu/sis/]Student”>Central Authentication Service | Yale University)</p>
<p>donnaleighg, sorry I meant Spring. I know my son’s scholarship/grants for spring was not paid until Jan 4th (billed in Oct 2011) yet the full year amount was on the 1098.</p>