Parents of College Class of 2018 (A.K.A., "Is this the line to the poor house?")

[lvloopingbag]

Our HS uses Prestige and I was not that impressed......I may purchase just the tuxedo shot and then go with a local, private photographer for the rest......

 

[Gina]

Ours uses Prestige as well. What kills me is the $500 doesn't even include a CD with all the images, and no photo release or anything. For $500 (and way less than that, honestly) I expect to be able to do whatever I want with the pictures and have as many prints made as I want. Which I can do with the cruise CD.

My mom asked me yesterday if everything had to be a package or if they could just buy one print, so I went and looked. A single 8 X 10 is $64!!! They are truly out of their minds.

 

[klj27]

We just had my daughter's senior pictures done at WDW. We should be getting the website link any day now and the proof book in the mail in a few weeks. We paid $450 and will get a flash drive with all the retouched pictures and the copyrights to have them printed.

 

[IDoDis]

DD had her senior photos taken by Prestige last week. We haven't seen any of the online proofs yet, nor did they give me any prices, even after I asked. They said all of the info would be in the email link when the proofs are ready. I did get to see some of the pictures on the photographer's camera that were cute. DD gets to pick out 2 photos for the yearbook (seniors get 2 yearbook pics -- a cap & gown and another of their choice (shoulders up only). If the prices are like what you all are saying, I won't be buying any of those pictures.

We have another photographer we are using for her "real" senior pics. The photographer changed prices on me after we scheduled which I was not happy about. She got rid of her three different tiered packages and now just has one large package, but the cost is $200 more. I told her that unless she would stay with what she had originally, we'd have to look elsewhere. DD really wants to use her and is paying for part of the cost. I know she won't be able to pay more than what she's already committed to paying.

So, the photographer emailed me back and said she'd do a flat-fee of $500 which includes a professional makeup session with someone from Don Pardo, 3 to 4 hours of shooting time, 3 different outdoor locations of our choice, 3 outfit changes, all of the edited high quality digital photos with a signed release, a thumb drive with all of the photos in a smaller size suitable for sharing on the internet, and 25 senior announcement cards.

I am good with that. I checked Shutterfly's prices and they are pretty inexpensive, even for quite large prints. Honestly, we don't need 100 wallets and all of the other multiples that was in the photographer's print package, so by going this route, we can pick and choose what and how many of each that we want.

DD has an informal meeting next Tuesday with a recruiter from the BA/MD program at UNM. She also has her first application for UNM filled out and ready to be sent. We just need her official HS transcript but her high school is closed so we can't order that yet. The application fee was waived since DH and I are both alumni.

 

[JeannieNM]

I just thought I would givet this thread a little bump.

The summer is coming to an end for us. We have not thought about photos yet. I guess we should so we can do them when the weather is still warm.

Hope everyone is enjoying the end of summer break! We have two weeks left.

IDoDis- Good luck to your DD the BA/MD program sounds wonderful from what we hear from kiddos in the program.

 

[Gina]

As DS said this morning, "Summer is officially over!" Today marks the first day of his last marching season. :-( He's definitely not sad about it being the final sweltering band camp, but he's sad that being there today means the beginning of the end. He has until the 26th before school starts.

We met Friday with a professor in the Marine Engineering department, and with the director of the Honors program. DS isn't sure yet if he wants to accept that, but it does seem to afford some great opportunities. Not really any perks to it though, other than the travel opportunities and the "Honors" designation on the degree. His main concern is that he doesn't want to do anything that will interfere with his Disney College Program chances, lol. I am not one to argue with those priorities.

College app goes in in 2 days!

IDoDis ~ How did the meeting with the recruiter go for your DD?

 

[PrincessNancy96]

Our school uses Prestige too... NOT IMPRESSED! I refuse to order from them. The pricing is SKYHIGH, outrageous (in my opinon). I only submitted his yearbook photo (free)... He even complained about the photos...

DS17 said he was extremely glad we had a family friend do his Senior photos last weekend and his sister is taking his soccer photos....

OH, and DS17 also got his first acceptance letter last week... it was to his #1 school!

 

[IDoDis]

I just thought I would givet this thread a little bump.

The summer is coming to an end for us. We have not thought about photos yet. I guess we should so we can do them when the weather is still warm.

Hope everyone is enjoying the end of summer break! We have two weeks left.

IDoDis- Good luck to your DD the BA/MD program sounds wonderful from what we hear from kiddos in the program.

Thanks! It's a very competitive program, but would be sooooo wonderful if she were to get in!

As DS said this morning, "Summer is officially over!" Today marks the first day of his last marching season. :-( He's definitely not sad about it being the final sweltering band camp, but he's sad that being there today means the beginning of the end. He has until the 26th before school starts.

We met Friday with a professor in the Marine Engineering department, and with the director of the Honors program. DS isn't sure yet if he wants to accept that, but it does seem to afford some great opportunities. Not really any perks to it though, other than the travel opportunities and the "Honors" designation on the degree. His main concern is that he doesn't want to do anything that will interfere with his Disney College Program chances, lol. I am not one to argue with those priorities.

College app goes in in 2 days!

IDoDis ~ How did the meeting with the recruiter go for your DD?

Does the school have special dorms for the students in the honors program? That would be a big perk living with like-minded, hard-working students vs the party animals.

The BA/MD meeting went great! The recruiter did his presentation, mostly things we'd read online already, but it was still good for DD to hear it again. Then, a student in the program came in and did a Q & A session which was very helpful. After that, the recruiter and the BA/MD student gave us a tour of the med school campus.

The program gets over 200 qualified applicants and only accepts 28 students. Of those 28 students, almost three-fourths of them come from rural areas since the goal of the program is to add to the doctor shortage in rural areas of the state. That leaves about 7 or 8 students that get accepted from our city, and is also where most of the applicants are from! So the competition is fierce. Those that get accepted get automatic acceptance to the med school, a full-ride for undergrad school including dorm, meals, books, tutoring, MCAT prep, etc.. After the first 2 years, the students can live off-campus and they get a housing stipend each semester to use as they wish (if they live off-campus). The university will even pay for students to do a semester abroad their senior year.

Our school uses Prestige too... NOT IMPRESSED! I refuse to order from them. The pricing is SKYHIGH, outrageous (in my opinon). I only submitted his yearbook photo (free)... He even complained about the photos...

DS17 said he was extremely glad we had a family friend do his Senior photos last weekend and his sister is taking his soccer photos....

OH, and DS17 also got his first acceptance letter last week... it was to his #1 school!

That's awesome! Congrats to your DS on his first acceptance!

We still haven't received the email proofs from Prestige. It's been 2 1/2 weeks since they took DD's pictures. How long does it take? Does anyone have a price list? I'm curious at how high $$ these pictures are going to be. There was one really cute one that I might buy (just one picture), but not if the prices are ridiculous. DD did fill out some type of card to get a few free small photos of one shot. I don't remember what kind of photos they were though (wallets or some kind of card??).

 

[Gina]

Does the school have special dorms for the students in the honors program? That would be a big perk living with like-minded, hard-working students vs the party animals.

Nope, no special dorms -- but they do get priority registration, even over Seniors. I'm not sure though if that's more or less a big deal with a small school vs. a large one. TAMUG is Texas A&M, but a specialty branch in Galveston. It's the same school -- it's just as if they put some of the buildings in Galveston instead of College Station. The focus is solely marine, and there are a little over 2K students there. There really doesn't seem to be that many party animals -- the programs are hard, and between that and Aggie football, who has the time? Lol. What I mean is, it's the sort of school where people don't just end up - they seriously want to be there for their future ocean-related careers - so the students seem to stay pretty focused.

The BA/MD meeting went great! The recruiter did his presentation, mostly things we'd read online already, but it was still good for DD to hear it again. Then, a student in the program came in and did a Q & A session which was very helpful. After that, the recruiter and the BA/MD student gave us a tour of the med school campus.

The program gets over 200 qualified applicants and only accepts 28 students. Of those 28 students, almost three-fourths of them come from rural areas since the goal of the program is to add to the doctor shortage in rural areas of the state. That leaves about 7 or 8 students that get accepted from our city, and is also where most of the applicants are from! So the competition is fierce. Those that get accepted get automatic acceptance to the med school, a full-ride for undergrad school including dorm, meals, books, tutoring, MCAT prep, etc.. After the first 2 years, the students can live off-campus and they get a housing stipend each semester to use as they wish (if they live off-campus). The university will even pay for students to do a semester abroad their senior year.

WOW... That is seriously competitive, but awesome for those who get in! I hope your DD is one of them!!

We still haven't received the email proofs from Prestige. It's been 2 1/2 weeks since they took DD's pictures. How long does it take? Does anyone have a price list? I'm curious at how high $$ these pictures are going to be. There was one really cute one that I might buy (just one picture), but not if the prices are ridiculous. DD did fill out some type of card to get a few free small photos of one shot. I don't remember what kind of photos they were though (wallets or some kind of card??).

If it was the same thing my son filled out, it's for 8 free wallets -- but you have to buy a package first. It took about 3 weeks before we got proofs in the mail and another week for them to figure out how to get them online. "Ridiculous" doesn't even begin to cover the prices... I'll try and remember to bring the little booklet with me to work tomorrow and give you some of the prices. But I can tell you that one plain 8 X 10 is an astounding $64.


PrincessNancy96 ~ Congrats to your DS on his first acceptance!! Which school? If that is his #1, is he going to apply anywhere else?

 

[aggiemomx3]

Just wanted to say to Gina. Gig'Em Aggies. Your son will LOVE A&M. My children attended in College Station but once an Aggie always an Aggie. They are a family unto themselves. Not an easy school but a great education.

 

[Gina]

Just wanted to say to Gina. Gig'Em Aggies. Your son will LOVE A&M. My children attended in College Station but once an Aggie always an Aggie. They are a family unto themselves. Not an easy school but a great education.

Gig 'em!! Our back doorbell played the War Hymn when I was growing up, and when I was pregnant with DS I had a little maroon & white satin musicbox that played the same. I would put it on my stomach so he would know the song by the time he came out.

That being said, we have had many conversations over the years about me being completely supportive of him no matter where he chose to go to school -- the most important thing was that he be happy with his own choice. And TAMUG is *such* a perfect fit for him in every way... I think it's a perfect choice.

And it's just a happy bonus that I'll be able to get student tickets to Aggie games, and be 20 minutes from Midnight Yell Practice in Galveston.

 

[Kriii]

Oops, I forgot something....parent of a college freshman here....

Have a clear, honest, frank discussion of what you can afford. Do not talk about the "if Financial Aid works out dream school" at every conversation. A lot of kids are heart broken when they get in and then their parent has to tell them they can't go. Run a financial aid calculation. Keep in mind they expect you to have saved some money for college (they see three income streams: savings, current income, future income). Some schools require a CSS in addition to the FASFA. They look at things like home equity, business value, etc. Some expect forms and money from non-custoidal parents. Some expect the step-parent income to be included. You need to be honest with your students now. And track down the real information for each school (check College Confidential, call the financial aid department, etc).

I know this is hard, but really it will save heart break in the long run....

Just started looking at this thread, but had to chime in and stress the importance of the above poster's advice. Run those financial calculators, assume that the EFC is the MINIMUM you will be expected to pay and make your child aware of this as he or she decides where to apply. It will save disappointment later.

 

[Chelley00]

Today was the first day of school. Here we go!

 

[IDoDis]

Nope, no special dorms -- but they do get priority registration, even over Seniors. I'm not sure though if that's more or less a big deal with a small school vs. a large one. TAMUG is Texas A&M, but a specialty branch in Galveston. It's the same school -- it's just as if they put some of the buildings in Galveston instead of College Station. The focus is solely marine, and there are a little over 2K students there. There really doesn't seem to be that many party animals -- the programs are hard, and between that and Aggie football, who has the time? Lol. What I mean is, it's the sort of school where people don't just end up - they seriously want to be there for their future ocean-related careers - so the students seem to stay pretty focused.


If it was the same thing my son filled out, it's for 8 free wallets -- but you have to buy a package first. It took about 3 weeks before we got proofs in the mail and another week for them to figure out how to get them online. "Ridiculous" doesn't even begin to cover the prices... I'll try and remember to bring the little booklet with me to work tomorrow and give you some of the prices. But I can tell you that one plain 8 X 10 is an astounding $64.


PrincessNancy96 ~ Congrats to your DS on his first acceptance!! Which school? If that is his #1, is he going to apply anywhere else?

That does sound very focused! First to register might be a great perk, too!

Please let me know about those picture prices. I couldn't remember what the free pictures were, but you are right in that they are probably for free wallets. There was nothing on the card though that said "free with purchase" unless I missed it. I will try to get the freebie anyway. All they can say is no, right?
I received an email a couple of days ago from Amazon Local for a 16X20 canvas for $35.00, so we'll do that based on the digital photos we receive from the other photographer (NOT from Prestige).

Today was the first day of school. Here we go!

Hold on tight!

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

What company are you portraits with? I was not expecting that high. DS was suppose to have his taken last week, but I called to have them rescheduled as we went on a college tour that day. We went on 2 tours last week and have been on 4 total. We have 2 more scheduled later this month and then there are 2 others he'd like to see.

It was Prestige which is a Lifetouch company.
They pretty much have the market cornered because they do all the yearbooks.

We sat down with the proofs and DS, DH, and I wrote on the back yes, no and maybe. That narrowed it down from 30 to 7 yes, and probably 15 maybes, the rest were nos. I think I'm just going to order one 5x7 of each, one suit and one track uniform and I'll recreate the rest. I think only one package came with a low res social media CD. Which basically means the pic will be fine as a profile pic on FB but would look like crap if you printed it. Which I think is stupid.

When DS17 graduated from 8th grade myself and another parent took the grad photos and they turned out great. And we saved the class over $400. We just put everything on a DVD for each kid and added a release.

 

[BernardandMissBianca]

We are at the RV tonight but when I get home tomorrow I will dig up the package and sheet prices for Prestige.

 

[SydSim]

The Common App is up...............and we're off!

DD has about 8 on her list that use the CA. I told my DH that we're going to make a documentary about this whole process, like the one I saw on New Yorkers trying to get their kids into the right pre-school.

 

[Tinks]

I am a newbie as this is my oldest child starting the college process...and I have a question about the common application. Can we begin filling it out and save and come back to it? Or is it fill out and send in one sitting?

I thought it would be faster to ask you experienced moms than to go to the site. Thanks!

 

[momto3gr8boys]

The Common App is up...............and we're off!

DD has about 8 on her list that use the CA. I told my DH that we're going to make a documentary about this whole process, like the one I saw on New Yorkers trying to get their kids into the right pre-school.

Thanks! It was on my to do list to see if it was up yet. DS has a lot of work ahead of him this weekend

Sent from my iPad using DISBoards

 

[SydSim]

I am a newbie as this is my oldest child starting the college process...and I have a question about the common application. Can we begin filling it out and save and come back to it? Or is it fill out and send in one sitting?

I thought it would be faster to ask you experienced moms than to go to the site. Thanks!

You can revise it as many times as you like before finally submitting it.