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

[IDoDis]

Whew! Another busy week is behind us. I'm playing catch-up on this thread again.

This morning I was with DD (brought DS 14 along to help, too) for one of her volunteer activities. We were downtown in a seedy area outside of a homeless rescue mission when DS comes up to me and says that he heard a bunch of gun shots. I hadn't heard anything and dismissed him as being overly dramatic due to the high crime area we were in. But then on the way home we were listening to the news and sure enough, a police officer was shot on the same street were were on just a couple of blocks up. 7 Gunshot were fired and the shooter took off in the police car. A big chase ensued with 50 other police cars. The shooter ended up shooting two more policemen before all was said and done. One of the reasons I went with DD was because of the area of town she'd be in with the other volunteers. I'm so thankful the shooting didn't happen where we were, but it was a little too close for comfort.

After that ordeal, DD and I went to an appointment she made to see a model of a new student housing village being built. These were super nice cottage houses in a gated community built for college students to share. 1900 sq.ft. homes with each bedroom having a private bathroom. I NEVER remember anything even close to that being available when I was in college! For the few months I lived in a dorm, I shared one room with two other girls and the bathroom was shared by everyone on the floor.

The company has the same development near Texas A&M called The Cottages at College Station. http://thecottagesofcollegestation.com/

The cottages being built here won't be done until next August, but the village layout and houses are the same.

I'm wondering if Bluebells or Gina have checked these out? The prices were in line with the dorms on campus, but with more space than a dorm. It's like the whole Disney question of whether to stay on-site or off-site. Off-site you get more room, a swimming pool, etc... but lose the proximity of walking to class. The village has a shuttle to pick up and drop off the kids (because parking on campus is a HUGE headache and parking permits cost a small fortune), but there's waiting at the bus stop and travel time involved. I also wonder about all of the riff-raff that probably takes place at off-campus housing places like this. DD is not a party girl, which makes me think that places like this are not for her, yet she fell in love with the model! Any feedback from anyone on the subject of on-campus vs off-campus housing would be appreciated.

After that the family went out to dinner. We were in the car talking about a wreck DD had recently witnessed in the spot we were in. Right at that moment in the conversation we were rear-ended! We waited an hour for the police, but they never came because over 50 police officers were busy with the shooting investigation so there was a shortage of officers to respond to a fender-bender. We just exchanged info and came home. What a day!

Question for you guys. She has planned to double major in film studies and english/writing. I know these are not high demand money making majors, but this is what she is excited about and wants to do. She is now, thinking maybe a minor in english might be better, for the workload. I had previously thought that myself, but didn't say anything. DH however isn't pleased with this thought. What do you guys think of the long term affects of an english minor versus english major?Thanks!

If she thinks she may want to teach higher level English one day, then I'd say go for the double major. She doesn't have to decide that now though. I'd have her wait at least a semester or two and then make that decision. I have a minor in English and it never really did anything for me in the job market. No one seemed to care much about my college minor. She should just choose something she enjoys. Either way, the film and the English mesh well together.

DD got her acceptance letter to her #1 school. She has gotten letters from other schools she wasn't as interested in and I have had to read those because she just isn't interested. We are going up in the morning to take an official tour of the school and meet with the financial aid people. When she got her letter they let her know she had gotten an scholarship and the chance for a few more if she enters the honor college. She says no, I told her to keep her options open. She is going up tonight to have dinner with her friends and I will met her in the morning for our tours.

Congratulations on your DD's acceptance! Did she like what she saw on the tour? What does she think of the honors college? DD got an invite this week to apply for the honors college, but she does not like the honors dorms.

 

[sk!mom]

What does she think of the honors college? DD got an invite this week to apply for the honors college, but she does not like the honors dorms.

I'd love to hear feedback on Honors College as well. DD doesn't think she wants to do it and I'm torn. She's not a partier and not interested in Greek life but a 24 hour quiet dorm doesn't appeal to her very social self. She's also unsure about the demands of Honors and whether it would be a fit with her major. She will be a design major and it already seems that while the rigor of her high school years will be beneficial because of her strong work ethic and excellent study skills she already has more advanced math and Science than she will ever use so is it beneficial or just exhausting to continue the rigor in college? On the other hand, maybe Honors College has benefits that we aren't considering.

We went for a final visit to UNT last week and toured various dorms. She's torn there as well. She preferred one dorm but her close friend from home is leaning toward a different dorm. Here's the dilemma- room with a good friend in an older but centrally located dorm with communal bathrooms or enter the roommate lottery in favor of the newer dorm and a bathroom shared with only 3 other girls. I think she'll go for the friend if her friend does, in fact, get the application and acceptance done in time for the housing application opening in January.

What are others thinking regarding meal plans? We are leaning toward a 5 day plan. DD will be 4 hours from home so coming home often won't happen but she will be only an hour from my brother's family and also closer to my sister's family. She has very close cousins in both those places who are also seniors this year but staying in their hometowns for college so I think she'll visit both of them at least a couple of weekends a semester since it will be so nice to live closer. When she stays at school, I would imagine that she will sleep late and go out for weekend dinners.

 

[elgerber]

If she thinks she may want to teach higher level English one day, then I'd say go for the double major. She doesn't have to decide that now though. I'd have her wait at least a semester or two and then make that decision. I have a minor in English and it never really did anything for me in the job market. No one seemed to care much about my college minor. She should just choose something she enjoys. Either way, the film and the English mesh well together.

She doesn't want to teach, ever LOL. The English degree would be because she wants to write.

Sounds like a crazy day for you yesterday, I think I'd cuddle up at home today!!

Those new dorms sound amazing, we don't have anything like that around here.

 

[TLuvsD]

On dorms vs Off campus housing:

Our D is a sophomore, she lived in the dorms last year, off campus this year. I would recommend the dorm experience for a freshman. Yes, it's a smaller space, shared bathroom,etc. It's also all freshman, lots of chances to make new friends, RA's to help with the bumps in the road, easy food. For a freshman all of that is a good thing.

 

[sk!mom]

To Rush or not? Opinions, please.

DD17 has been pretty adamant that she was not interested in Greek life. Then tonight at a wedding reception an alum of the college DD has chosen approached her and really talked up her sorority. dD loves and respects this woman but she's 25 years out of college so I don't know. I have no experience with this but do have a generally negative opinion. I also would not want to spend on it unless there are definite benefits. Benefits beyond, "it was fun" and "I still love those girls."

 

[spima3]

On dorms vs Off campus housing:

Our D is a sophomore, she lived in the dorms last year, off campus this year. I would recommend the dorm experience for a freshman. Yes, it's a smaller space, shared bathroom,etc. It's also all freshman, lots of chances to make new friends, RA's to help with the bumps in the road, easy food. For a freshman all of that is a good thing.

DD18 has to transfer to a different college next year. So we are looking at double the college costs when adding on dorming, meal plan, etc.

I know she would like to dorm, and I wish she could, but it is going to be cost prohibitive. HOW to the kids find off campus housing? Is this something the college helps with or are they on their own? I think doing so would cut her costs by half or better. Did you find this to be the case?

tia, lori

 

[elgerber]

DD18 has to transfer to a different college next year. So we are looking at double the college costs when adding on dorming, meal plan, etc.

I know she would like to dorm, and I wish she could, but it is going to be cost prohibitive. HOW to the kids find off campus housing? Is this something the college helps with or are they on their own? I think doing so would cut her costs by half or better. Did you find this to be the case?

tia, lori

I have no personal experience, but when we were doing our college visit a couple weeks ago, we had a 2nd year student eating lunch with us, and he now lives off campus, and he says the cost is drastically less!

 

[TLuvsD]

Living off campus can save some money--the food costs can be significantly less. Housing will vary (just like any housing situation). If you do some web searches, check with the parents facebook page (ie Univ of Disney Parents), call the housing office you should find some leads. Also see if you can get the campus newspaper online--lots of housing ads in the classified section.

 

[Gina]

The cottages being built here won't be done until next August, but the village layout and houses are the same.
I'm wondering if Bluebells or Gina have checked these out? The prices were in line with the dorms on campus, but with more space than a dorm. It's like the whole Disney question of whether to stay on-site or off-site. Off-site you get more room, a swimming pool, etc... but lose the proximity of walking to class.

I wish I could help you, but DS will be at the marine-focused Galveston campus of A&M. Desired degree aside, one of the things he loves most about the Galveston campus is the size -- Only a bit more than 2K students, and he can literally roll out of bed and dash across the small campus to class. He didn't at all like the idea of being at College Station and the chore of simply getting to and from classes taking up the bulk of his day. Plus, being the ocean nuts that we are anyway, he adores the idea of it taking about 2 minutes to go from dorm room to waterfront.


To dorm or not to dorm is luckily not an issue for us -- all students are required to live on campus outside of a few exceptions, and then they still have to apply and be approved to live off-campus. But again, with it being such a small campus, to live offsite would really cause someone to lose out on the whole experience. The dorms there do so many things together and in competition with each other -- my son absolutely can't wait to be there. I lived off-site for a very short time in my college career, with a fellow-student roommate, and felt very disconnected from the whole experience. It made me feel like I was going to community college or something. Blerk.

What are others thinking regarding meal plans? We are leaning toward a 5 day plan. DD will be 4 hours from home so coming home often won't happen but she will be only an hour from my brother's family and also closer to my sister's family. She has very close cousins in both those places who are also seniors this year but staying in their hometowns for college so I think she'll visit both of them at least a couple of weekends a semester since it will be so nice to live closer. When she stays at school, I would imagine that she will sleep late and go out for weekend dinners.

TAMUG offers either 15-meal or 19-meal plans per week. I was leaning toward the 19-meal plan - that Mom instinct to make sure he had enough to eat at all times - but then I really thought about it. I know my son... if he ends up having an early class, he's going to barely make it to class as it is, probably stuffing a Poptart in his face as he runs from dorm to class. If he has a later class, he'll likely sleep as late as he can and it'll be lunch time by the time he's up and around anyway. So, I think we'll likely go with the 15-meal plan. That'll give him guaranteed lunch and dinner for 7 days, plus a breakfast one day if he somehow makes it there in time, lol. And that plan includes 15 hospitality meals over each semester, so I'll still be able to go have dinner with him sometimes and so will his girlfriend.

 

[elgerber]

TAMUG offers either 15-meal or 19-meal plans per week. I was leaning toward the 19-meal plan - that Mom instinct to make sure he had enough to eat at all times - but then I really thought about it. I know my son... if he ends up having an early class, he's going to barely make it to class as it is, probably stuffing a Poptart in his face as he runs from dorm to class. If he has a later class, he'll likely sleep as late as he can and it'll be lunch time by the time he's up and around anyway. So, I think we'll likely go with the 15-meal plan. That'll give him guaranteed lunch and dinner for 7 days, plus a breakfast one day if he somehow makes it there in time, lol. And that plan includes 15 hospitality meals over each semester, so I'll still be able to go have dinner with him sometimes and so will his girlfriend.

We went with 14 meals/week, plus Dragon Dollars. 19 seemed to many, she didn't want to go down for breakfast most every day. She eats mini muffins and string cheese for breakfast, that's easy enough to keep in a dorm fridge I would think.

 

[GaSleepingBeautyFan]

I just ordered graduation announcements. The company is going to be at the High School tomorrow to take the orders so I needed to fill out the form and write the check.

My husband wanted us to get the official ones from the school so I ordered 50. He was supposed to give me his list of family members he wanted to send them to but didn't so I guessed the amount.
I only need 15 for my side of the family. I can add more later if we need them up to Feb. 28, 2014 but I didn't want to over order.

Thank goodness for my ebay sales - I'm getting stuff out of the house and making money to pay for this type of stuff without having to dig into the normal household budget.

 

[PrincessNancy96]

I just ordered DS17's cap/gown/tassel/stole and medallion and the few "official" announcements for close family.... didn't spend much at all..

I will make the open house announcements and I make my own name inserts for the "official" announcements because I use one of his senior photos and add his name to it...

What I didn't spend on the order I took and added to the Disney grad party fund!

 

[madge]

I'll design DS graduation announcements ... unless someone (DS or DH) has a strong opinion, otherwise. I'd much rather put the money into something else.

 

[IDoDis]

On dorms vs Off campus housing:

Our D is a sophomore, she lived in the dorms last year, off campus this year. I would recommend the dorm experience for a freshman. Yes, it's a smaller space, shared bathroom,etc. It's also all freshman, lots of chances to make new friends, RA's to help with the bumps in the road, easy food. For a freshman all of that is a good thing.

Those are the lines that DH and I are thinking. It would be better for DD to be on campus at least for the first year. One of the other big off-campus housing villages does not allow freshmen. I'm sure they have good reason. I can only imagine how many teens with this new-found freedom go wild once they are away from home, and even more so when they aren't in a dorm with checks and balances.

DD18 has to transfer to a different college next year. So we are looking at double the college costs when adding on dorming, meal plan, etc.

I know she would like to dorm, and I wish she could, but it is going to be cost prohibitive. HOW to the kids find off campus housing? Is this something the college helps with or are they on their own? I think doing so would cut her costs by half or better. Did you find this to be the case?

I guess it depends on the location of the school. There are a few off-campus housing areas outside of the university campus here, but cities that don't have the space to build in close proximity to a college/university, won't. DD's friend told her about the cottages, so it's mostly word of mouth.

tia, lori

I have no personal experience, but when we were doing our college visit a couple weeks ago, we had a 2nd year student eating lunch with us, and he now lives off campus, and he says the cost is drastically less!

I'm looking at a price sheet comparison. I'll give an example of a couple of dorms (both nice and built within the last few years and off-campus housing development:

Dorm 1 -- 2 people to a room with a half wall divider in between them, a bathroom shared by 4 people, walk-in closets, and other amenities like a fitness center, game room, computer room with free paper & printing, free laundry, utilites included...
----- $544/month. The food plan not included, but is required. Parking pass is an additional $325. Cars are parked quite a distance. A shuttle would need to be taken to/from the campus parking lot.

Dorm #2 -- 4 people per apartment, each with private bedroom, 4 sharing a bathroom, full-sized kitchen, all utilities and laundry included -- $619/month The food plan not included but required. Parking pass is $325. Cars are parked quite a distance and a shuttle would need to be taken to/from the parking lot.

Off-campus housing development -- 5 bedroom cottage, 1782 sq. ft, 5 bathrooms, walk-in closet in each bedroom, full-sized kitchen w/ granite counter tops (in bathrooms, too), hardwood floors, carpeted bedrooms, stainless steel appliances, washer/drier, club house, pool, fitness center, free parking, free shuttle to campus but it's 3 miles away -- $549/mo. Fully-furnished is $35 extra per person. When a student signs a lease, the are only responsible for their room. If a roommate breaks the lease, only that roommate is responsible. No meal plan, so students have to buy and cook their own food. Cable, wifi, and utilities are included except for electricity. That could run $350+ in the summer because who is minding the thermostat??? Also, a 12 month lease is required. In the dorms, the lease is only for 10 months.

So, monthly costs are somewhat comparable, but when you factor in space, the cottage is much bigger, but then you lose proximity.

 

[JeannieNM]

Senior photos are done. The second session which replaced the one that was rained out produced 300+ photos since some were dance the photographer asked us to cut them down to 60 for editing. Well we got it down to 120 but can't seem to get down any further. Oh well this weekends task.

IDoDo- that was some ordeal you went through. I hope you had an easier weekend.

No progress here on applications. It has been so busy. Lots of out of town family last weekend for a meeting. DD is busy all the time. We have fall break in a week and hopefully she won't have too much going on and can get some apps submitted. One school she already applied to should start sending out letters at the end of the week. Need DD to fill out some more performing arts apps so I can get the rest of the auditions scheduled. We also have to find time for an interview at one of the schools between now and the end of December and I can not figure that one out at all. The flight times are very bad and I can't seem to get us there and back in a timely manner. OH well.

 

[JeannieNM]

DD got her first acceptance!!!! It was online this morning. She does not know yet, though. Her dad and I decided to wait until she gets the big envelope to tell her. She never checks online.....Monday is her 18th birthday so it will be a nice surprise. Let's see if I can hold out until the envelope comes. She won't hear about the specific program she auditioned for until next month but at least she is in the school and that will feel good. This is the only school except our state school that she will hear from before March.

Hope everyone is doing well and happy weekend.

 

[elgerber]

DD got her first acceptance!!!! It was online this morning. She does not know yet, though. Her dad and I decided to wait until she gets the big envelope to tell her. She never checks online.....Monday is her 18th birthday so it will be a nice surprise. Let's see if I can hold out until the envelope comes. She won't hear about the specific program she auditioned for until next month but at least she is in the school and that will feel good. This is the only school except our state school that she will hear from before March.

Hope everyone is doing well and happy weekend.

Congrats to her!!!!

Tonight is the first ever play for our high school (long story about the lack of theater at our school ). 1 show tonight, 2 shows tomorrow. My daughter is playing the Stage Manager (narrator) of our town. I hope it goes well!! I always get soooooooooooooo nervous for openings!

 

[Chelley00]

Holy crap.

We were so worried about DS getting into college after his accident and then his expulsion that we almost passed out with joy when he got accepted to his first choice of colleges.

Today he got a letter congratulating him on his direct admission to the School of Business. It's very hard to get direct admit and it really wasn't even on our radar. We just figured he'd try to apply in after his freshman year, which is what most people have to do.

Ugh. He's had such a rough year and this was just an amazing surprise for him. I could bust.

 

[TLuvsD]

Yay for all the good news! So exciting!

 

[madge]

Holy crap.

We were so worried about DS getting into college after his accident and then his expulsion that we almost passed out with joy when he got accepted to his first choice of colleges.

Today he got a letter congratulating him on his direct admission to the School of Business. It's very hard to get direct admit and it really wasn't even on our radar. We just figured he'd try to apply in after his freshman year, which is what most people have to do.

Ugh. He's had such a rough year and this was just an amazing surprise for him. I could bust.

that's wonderful! congratulations to everyone!