Parents of the High School Class of 2017/College 2021

[bjscheel]

Senior awards is in two days!!! DD got and invite to go. If she got a scholarship would she know beforehand or not until the night of?

At our school you may or may not know. I think it depends on the giver how they want to do it. Some of the scholarships tell you in advance and some are a surprise at Senior Recognition. DD knew about all of hers in advance, she didn't happen to win any surprise ones.

DD put in another roommate request to a girl yesterday (there are 4 girls total in a suite) but no word yet from her either. I guess DD didn't want to FB message anyone yet because it felt pushy but if they don't answer in a few days she probably will.

On an unrelated note, we are worried about our next trip to Disney! We are getting the urge to go again, but we have Colorado scheduled in two weeks, and planned to do Disney in 2018 as we've been doing every other year. But DD18 will have a summer semester so the girls don't have breaks that line up, except for early August and Christmas. Early August we go to Family Camp and the girls think missing that is not an option. Don't think I want to try Disney at Christmas and DD18 might have a retail job where she'll be needed for Christmas. DD15 could potentially miss some school in May- her college credit and online classes will be done by early May when DD18 is off, but she'll still have Chemistry. I guess we'll see how her year goes first and how she feels about it closer to time but right now she thinks it will be too hard. I suggested 2019 for their high school/community college graduations but that sounds a long way off! We are getting to that point where we might not vacation together much longer

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

Congrats!!!! My oldest 2 are the same ages- we are entering the poorest two years of our lives with 2 in college.

Tell me about it! DH and I sat down and did the college budgets this past weekend. DS's tuition goes up $5000 a year because McIntire School of Commerce has a tuition differential, which our Virginia prepaid tuition plan does not cover. We figured out what everything is going to cost, what the monthly payment plan payments are going to be, and then looked at how much we have each month. DH says it can be done, but after our monthly bills, gas and food, there would be nothing left over for car repairs, home maintenance, savings, much less vacations. That is cutting it too close for comfort for me. So I think for the 2 years they are in school together, we are going to have each of them take out the small subsidized student loan ($3000 each per year). It gives us breathing room in the budget, and they will have some skin in the game. If we don't have to do it next year, we won't.

 

[dreamin_disney]

4 years of budget for us. We want DD to avoid as much loans as possible so we will pay for housing and meal plan. Her 1st Year is almost covered with
-Subsidized loan( is it $3,000 or $3500? We have a total for both loans so no breakdown but we only need one)
-$1800 scholarship
- $900 cash Birthday $$ from the last couple years
-$320 she saved
So her balance is $350

She said any graduation $$ will go to her balance and toward books( books $$ not included)

My amount is more but luckily I can do monthly payments.

 

[aprilgail]

Tell me about it! DH and I sat down and did the college budgets this past weekend. DS's tuition goes up $5000 a year because McIntire School of Commerce has a tuition differential, which our Virginia prepaid tuition plan does not cover. We figured out what everything is going to cost, what the monthly payment plan payments are going to be, and then looked at how much we have each month. DH says it can be done, but after our monthly bills, gas and food, there would be nothing left over for car repairs, home maintenance, savings, much less vacations. That is cutting it too close for comfort for me. So I think for the 2 years they are in school together, we are going to have each of them take out the small subsidized student loan ($3000 each per year). It gives us breathing room in the budget, and they will have some skin in the game. If we don't have to do it next year, we won't.

I can cover the first three years but I am making my daughter take out the loans anyway- we have the money in her college fund to cover most of it but I want her to build credit so I will have her take out a loan for her portion, I will pay the parents EOC and take the money from the college fund and use it to make payments on her loan and pay them off monthly as we go.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

4 years of budget for us. We want DD to avoid as much loans as possible so we will pay for housing and meal plan. Her 1st Year is almost covered with
-Subsidized loan( is it $3,000 or $3500? We have a total for both loans so no breakdown but we only need one)
-$1800 scholarship
- $900 cash Birthday $$ from the last couple years
-$320 she saved
So her balance is $350

She said any graduation $$ will go to her balance and toward books( books $$ not included)

My amount is more but luckily I can do monthly payments.

Your DD's subsidized portion may be $3500. It is different for everyone. When DS was a freshman, he didn't get any of it subsidized. We needed a 2nd kid in college for that to happen for us.

 

[aprilgail]

Your DD's subsidized portion may be $3500. It is different for everyone. When DS was a freshman, he didn't get any of it subsidized. We needed a 2nd kid in college for that to happen for us.

Our offer is 3,500 subsidized --- the other options are the unsubsidized for 2,000 and the Perkins Loan is 2,000. I had her take the subsidized one. Originally we were not qualified for a Federal Pell Grant but when I appealed we got a Pell grant of just under 2,000. She also has a work study thing she can do if she wants to for 2,400- she can do that for spending money since the pay from that doesn't come off the bill but goes right to her.

 

[mamacatnv]

Last day of school........ Dropped DD off, she has one class and then she is done.
23 years as a public school parent come to a close.

 

[Poohforyou]

Last day of school........ Dropped DD off, she has one class and then she is done.
23 years as a public school parent come to a close.

Wow, I think you need a cocktail to celebrate!

 

[dreamin_disney]

Our offer is 3,500 subsidized --- the other options are the unsubsidized for 2,000 and the Perkins Loan is 2,000. I had her take the subsidized one. Originally we were not qualified for a Federal Pell Grant but when I appealed we got a Pell grant of just under 2,000. She also has a work study thing she can do if she wants to for 2,400- she can do that for spending money since the pay from that doesn't come off the bill but goes right to her.

I hope its $3500. Whats a Perkins loan and whats the % rate on that and do you have to pay that right away or when student graduates? Not sure how much books will cost. I think dd might need a 2nd for books. I can put it on my credit card 0% until Jan2018

Last day of school........ Dropped DD off, she has one class and then she is done.
23 years as a public school parent come to a close.

lol! Just told my Dd I only have 7 more days that I have to deal with school traffic-lol! I hate dealing with front f the school traffic pick up/drop off-lol!

 

[aprilgail]

I hope its $3500. Whats a Perkins loan and whats the % rate on that and do you have to pay that right away or when student graduates? Not sure how much books will cost. I think dd might need a 2nd for books. I can put it on my credit card 0% until Jan2018
lol! Just told my Dd I only have 7 more days that I have to deal with school traffic-lol! I hate dealing with front f the school traffic pick up/drop off-lol!

I am not positive but I believe it is 5% and you don't pay it till 9 months after you graduate--I think! https://www.govloans.gov/loans/loan-details/418

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

I am a little frustrated with DD right now. She was so on top of the college application stuff, but she is totally checked out on the graduation stuff.

I asked for months for the graduation announcement paperwork. She kept stalling me, saying they hadn't gotten it yet. When I finally explained that she'd get no gifts if we sent out no announcements, she finally looked into it. Turns out she got the paperwork back in February, and by the time she got around to looking for it, it was too late to order any. We are going to order some non official ones from Costco Photo Center.

Then she had Senior night for softball. I asked if the parents were supposed to bring flowers like we did for volleyball. She told me no, don't bring flowers. We did provide photos for her senior poster. Turns out we were the only Senior parents that did not have flowers for their daughter.

Tonight her Advanced College Academy program has a special graduation party. The juniors in the program put together a slide show of the graduates. They sent out an email to parents asking for photos. I could have provided photos, but they wanted digital photos uploaded to some site in a certain format...complicated directions. I don't have a smart phone, don't have many photos on my computer, our printer won't scan photos as jpegs. Yes, I am still living in the stone age. So I asked DD several times to help me upload some pictures to their site over the last 2 or 3 weeks. She has been MIA - out with friends, at parties - and I have barely seen her. So the grad party is tonight, and she won't be in the slide show.

I feel like I'm failing as a parent at the end of senior year stuff!!!

ETA: We just got back from the big party. It was lovely. But I wasn't the only parent that had a hard time getting the slide show pics! Out of 50 kids, less than half were represented in the slide show. The moms who did submit photos took pictures of pictures with their smart phone and had their kids help them with the submission procedure. I was feeling pretty dumb because I couldn't figure it all out until I heard that.

It has been a rough month! I've been sick twice (on antibiotics & steroids for a horrible sinus infection and drops for pink eye the first time and now I have a terrible head cold). And it's my year end when I have to grade all the research papers and semester exams and get report cards done. I finally finished it all today!!!

 

[Poohforyou]

@Mrs. Ciz - I would so be putting all that on my daughter but I get your being bummed about her missing out on things.

I'm feeling kind of bummed. Tonight is prom and dd isn't going. It's completely her choice but I'll miss seeing her all dressed up.

It also doesn't help that another mom went on and on when she saw me earlier this week about her daughter's prom plans and the fact that the mom is taking 15 kids to the beach after prom. My daughter is friends with her daughter and most of the other kids going but wasn't invited for some reason. Who does that?!!

It's this kind of nonsense that makes me look forward to high school being over.

 

[robinb]

So, my DD went off to her last day of high school today. I was all ready to drive her for the last time and she said she was driving herself . She did say that she would "let" me drive her for her finals next week, but I'm not holding my breath. I would have enjoyed driving her yesterday if I had know it was going to be my last time .

 

[robinb]

I am a little frustrated with DD right now. She was so on top of the college application stuff, but she is totally checked out on the graduation stuff.

I asked for months for the graduation announcement paperwork. She kept stalling me, saying they hadn't gotten it yet. When I finally explained that she'd get no gifts if we sent out no announcements, she finally looked into it. Turns out she got the paperwork back in February, and by the time she got around to looking for it, it was too late to order any. We are going to order some non official ones from Costco Photo Center.

{snip}
I feel like I'm failing as a parent at the end of senior year stuff!!!

You are NOT alone! In fact, I googled "Graduation Announcements" just this morning. I too am going to get them from Costco since it looks pretty easy to put together an announcement and I don't need more than 25 of them. BTW, did you notice that a LOT of the announcements had the kids in cap and gown? I'm going with, "I'm not late, I'm just in time for an announcement with my DD in her cap and gown." I think the cap and gown ones look sharp anyway so I'll be doing them after her graduation. I do have something in the back of my head that my DD wanted some wallet sized head shots to give away. I'll have to see if I'm too late for that.

My DD got her yearbook and she turned to the special senior section and asked me if I did one. No, I did not. It didn't seem important to you at the time.

 

[bjscheel]

Shoot. DD and I were looking at the roommates site again last night and she made another request with a girl that just got on yesterday and has competed at some of DD's track meets. She likes Disney and DD is hoping for a yes from her. While we were looking through, we talked about one particular girl that although being a "green" match, DD definitely didn't want to choose based on some things in her profile. Guess who DD's first request received is from...she is in DD's major so if DD declines she is definitely still going to run into her. We'll just ignore it for now I guess!

DD has had quite the social life post-graduation. Suddenly her friend group is planning things right and left. This group has really come together over the past year and it's so much nicer to have a circle than just her BFF, which is how it was during most of her school years. Also I'm very happy she got to go to her track banquet this year. The last two years she has missed it due to being on vacation, even though one year it was early June and one year mid-June. It's usually planned about a day or two in advance so you can't plan for it. I told her this year, being a senior, to make sure it happened on a night she could come. She got the MVP award.

 

[LilTinkFan]

Our yearbook was a fiasco! In her sport page she is misspelled and not listed on the senior recognition! I was spitting mad! Her individual is misspelled too.
I emailed the teacher we had to send photos too back in September with a copy of that confirmation. The teacher said they had assigned students to design the pages. It was unfortunate but could not be corrected.

 

[robinb]

Also I'm very happy she got to go to her track banquet this year. The last two years she has missed it due to being on vacation, even though one year it was early June and one year mid-June. It's usually planned about a day or two in advance so you can't plan for it. I told her this year, being a senior, to make sure it happened on a night she could come. She got the MVP award.

Awesome for her! MVP!

My DD also went to her track banquet at the last minute. I did skipped it since I wasn't that big of a track parent and the last two banquets I went to were horrible. I should have gone since my DD made Varsity! Whoo hoo! Now she can say she's a double-letter varsity athlete ... not that it matters anymore lol. Still, it was nice because neither one of us expected it.

 

[aprilgail]

Our yearbook was a fiasco! In her sport page she is misspelled and not listed on the senior recognition! I was spitting mad! Her individual is misspelled too.
I emailed the teacher we had to send photos too back in September with a copy of that confirmation. The teacher said they had assigned students to design the pages. It was unfortunate but could not be corrected.

My daughter did 4 pages of the yearbook and she checked and double checked kids spelling- another kid did pages and 3 kids names were spelled wrong! The kids do the whole yearbook- they just had to get a teachers approval to cut some sports pages and make them music and art pages- it was always uneven anyway with sports getting more pages than they should so its more even now.

 

[dreamin_disney]

Award nights are OVER!!!! yippee! DD had award nights on Wednesday and Thursday. Today is grad night. Poor thing is exhausted. Today she has a final :/ and after her final they leave for gradnight. its all day and they wont get back until tomorrow morning :0 She will sleep all day tomorrow. Then Tomorrow night she's going to her friends graduation party. The seniors are so tired. Nextweek will be Senior activities. She said she has to go to school Monday and Tuesday. She has one teacher that is mandatory and all the kids and staff are afraid of her so DD wont miss so her grade doesn't go down.

DD got one $500 scholarship last night. We were shocked! She thought she was only getting cords for csf California scholarship federation. She didn't get cords but got the sash and a pin.

Total- 3 scholarships totaling $2,300 . We are happy and grateful for scholarships.

 

[Mrs. Ciz]

@Mrs. Ciz - I would so be putting all that on my daughter but I get your being bummed about her missing out on things.

I'm feeling kind of bummed. Tonight is prom and dd isn't going. It's completely her choice but I'll miss seeing her all dressed up.

It also doesn't help that another mom went on and on when she saw me earlier this week about her daughter's prom plans and the fact that the mom is taking 15 kids to the beach after prom. My daughter is friends with her daughter and most of the other kids going but wasn't invited for some reason. Who does that?!!

It's this kind of nonsense that makes me look forward to high school being over.

I totally get where you are coming from. I would be bummed about my DD skipping prom as well. It is fun for the parents to all meet and take pictures of their kids together. I'm sorry her friend group left her out of the post prom beach house.

I think all these things get to us a little more than they usually would because of the extra emotion we are feeling at this time of year. Our baby birds are leaving the nest, and that amplifies all our other feelings.