Time to start thinking about college

[Deleted]

Jul 30, 2019 17:34:52 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Jul 30, 2019 17:32:08 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

So, DS was all proud to tell me he applied to Iowa today while I was at work.  He applied to University of Iowa....not Iowa State which he meant to...and paid the $40 application fee. <sigh>  

So he needs to apply at Iowa State?

Did he learn a lesson about many states having both a University of whatever state and State name State?

Does Minnesota have both Minnesota and a Minnesota State?

I'm sure he's learned now!  He doesn't "need" to apply to Iowa State, but that's the one the high school guidance counselor is pushing him to apply to.  Minnesota has lots of Minnesota State campuses, but nobody really calls them by that.  They call them by their city name.  Then the University of Minnesota has 5 or 6 campuses, but most people think of U of M as Twin Cities.   Iowa seems weird with only 3 state schools, we have so many here. 

I chewed him out at first, but I've calmed down.  I told him it would be funny if he actually ended up going there after applying by accident.  

[TheOtherMe]

Yes, we only have Iowa, Iowa State and University of Northern Iowa that are state colleges.  Lots of community colleges (2 year schools) and small private colleges, but not Iowa--Sioux City, for example.  

Iowa State has an excellent engineering program.

[Deleted]

I sometimes think our school gets a kick back from the Iowa schools with how much they push them.   I told him he could apply (to both now apparently), but I don't think they'll come through with the financial aid we'd need.  

[tractor]

Good luck to him. Let us know where he ends up!

[Deleted]

Well, that was anticlimactic.  He got his acceptance to Iowa State in like 2 hours.  No sitting around waiting for that letter in the mail.  I feel a little cheated out of the fun. 

[oped]

Did he apply to a particular program? 

[TheOtherMe]

Aug 1, 2019 10:02:52 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Well, that was anticlimactic.  He got his acceptance to Iowa State in like 2 hours.  No sitting around waiting for that letter in the mail.  I feel a little cheated out of the fun. 

Iowa State, not Iowa, correct?

Welcome to the Cyclones!  

My family is full of Cyclones.  Sister, BIL and two oldest nephews are graduates.  Third nephew started there and transferred to UNI because they had a better teacher program.

Oldest nephew and his wife are professors at Iowa State.  

[Deleted]

Aug 1, 2019 10:24:33 GMT -5 oped said:

Did he apply to a particular program? 

No.  They don't do that there.  You apply just to the university and then I think you have to apply to certain colleges after sophomore year or something. 

[Deleted]

Aug 1, 2019 11:02:51 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Aug 1, 2019 10:02:52 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Well, that was anticlimactic.  He got his acceptance to Iowa State in like 2 hours.  No sitting around waiting for that letter in the mail.  I feel a little cheated out of the fun. 

Iowa State, not Iowa, correct?

Welcome to the Cyclones!  

My family is full of Cyclones.  Sister, BIL and two oldest nephews are graduates.  Third nephew started there and transferred to UNI because they had a better teacher program.

Oldest nephew and his wife are professors at Iowa State.  

Well, he doesn't know that's where he's going.  He's applying to 4 (5 if you count the screw up) and we'll weigh the financial aid packages after we see where he gets in.

[TheOtherMe]

Good luck wherever he ends up.  From everything you've said about it, he is a fine young man, thanks to you.

[Deleted]

Aug 1, 2019 15:33:41 GMT -5 TheOtherMe said:

Good luck wherever he ends up.  From everything you've said about it, he is a fine young man, thanks to you.

I'm not sure I can take credit.  Plus I usually just post the good stuff.  

He applied to Huntsville today.  That was a super weird application.  It took all of 5 minutes and didn't ask about anything except things like address, demographics, stuff like that.  Nothing about his high school classes, grades, extracurriculars.  Strange.  

[TheOtherMe]

He is an Eagle Scout.  That impresses me a lot.  

[Deleted]

He's not yet!  He's finished his project, all his leadership requirements and something like 30 merit badges, but he still has his project write up and 2 requirements from one required badge....Family Life...he's supposed to install shelves in one of our closets .  He has not spent any time on either of these things all summer and if he drops the ball at this point I'll kill him.

[NastyWoman]

Aug 2, 2019 8:04:00 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

He's not yet!  He's finished his project, all his leadership requirements and something like 30 merit badges, but he still has his project write up and 2 requirements from one required badge....Family Life...he's supposed to install shelves in one of our closets .  He has not spent any time on either of these things all summer an if he drops the ball at this point I'll kill him.

What can I say? That would definitely reduce college cost in the next few years. 

[bean29]

Aug 2, 2019 8:04:00 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

He's not yet!  He's finished his project, all his leadership requirements and something like 30 merit badges, but he still has his project write up and 2 requirements from one required badge....Family Life...he's supposed to install shelves in one of our closets .  He has not spent any time on either of these things all summer and if he drops the ball at this point I'll kill him.

Home Depot, closet maid. Go on line, do layout, it will give you a supply list. Easy peasy.

[Deleted]

Aug 2, 2019 14:15:01 GMT -5 bean29 said:

Aug 2, 2019 8:04:00 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

He's not yet!  He's finished his project, all his leadership requirements and something like 30 merit badges, but he still has his project write up and 2 requirements from one required badge....Family Life...he's supposed to install shelves in one of our closets .  He has not spent any time on either of these things all summer and if he drops the ball at this point I'll kill him.

Home Depot, closet maid. Go on line, do layout, it will give you a supply list. Easy peasy.

He has a ton of supplies to work with as we haven't completely finished all the closets in the basement. He just needs to do one and I told him the linen closet in his bathroom would be the easiest.  Just 4 or 5 shelves all the way across. 

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Aug 1, 2019 10:02:52 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Well, that was anticlimactic.  He got his acceptance to Iowa State in like 2 hours.  No sitting around waiting for that letter in the mail.  I feel a little cheated out of the fun. 

Congratulations!!  No matter what happens with any of his othe applications, he’s going to college!!!

[alabamagal]

Aug 3, 2019 14:23:06 GMT -5 GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl said:

Aug 1, 2019 10:02:52 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

Well, that was anticlimactic.  He got his acceptance to Iowa State in like 2 hours.  No sitting around waiting for that letter in the mail.  I feel a little cheated out of the fun. 

Congratulations!!  No matter what happens with any of his othe applications, he’s going to college!!!

If he ends up at Iowa State and turns out to be great success story, would be amusing when asked how he chose his college.

[Deleted]

Aug 3, 2019 14:57:02 GMT -5 alabamagal said:

Aug 3, 2019 14:23:06 GMT -5 GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl said:

Congratulations!!  No matter what happens with any of his othe applications, he’s going to college!!!

If he ends up at Iowa State and turns out to be great success story, would be amusing when asked how he chose his college.

Well, Iowa State was where he had planned on applying.  University of Iowa was the goof up!  I don't think that will go anywhere.  It's a completely different school.  More focused on medicine and the arts, and a lot more spendy.  Iowa State is the big engineering school and where his HS guidance counselor told him to apply. 

Duluth is still his first choice, but he really is pumped about Huntsville. 

[Deleted]

And now I get to tell him Huntsville is probably a no go.    They changed the requirement for their 100% tuition scholarship for the 2020-2021 class for non-residents to a 34 ACT.  They left residents at 30.  He would still get a 67% scholarship, but with their high cost of housing and having to factor in travel costs, it's probably going to be too much.   He was absolutely drooling about being so close to the space industry and having rockets right next to campus.  I guess I can tell him if he really wants to go he can study his but off and try to get a 34, but that's a pretty high bar.  

[gs11rmb]

Aug 3, 2019 19:56:11 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

And now I get to tell him Huntsville is probably a no go.    They changed the requirement for their 100% tuition scholarship for the 2020-2021 class for non-residents to a 34 ACT.  They left residents at 30.  He would still get a 67% scholarship, but with their high cost of housing and having to factor in travel costs, it's probably going to be too much.   He was absolutely drooling about being so close to the space industry and having rockets right next to campus.  I guess I can tell him if he really wants to go he can study his but off and try to get a 34, but that's a pretty high bar.  

I know you're trying to get him through school without debt but what would a student loan actually look like if he were to cover the funding gap?  If he really wants to be in the space industry it might be beneficial to go to Huntsville and take out some loans.  If he wants a career in the space industry is it possible that his chances of succeeding in that field are higher if he's at a university with a space program?  

[Deleted]

Aug 5, 2019 8:54:28 GMT -5 gs11rmb said:

Aug 3, 2019 19:56:11 GMT -5 minnesotapaintlady said:

And now I get to tell him Huntsville is probably a no go.    They changed the requirement for their 100% tuition scholarship for the 2020-2021 class for non-residents to a 34 ACT.  They left residents at 30.  He would still get a 67% scholarship, but with their high cost of housing and having to factor in travel costs, it's probably going to be too much.   He was absolutely drooling about being so close to the space industry and having rockets right next to campus.  I guess I can tell him if he really wants to go he can study his but off and try to get a 34, but that's a pretty high bar.  

I know you're trying to get him through school without debt but what would a student loan actually look like if he were to cover the funding gap?  If he really wants to be in the space industry it might be beneficial to go to Huntsville and take out some loans.  If he wants a career in the space industry is it possible that his chances of succeeding in that field are higher if he's at a university with a space program?  

Oh, I definitely won't tell him he can't go there, and we went ahead and had test scores and transcripts sent.   However, the kids is 10X more practical than me when it comes to this school choice thing.  I have a feeling when the numbers are laid out, he will balk.  He knows he gets anything left in his UTMA after school is done, and he knows going to a MN school means there probably will be money left.

The difference in a 67% scholarship and a 100% one is about 8K/year. 

[gs11rmb]

He sounds like such a smart kid!

If he does want to go, however, $32K for an undergraduate aerospace degree with the opportunity to perhaps intern in the program doesn't sound too bad.

[Deleted]

We could probably still cover UAH with his savings.  I'm guessing the total would come to 16-17K/year.  Which is about my limit (also about what Iowa State would come in at).    Transportation though is the big unknown.  There just is no cheap/easy way for us to get back and forth from Huntsville for us.  It's more than can be driven in a day and airfare is looking like around $400 a round trip ticket.   Best we can do is a 24 hour bus ride. 

[azucena]

See if they have some kind of carpool list, some colleges do.

[Deleted]

DS accepted at Iowa State last night and put in his preference list for dorms even though we've never even visited yet and it will be months before we get the FA package.  They kind of strong arm you into accepting early due to housing and he definitely wants to be in a certain area since the campus is so big.  But, the deposit is 90% refundable if you withdraw by May 1st and none of the other schools we're applying to will make him accept for housing, so I think not worrying about it was worth throwing away $35 if he doesn't go. 

[TheOtherMe]

Definitely do not want to be in a dorm at Iowa State where you have to ride the bus to campus.  

My sister was so late in applying that she ended up in temporary housing.  Temp housing wasn't fun, but it was in the basement of the men's residence hall where her now husband lived.  He was among the guys who helped her move her stuff to her permanent room and the rest is history.

[GRG a/k/a goldenrulegirl]

Pro tip:  book your hotel rooms for Commencement as soon as you can.  Most hotel chains allow reservations up to one year in advance.  It seems premature, but rooms sell out quickly.  And, expect that nightly rates will be inflated for Commencement weekend.   " src="http://syonidv.hodginsmedia.com/vsmileys/angry2.png">


ETA:  If it's a small college town, book your rooms early for everything:  Orientation, Move-in, Parents Weekend, etc.  

[oped]

Daughter leaves Tuesday. I got a room but they only had king bed rooms available. Move in on a Tue Wed was weird I thought, and parent activities are both days... what do parents that work do? 

Also her finals ‘week’ goes over a weekend so isn’t over till Wednesday meaning also mid week pick up... 

Son is home a few more weeks then does a 2 week intensive in Japan before fall term starts. 

Then empty nest pretty much.

[NastyWoman]

Aug 16, 2019 12:41:59 GMT -5 oped said:

Daughter leaves Tuesday. I got a room but they only had king bed rooms available. Move in on a Tue We’d was weird I thought, and parent activities are both days... what do parents that work do? 

Also her finals ‘week’ goes over a weekend so isn’t over till Wednesday meaning also mid week pick up... 

Son is home a few more weeks then does a 2 week intensive in Japan before fall term starts. 

Then empty nest pretty much.

DS2 very carefully hid that there were the "parents activities" from us (same college as your DD oped ). And he did not want us to help him move in.  It was his big I'm-on-my-own-now moment.

He'll be back from vaca next week so I fully intend to ask him about this next time we Zoom (and the grandbabies are not around  _)