Parents of the Class of 2019

Did you realize, our kids can now say they will be in college next year? :scared:
 
Did you realize, our kids can now say they will be in college next year? :scared:
Nooo!

Last night dd had a fun experience, she bought tickets to The Play that Goes Wrong for her boyfriend at Christmas, they took a bus into the city last night. A guy who used to go to the bf’s high school was part of it, so they got a private backstage tour and got to go on the stage.

She said the show is really funny.
 


This is my goal. I would love for both of them to graduate debt-free or low debt.



I have heard the phrase "fair is not equal" many times but not seen a picture like that. That's neat. If I had offered DD19 $5000/year toward a 4 year school she still would have chosen the cc. I have not told DD16 $5000/year yet. I am waiting to see where she ends up wanting to go/how the numbers shake out and just trying to steer her towards looking at the more affordable options. After ACT in February we will know if she qualifies for the full tuition scholarships (or if she needs to try again!).

I am looking at it that we are helping all of them get the degree they want, it's not necessarily going to come out to the same figure. Scholarships, college costs, etc. are all different. DD23 already graduated and we paid for her wedding too. We're all about trying to control costs when possible.

DS '19 will likely have fewer costs than his sisters but we're not giving him an equal $ amount. We may be willing to pay for study abroad costs that his sister did not pursue. DD '18 said that we can spend more on her college since we'll likely spend much less on her brother. LOL

Did you realize, our kids can now say they will be in college next year? :scared:

Yikes, my last two go off to college this year and next. Time has flown!!!!
 
DD is going to Japan! It was never really in much doubt but the official acceptance came yesterday and we applied for passports over the break. She'll be leaving in the middle of June, so she'll have to take her finals a bit early because the program actually starts 3 days before school ends for us, and will be back in early August. We're still waiting to hear about the last thousand bucks in scholarship awards but those aren't make-or-break, just nice to have.

Now, how to tell my inlaws...
 


DD is going to Japan! It was never really in much doubt but the official acceptance came yesterday and we applied for passports over the break. She'll be leaving in the middle of June, so she'll have to take her finals a bit early because the program actually starts 3 days before school ends for us, and will be back in early August. We're still waiting to hear about the last thousand bucks in scholarship awards but those aren't make-or-break, just nice to have.

Now, how to tell my inlaws...
Congratulations!
 
Did you realize, our kids can now say they will be in college next year? :scared:
Nooooo!!!!!!!!!!

She's actually already been taking dual credit classes at the local college since Sophomore year, but I am soooo not ready for her to go away. She is my only, just the two of us, and it seems high school is flying by. At a recent session with her college counselor, the counselor encouraged her to check out and consider applying to a few schools that were not really on her radar. One was Dartmouth. I was sitting there thinking gee, that's just about as far away from our house as you can get.......
 
I've been thinking about distance of schools vs. affordability. Is it worth several thousand dollars to have her a few hours closer? I would love to have her an easy drive away. I've been spending too much time looking at colleges. I just need to be patient, see what she gets on ACT so we have a better idea of possible merit, then go on some visits. But I get bored and research more.

DH is getting really sentimental. DD19 went back to school yesterday. We see her frequently as she's an hour away, but since she was home quite a bit over break it started to feel "like old times" again. DD16 is so busy it's often just me and him at home and he is missing when they were little.
 
I've been thinking about distance of schools vs. affordability. Is it worth several thousand dollars to have her a few hours closer? I would love to have her an easy drive away. I've been spending too much time looking at colleges. I just need to be patient, see what she gets on ACT so we have a better idea of possible merit, then go on some visits. But I get bored and research more.

DH is getting really sentimental. DD19 went back to school yesterday. We see her frequently as she's an hour away, but since she was home quite a bit over break it started to feel "like old times" again. DD16 is so busy it's often just me and him at home and he is missing when they were little.

I tried to keep my feelings mostly out of it. I would have loved to have my DD closer but she wanted to be in a large metro area so that she would have lots of internship and entertainment opportunities. She has taken full advantage of both.

In addition to only letting proximity to home be a consideration if DD had wanted it, we would have only paid a few thousand more for that proximity if it could be paid in cash. We would not have let her take a loan for something that we wanted.
 
*Just Venting*

So last night I asked DD how she liked her US History class because we had talked about History as a major and Theatre as a minor. (If she doesn't do Recreation & Park Management major.) She said she liked it fine but she didn't want to major in it because she doesn't know what job she would get with it. I said it would open doors for all types of jobs just having a degree but she doesn't see it and she doesn't want to work in an office. Also she said she thought history professors would be creepy o_O

Then she went on to say she still wants to major in Musical Theatre. I thought we were past that because I had pointed out that at her potential schools that is a BFA so it would be hard to add a minor and so all her eggs would be in one, very hard to make a living at, major. Not to mention she has 0 dance experience and I get the feeling most future MT majors are already much more involved and prepared than she is. She has been in 1 musical.

So if she doesn't get to do that and majors in Recreation I asked her if she wants to work in a city Parks & Rec department. She said she doesn't want to work in an office, she wants to be a park naturalist. I noted that the only school on our list that had a Parks & Rec degree that leaned more toward naturalist (rather than YMCA sports) was the one she disliked most. Also I just looked up park naturalist jobs on Indeed and the National Park Service and the great majority are 6 months a year, or part-time, and/or low-pay.

Myself I think a History/Theater combo could set her up to be an interpreter at a park if that ends up working out for her but also could be used for a lot of other things. At my personal favorite college on the list it appears she could fit in a double major where they cut off 2 history classes so you can fit in a second major. That might appeal to her. This is one where she could very likely qualify for full tuition but I have a feeling she will "not like it" when we visit (probably because I like it).

Ugh, she is a really good kid but she gets some unrealistic ideas and superficial reasons to not like or like something. I try to be careful with my suggestions so she doesn't automatically reject them.
 
BJ, I hear ya. Vent away. My one was saying she's wants to be a doctor, then when I said that would be a good idea, it was shot down. Now, saying not sure what I want to do, and still not giving top 3 or so colleges she would like to go to. We're going to do some visiting when the weather is nicer. My older one is in his second year of college, and is a History major. First he did want to teach, but now looking at other ways to use his degree in 2 years. At least he has been consistent since graduating from high school. History is a love since quite young. I hope your one figures out what she wants to do. Just remember, lots of kids change their major after the first year of college. Heck, I didn't even know what I thought I was going to do and career path changed in my senior year of college, and it's been a long career for me so far.
 
DD is going to Japan! It was never really in much doubt but the official acceptance came yesterday and we applied for passports over the break. She'll be leaving in the middle of June, so she'll have to take her finals a bit early because the program actually starts 3 days before school ends for us, and will be back in early August. We're still waiting to hear about the last thousand bucks in scholarship awards but those aren't make-or-break, just nice to have.

Now, how to tell my inlaws...


That is so cool. Mine wants to go to Germany, but the costs are so high, I am not really ready to say yes. I am not sure this program has any scholarships. I also have to renew her passport one of these days.
 
My son is leaning toward majoring in Journalism/Media. Looking at 3 schools here in OH. One is only 30 minutes from home and he has been there to visit friends but we haven’t done the tour. His top choice right now is about 2 hours away and I feel like it would be a good fit. Still need to see the third which is a little over 3 hours away. I think he will do well in this major but I also think he would be a great teacher.

Whichever school he decides on, he would like to do marching band which makes me happy.
 
Younger son has a soccer tourney in Cincinnati in March, so we thought it would be a good time to piggyback a couple college tours while we're down there, so we're hoping to take a look at Univ. of Cincy, Xavier and possible MiamiU (of OH) while we're in the area. He also wants to go check out Carnegie Mellon as well, so we might make a quick trip (only a 2 hour drive) there sometime this winter.
 
@bjscheel, don't feel bad about the theater thing. Mine informed me yesterday that though he "wouldn't mind" a job in business or history, he'd really rather run a video game channel on YouTube for a living. 8-)

I think most kids change their minds a ton of times before the tight thing clicks, so try not to worry!

As for history - that was my oldest niece's major, and she works in a completely different field. (She did work in a museum for a little while, but didn't love it long term.)
 
*Just Venting*

So last night I asked DD how she liked her US History class because we had talked about History as a major and Theatre as a minor. (If she doesn't do Recreation & Park Management major.) She said she liked it fine but she didn't want to major in it because she doesn't know what job she would get with it. I said it would open doors for all types of jobs just having a degree but she doesn't see it and she doesn't want to work in an office. Also she said she thought history professors would be creepy o_O

Then she went on to say she still wants to major in Musical Theatre. I thought we were past that because I had pointed out that at her potential schools that is a BFA so it would be hard to add a minor and so all her eggs would be in one, very hard to make a living at, major. Not to mention she has 0 dance experience and I get the feeling most future MT majors are already much more involved and prepared than she is. She has been in 1 musical.

So if she doesn't get to do that and majors in Recreation I asked her if she wants to work in a city Parks & Rec department. She said she doesn't want to work in an office, she wants to be a park naturalist. I noted that the only school on our list that had a Parks & Rec degree that leaned more toward naturalist (rather than YMCA sports) was the one she disliked most. Also I just looked up park naturalist jobs on Indeed and the National Park Service and the great majority are 6 months a year, or part-time, and/or low-pay.

Myself I think a History/Theater combo could set her up to be an interpreter at a park if that ends up working out for her but also could be used for a lot of other things. At my personal favorite college on the list it appears she could fit in a double major where they cut off 2 history classes so you can fit in a second major. That might appeal to her. This is one where she could very likely qualify for full tuition but I have a feeling she will "not like it" when we visit (probably because I like it).

Ugh, she is a really good kid but she gets some unrealistic ideas and superficial reasons to not like or like something. I try to be careful with my suggestions so she doesn't automatically reject them.
That's really hard. You know so much more about living in the real world, but it's hard to get them to hear you without automatically discounting it. If it's anything like my experience, there will be times where their ears are completely closed, and other times when they are open. The trick is finding one of those times the ears are open and taking advantage of it.

We've had a big couple of weeks here. Our son came home for the first time since moving away for his first real job. He makes good money, and it helped so much for our daughter to see him and hear how much he's enjoying living on his own and having money to spend. So I took that opportunity to sit down and work some figures with her showing what she might make in say, engineering, compared with say, teaching (she's been back and forth between both fields). It was really eye opening to her. And it got her attention.

In one of those cosmic coincidences, one of his high school and college classmates just graduated college a few weeks ago and came in to talk at the high school about her experience in college (including coop and internships) and her new engineering job. That came at just the right time. She spoke honestly about the money she made along the way and how much she's going to make on the new job.

Do you know people who will share real world numbers and experiences with your daughter? Not that you need to talk her out of it. But maybe it would help her go into it with her eyes wide open.
 
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That's really hard. You know so much more about living in the real world, but it's hard to get them to hear you without automatically discounting it. If it's anything like my experience, there will be times where their ears are completely closed, and other times when they are open. The trick is finding one of those times the ears are open and taking advantage of it.

We've had a big couple of weeks here. Our son came home for the first time since moving away for his first real job. He makes good money, and it helped so much for our daughter to see him and hear how much he's enjoying living on his own and having money to spend. So I took that opportunity to sit down and work some figures with her showing what she might make in say, engineering, compare with say, teaching. It was really eye opening to her. That really got her attention.

In one of those cosmic coincidences, one of his high school and college classmates just graduated college a few weeks ago and came in to talk at the high school about her experience in college (including coop and internships) and her new engineering job. That came at just the right time. She spoke honestly about the money she made along the way and how much she's going to make on the new job.

Do you know people who will share real world numbers and experiences with your daughter? Not that you need to talk her out of it. But maybe it would help her go into it with her eyes wide open.
My kids know they have to have a practical major, since they’ll have loans. Dd21 (did dozens of musicals, month long all day workshops at a professional theater, voice coach for 7 yeas) will gets her masters and will prepare for the CPA with the accounting firm she starts working with in 2019, ds19 is a finance major (he LOVES history), dd16 is deciding between PT, OT, or med school. I might feel differently if they didn’t need loans, of chose to commute to school.
 
Next semester she will be taking TAG seminar/independent study and her plan is to use some of that time to research potential majors and their subject matter. Perhaps she can also look at job prospects, etc. I know she can and has changed her mind. When I was a junior, I followed a veterinarian and an optometrist for a day. I ended up choosing an Accounting major halfway through college freshman year at my mother's suggestion. The good news is both of our top choice schools both have Musical Theater so we don't have to eliminate either one due to major options. I honestly don't know if she would even be accepted into the MT program so there's that too.
 

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