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Are we the only super-frustrated family???


Liza Q
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College 1 - partial scholarship, bad commute, we'll need $10,000 more for the tuition with an additional $10-15,000. for her to live there...so not happening! Small, Christian, limited classes/majors and she loves it! We put down a deposit but....my husband thinks she should go with the cheapest option. She is depressed.

 

College 2 - partial scholarship, worse commute, exactly the same financial situation as College 1. Large (but the honors program makes it smaller, if you kwim), Catholic, huge variety of classes/majors - she likes it a lot. She is a little depressed.

 

College 3 - Great commute, affordable for us even without any scholarships. Large, public, huge variety of classes/majors. She was not accepted to the top honors program (which included a full scholarship) but is now being considered for the next level of honors program, which will offer partial to full scholarships...and we do not not know when they will let us know. She would like the the honors program as it would give her a small feel and personal attention but she really does not want to go into the regular program....she is depressed.

 

College 4 - Medium commute, Catholic, medium sized, decent array of majors/classes. She likes this school. We have not heard from them at all, so she does not even know if she was accepted yet! She would definitely need some scholarship money from them. Her SATs and GPA put her in line for their full scholarship/honors program but we can't be sure and she is feeling, yes, depressed!

 

All the depression and the not-knowing is making her a lunatic, which is putting us all on edge. I am being the cheerful, encouraging Mom as much as I can....but I am starting to crack.

 

/vent

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I can totally sympathize. My son has totally been on edge the last few months while we were waiting for the decisions/scholarships. He's been making us all crazy. To top that off, he started a new job on Monday and was really stressed about that, too.

 

BUT -- the good news is that the last letter arrived today!!!!!!!! He has been accepted at all 8 schools he applied to, and some have given him merit scholarships. He's now in the process of mulling over the offers with us and deciding where to go.

 

We're are all so relieved that the waiting is over. Now he just has to decide.

 

I'll keep you and your family in my prayers.

 

Brenda

Edited by Brenda in MA
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I can sympathize, and I do.

 

Some acceptances here plus one wait list, but my senior is waiting to hear from several others. Only two financial aid announcements thus far. Both had nice scholarships, but one college leaves way too much in loans for it to be a choice. The second is a maybe. We wait ... and wait ... with anticipation for more information.

 

I hope for good news on the horizon for you and for the rest of us who are still in limbo.

 

Regards,

Kareni

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It is hard to have to make choices. I know that I would love to be able to say, "Money is no object!" but it won't happen. It doesn't happen when I go to the supermarket or when we bought a house.

It is disappointing to not get into a college but worse , not to be able to afford the great school you get into. Check again with financial aid. They use the Fafsa but they can be surprisingly flexible.

If not, I guess you both deserve a cry. Get your favorite chick flick, banish the guys and cry all over the popcorn. :grouphug:

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  • 1 month later...

Well, she is going with College #4.

 

They offered her a scholarship for about 2/3 the tuition. We are paying the rest, for the first two years. After that our next daughter will be starting college, so we will all reevaluate then. She has enough in the bank to cover her fees, books, expenses and a laptop this year, with a little left for the following year. She is hoping to get a better paying job for the summer, but she will not start looking just yet. She has about 4 weeks left of schoolwork to do before she graduates.

 

She'll be living at home and, if she makes enough money this summer, she should be able to not work during her first semester, so she can adjust as easily as possible. After that she will probably keep working, so she will be in a better position in two years.

 

Whew!

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Hi Liza,

 

This sounds pretty good! Is the depression over with now? :grouphug: Really, though kudos on a great scholarship...it sounds like a pretty good offer and now she can go to one she really like! Isn't the waiting game awful?

 

Now you can sigh with relief rather than anxiety!

 

And now you just have to start filling out all those lovely forms....

 

I'm right there with you on that one! :chillpill:

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Congrats! Sounds like it's a happy ending to a tough process!

 

The one thing we didn't know or appreciate about the college app process was how you can receive an unbelievably generous scholarship and STILL not be able to attend the school! I mean, a full-tuition scholarship still leaves about 10K in expenses for most schools, so anything less than a full-tuition scholarship leaves even more in expenses.

 

Our most frustrating experience -- dd1 received one school's top scholarship, but all it did was eliminate the need for a school-based grant and still left us needing to pay more than our FAFSA amount! She didn't go there!

 

The college process is a bit like childbirth. It's frustrating, long, painful, and awful. (And my labors were short!) But then you hold the baby thinking, "It was worth every bit!" Or, in the case of college apps, you end up graduating your kid knowing he's bound for a good school, even if it's not his dream school.

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Well, she is going with College #4.

 

They offered her a scholarship for about 2/3 the tuition. We are paying the rest, for the first two years. After that our next daughter will be starting college, so we will all reevaluate then. She has enough in the bank to cover her fees, books, expenses and a laptop this year, with a little left for the following year. She is hoping to get a better paying job for the summer, but she will not start looking just yet. She has about 4 weeks left of schoolwork to do before she graduates.

 

She'll be living at home and, if she makes enough money this summer, she should be able to not work during her first semester, so she can adjust as easily as possible. After that she will probably keep working, so she will be in a better position in two years.

 

Whew!

Thanks for updating!
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Well, she is going with College #4.

 

They offered her a scholarship for about 2/3 the tuition. We are paying the rest, for the first two years. After that our next daughter will be starting college, so we will all reevaluate then. She has enough in the bank to cover her fees, books, expenses and a laptop this year, with a little left for the following year. She is hoping to get a better paying job for the summer, but she will not start looking just yet. She has about 4 weeks left of schoolwork to do before she graduates.

 

She'll be living at home and, if she makes enough money this summer, she should be able to not work during her first semester, so she can adjust as easily as possible. After that she will probably keep working, so she will be in a better position in two years.

 

Whew!

 

Congrats on having a decision made!

 

My only concern is this: the summer job. I know she still has school left but in order to get the best possible summer job she needs to start putting feelers out now before the mad rush starts. No need to be frantic about it, but maybe she can call the work places that really interest her? That way her name, at least, is at the front/top of the Human Resources List of candidates instead of lost in the middle somewhere.

 

Doe that make sense? I hope she finds a GREAT summer job with GREAT pay!:)

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