Has this been discussed here? I was so stressed about the whole issue of how schools are listed on the fafsa (and how admissions can use that information). I was reading yesterday that beginning this year schools cannot view which schools you apply to. They've altered it. Seriously? Took a load off my mind.

Why do we feel so much stress about this? To add, to take away? Which schools to add or take away? Ugh

You have a valid point. Thanks for the reminder! I did imagine taking money for tickets but I bet it is more than that.

I think she should nix state too but she's so hesitant because she likes state a lot. She doesn't love CH but academically it is a better fit. She wants to double major in Bio and English. The EFC for ivies is what draws her to apply. It is the cheapest option for us and it will mean no loans for her.

She's signed up for subject tests. She's done very well on practice for those so we hope for strong scores. Unc CH is in state for us.

Does anyone want to help dd narrow down to 8? Just for fun :coolgleamA: She has strong extracurriculars, 6 AP classes (all 5's on exams) and she'll take 3 more next year, leadership positions, service hours, strong letters of rec from outside teachers, and a 34 ACT. She has only take the ACT once this year and she can't decide whether to take it again or not. Which school(s) should she nix? Reach schools (no plan to get in, haha) ... Harvard, Princeton Slight reach (parchement calls this a match but at only 45% likelihood we are still calling it a bit of a reach) ... Duke Matches Wake, Emory, W&L, Davidson, Chapel Hill Safety Queens, Furman, Elon, NC State

I can't respond again...I've been avoiding WTM because it deletes my responses 99% of the time. What I said was....Our state requires testing, my dd tested 99th% on the other tests for years in a row, and her test administrator suggested it for her early. The only downside I can see (now that she is a junior) is that some colleges ask for a full test record and then you have to pay to send all of those dates even though they won't be used for college admissions, you still have to pay to release them.

DD has high stats and she loves Queens. Our greatest concern is the students they chose to highlight in their alumni feature. Maybe I'm crazy but I thought "if you are only going to highlight a few great alumni then a guy with a MBA working for the Hornet's in ticket sales doesn't sound like a win to me". Maybe I was missing something :crying: DD loves the campus, she loves Charlotte, she loves Myers park, etc, etc.

You sound like me. I keep quiet. I let others mouth off, do their thing, etc and I just keep quiet. I am a peacemaker. Trust me, it won't work. You aren't going to win friends or influence people by being this way - you are just going to make your life so darn complicated. DH and I were in a similar situation. ILs lived on West coast, we live on east coast. ILs hadn't much experience with my DH as a grown man, he left for the airforce at 18 and hadn't lived at home since. We, as a married couple, hadn't been around them much. In the little time we did have with them, there were small issues in the relationship. They moved to be near us 8 years ago. It hasn't gone well. There were all sorts of unspoken expectations and they have used the phrase "but we picked up everything and moved close to you" as a bargaining chip to get their way time and time again. Long story short...they are bullies. They live just under an hour from us and we are no longer on speaking terms. I wish they would have stayed on the west coast. We might still have a semi-amiable relationship. All of this to say...they wanted to do the same exact thing, they wanted us to go in together on property and live together - them, DHs brother, and our three kids (at the time). We considered it. I am SO thankful we didn't. Please do not commit to live under the same roof with them when you don't even know what it is like to live on the same coast as them. Figure out how living closer in proximity works before you make such huge commitments.

I need a laptop super bad - can I fully deduct that as an expense?

I am beginning some self-employed/contract work part time again. I did this up until I had my youngest 7 years ago and now I am going back to it. I didn't really maximize my deductions like I should have and I didn't worry about estimated taxes because we always had such a large tax return that it wasn't a problem. DH is in a much better paying position now and we paid taxes for 2015 (without any income for me) so I know that what we pay for 2016 will only increase. Will I be charged a penalty if we owe more than a $1,000 when we file for 2016 if we didn't owe over $1,000 for 2015? I can't decide if and how I should be paying taxes on my income. I never quite know what I can deduct. Mileage is all I worried about before but surely there are other things I can deduct? Any thoughts or tips? Thanks ya'll

Don't live with them. It will be awful. Also, if you don't even want them moving that close to you just vocalize it now. DH didn't want his parents to move here and he didn't say anything and he's regretted it ever since.

I haven't been here much lately but it cracks me up that kilts are still as "thing" haha.

Because of the aid, dd could go to an Ivy or one of the full-need-met schools for cheaper than a state school. It would be a seriously great financial option and that is a lure for dd.

Name schools are definitely an insane reach for anyone. Paper-perfect kiddos get turned down. I've tried to sway dd away from any ivies. Maybe by the time she applies she will change her mind and not apply, haha.

I already stated that we personally consider Duke a reach. And they calculate everyone as a reach and not likely to get into Harvard, Princeton, or Stanford. She's considered striking the Ivies from her list anyway. Duke is a reach but for other reasons it will stay on her list. It isn't as far of a reach for her as Harvard either.

We want to be within walking distance of the metro? Right? The prices out of the city are soooooo tempting but I feel like we will regret it. I keep hearing parking is a nightmare and super expensive. Am I correct in this thinking? Thanks ya'll :)

Our NPC for all schools is within about $1,000 of each other except for NC State which is quite higher. Honestly, for some reason the NPC for State is out of range for us. I feel like we are missing something somewhere with that. We wanted State to be her safety school :( I've considered telling DD to just nix it from the list but she is hesitant.

ED is binding. It is a commitment that the student WILL attend the school if accepted. You know early, your likelihood of acceptance is higher, but you can't compare financial packages. Most schools don't suggest applying ED if finances is an issue.

DD has been taking the ACT as her end of year exam since 8th grade. She was advised to do this by our annual test proctor because she kept testing out of his material. Our state accepts the ACT as the end of year exam but not the SAT. The ACT separates all test dates into different reports and you must pay for every single report. I hate to pay all of this money for tests since 8th grade. Also, she recently sat through the test administration from H@LL and we have mentally scratched that exam. I tried to cancel the score before it was graded and they said we couldn't :cursing: I won't get into details but so many things went wrong on test day that should NOT have happened in any standardized exam. Period. So, if DD releases all SAT exam scores, can she just submit some of her ACT exam scores? I would like to avoid the expense of all of the ACT reports.

Is this something you can decide when tax time comes or do you have to know how this will work when you pay for the semester? Thanks

For those who have mentioned it, we simply can't apply ED - too risky financially :( She will apply early action where possible and not binding. A few of her schools do have that option so that's great. DD is a writer and she plans to work this summer on the common app essays and she already has a few award winning pieces that could be great addition (where applicable) to her application because they do make her interesting. She is also signed up for a workshop this summer that walks students through filling out the common app and she really hopes to have much of her footwork done during summer break because some of her schools have early application dates for admission and/or scholarships.

Duke is always a reach, just my personal opinion.