Charleigh, just as an FYI...I've never heard URM used in the college arena as anything other than a race other than white. A lot of times schools will use URM/1st generation together, but they are referring to two separate groups, URM as I just defined it and then 1st generation (regardless of race). Obviously, there is some overlap between the two, but belonging to one of the populations does not automatically put you in the other. I'm surprised the solicitations you are getting from Princeton and Harvard are blurring the two! High stat's kids from either group are definitely in demand. Hopefully, others can chime in on whether I am correct about this since I know you wouldn't want to unintentionally missrepresent your daughter's URM status:)

Wait....your daughter is both an underrepresented minority and a first generation college student? With her test scores, she is going to be in extremely high demand. One thing I would suggest is that you and your daughter seriously consider eliminating the geographical restriction on her college choices and then target schools that meet full need without loans and have additional targeted programs for URM and/or 1st generations. If the application fees are a financial hardship, ask for them to be waived. We couldn't cast a wide net due to my dd's health issues, but we absolutely would have otherwise done this. Limiting yourself to a certain proximity to NC really, really limits a high performing kid! There are so many wonderful schools out there for high-performing kids, many that do a really good job with financial aid. The problem is that most of these schools have low acceptance rates and so they are reaches for everyone...hence the need for the wide net. I honestly believe that, barring disasterous/obnoxious admissions essays, UNC Chapel Hill is both an academic and financial safety for you dd. My computer is acting up, so I can't post a link, but search on the UNC website for Carolina Covenant. Also, search on scholarsprogram to see some of the merit scholarships available--as an instate student with her stats/academic background, I wouldn't be surprised if she gets some merit aid. I also think she has a good shot at Honors Carolina...my dd who was also initially attracted to Wake, loves her small discussion-oriented honors classes. I think safety schools are really hard with a high performing kid. Would your dd really fit in at Queens, Furman or Elon? How important is having a high-achieving peer group? For my dd, it was super important. I would leave NC State on the list as it attracts the top STEM kids in the state there will be a strong peer group. What about Alabama as a safety? The honors program attracts top kids due to the guaranteed financial aid based on test scores.

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My daughter was awarded 27 credit hours at a large highly ranked public research university. She is an Econ major. At her school the econ sequence is a 1 semester introductory course followed by a calculus intensive intermediate micro course and an 1 semester calc intensive macro course. Her AP micro/macro got her credit for the intro econ course and another 3 credits for a non-econ major intro course. So she got 6 credits and met the prereq for the intermediate micro/macro courses. There is no way that the AP courses were comparable to the calculus based intermediate courses, but she had no problem skipping the intro course. I know other schools she looked at had separate semesters for the micro and macro intro courses and if there is no calc prereq for those courses and they are followed by intermediate micro/macro courses, then I would think taking the AP credit should be no problem. She got credit for AP Stats which allowed her to take a 400-level economics statistics course her freshman year and again she had no problem jumping right in. She also placed out of 2 semesters of calc and went directly to a 3rd semester multivariable course with no problem--but she has no plans to go beyond that in math--she absolutely hates calc and I honestly don't think she would have made it through 3 semesters at college (from a torture perspective!) so taking the AP credit and only suffering through one semester was the best thing ever! She needs the calc 3 credit to enroll in some upper level stats classes in the stats department. In my dd's case she had no limit on the number of AP credits she could use to meet her distribution requirements. This was the big difference with some of the private schools she was considering. Even the ones that gave credit for the AP courses would not allow many, if any, of the AP credits to fulfill their distribution requirements----thereby, making the credits useless in terms of graduating early.

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Don't nix NC State! My dd's need-based package was actually slightly better at State than UNC...and both schools had better need-based packages than any of the private schools (only subsidized loans--whereas all the privates had non-sub or parent loans in the package!) plus the merit aid offers just didn't make a dent in the total cost difference. I've only heard of 1 instance in which someone attended UNC over their preference of State due to need-based aid differences, so something might be off about your calculations. Your dd's list looks very similar to my dd's initial list a few years ago, except that she did not bother applying to the Ivies (couldn't go north due to breathing issues related to cold temperatures) and refused to apply to Duke after visiting. I think she ended up applying to 5, with a lot of schools dropping off during the fall when the reality of yet one more app. essay sunk in and the fact that if Emory didn't work out she would choose UNC or (State as a safety) over any other school on her list. Unfortunately, both UNC and State have October EA deadlines, but you are not notified of their decisions until the end of January, so waiting for EA results before applying to other schools doesn't work, but definitely prioritize the "match" private school app's in order of interest level.

I don't think so....my husband figures out the prior year's allocation of her financial aid the following January when he does our estimated tax return for purposes of filing the next year's FAFSA. You definitely don't have to conform your allocation to anything official the school sends out.

I know in our case it made sense for my dd to declare the income from scholarships so that my husband and I could take a federal tax credit. I think there were some threads on here about it, but if not there are definitely thread on college confidential. If you can't find the info you need pm me and I will have my husband explain it in detail.

Here's a link to a college confidential thread on the FAFSA timing change: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1810698-big-changes-coming-to-the-fafsa-beginning-2017-2018.html

The financial aid process is changing beginning with the the 2017/2018 school year. For the 2016/2017 school year and prior, folks filled out the FAFSA financial aid stuff based on the prior year's tax return. So for the upcoming 2016/2017 school year, aid is based on the 2015 tax return. In January/Feb of 2016, most folks filed estimated tax information on their FAFSA and then will update when the actual tax return is filed--The conventional wisdom is you file the FAFSA as early as possible to get the best aid, assuming you qualify. This means that you will typically be filing the FAFSA before regular admissions decisions (not early action or rolling admissions) are known and you list the school on the FAFSA form anyway. Beginning for the 2017/2018 school year the timing is changing so that folks will be filing the FAFSA in the fall of 2016 using the 2015 tax return. This should result in the financial aid decisions coming earlier in the process instead of the March/April. And yes, because of this transition, it means that for both the 2016/2017 and 2017/2018 financial aid will be based on the SAME 2015 financial data, so some folks are going to benefit or be hurt, if they happened to have an anomoly in their income in 2015. Not sure how the change impacts folks going through the admissions process in future years. I assume you will be filing the FAFSA forms at the same time you are working on submitting the college apps.

Absolutely.....ozone-producing air purifiers are a big no-no for asthmatics! We use the Austin Healthmates which contain a carbon filter and do not produce any ozone.

Rosie, we used a great chiropractor years ago when we lived in NJ and he definitely helped my dd with asthma and other health issues. There seem to be chiropractors on every block in NC, yet I haven't been able to find any recommendations for one in areas other than standard back-type problems and sports injuries!

Thanks everyone! We do have high quality air purifiers that we use regularly in both my dd's bedroom (which goes to her dorm room while at college) and our great room. She has always breathed so much better in the salt air at the shore, which is why I am intrigued by the concept of the salt inhaler. She also has had great luck with nasal saline rinses for sinus infections.

Thanks everyone! We do have high quality air purifiers that we use regularly in both my dd's bedroom (which goes to her dorm room while at college) and our great room. She has always breathed so much better in the salt air at the shore, which is why I am intrigued by the concept of the salt inhaler. She also has had great luck with nasal saline rinses for sinus infections.

to ease symptoms or seasonal allergies and asthma? This is for my college age daughter whose allergies and allergy triggered asthma seems to be getting worse each year. She's already on Advair, uses various nebulizers and some otc allergy meds (although she is allergic to many of the inert ingredients, so this is tough). Trying to figure out whether there is any merit to the above or whether they are complete scams! Thanks! Nancy