Aw, thanks! I always like reading your updates too. Oldest took a year off between CC and 4-year school to work and figure out what he wanted to do. I was so glad he chose something liberal-arts oriented so that all of his credits transferred! Covid did interfere with what he could take and when unfortunately, but he graduated in Media Studies in December and is working as an independent contractor in film editing. He’s also looking for a part time job on the side until he gets more clients, though he may be busier this summer as one business looks to expand. Youngest started out at the CC in pre-nursing, got her CNA, and then switched to Early Childhood Ed. That did extend her stay at the CC a bit! Also, one semester she attended 3 schools, thanks to Covid online options and her transfer school changing up a sequence! We initially looked at 4 schools, but 3 of them would have required an extra semester to a year and just were not feasible. We finally were able to finagle a path at the 4th that transferred 62 credits though. Thankfully she loved it when we visited! She has been there in person since fall, loves her classes, and is graduating in a year. She’s planning to do a summer mission with Cru this summer, so we won’t see her much.

It’s hard to say without knowing anything about the program the student is enrolled in. However, this might help. Look near the end of this article where it talks about number in college. https://finaid.org/educators/householdsize/

Same situation, ACT scores replaced the cc testing for placement, and helped my kids earn scholarships. Additionally, my dd needed the act score for her major at her transfer school. No regrets in taking that, and several benefits.

This can happen with education degrees too. Not so much because of sequencing per se, though that plays a role, but also because the requirements are so tightly scripted and may be specific to the school. Our state has an articulation agreement, but if one isn’t careful, a lot of classes could end up as meaningless elective transfer credits rather than going toward a degree. In education, there is zero room for miscellaneous electives. Some schools were more willing to work with us than others, but the variance was 60-80 credits left to take, depending on the school, after completing an Associates degree. It did take some extra legwork and an in person visit to work things out with requirements and also getting a sequence change approved to make everything work. I definitely needed to be the go-between advisor and do a lot of research, or it would have cost an extra year at the uni, which wasn’t really affordable for us. Cc was a great option for my kids, but did require me to be hands on!

I am intrigued by this app but haven’t tried it: https://photomyne.com/faq/pricing I have used Legacy Box for videos and they handled things well. They do photos—when you look at pricing, 1 “item” is 25 photos. So, if you have thousands, that would be cost prohibitive! They frequently have 50% off sales, and last Labor Day I saw 60% off. Even at that though, 3000 would be “120 items,” wow!

I wanted to respond to this and say, "maybe, maybe not." ANY grant or scholarship that allows the money to be used for something beyond tuition (for example, if the school gave her a grant or scholarship and they allow it to be used toward room and board, or they don't specify that it's for tuition only) can be used for the advanced move. So, you have to know the parameters of her scholarship income. You have to allocate that income as going towards "unqualified expenses" when you fill out the forms if you are doing the advanced method. Also, I'm only familiar with TaxAct, but it's not immediately clear where to enter scholarship income, and I tend to forget year-to-year! This year my dd and I mistakenly put it in as "other income" with the explanation and my dd was going to owe. When we looked at this year's summary compared to last year's, I caught that the program had put it in the wrong place (by our wrong "instruction" to it), so we had to go back and delete and look it up. If you are using TaxAct, here's where to enter any excess scholarship income that is in excess of qualified tuition/fees. When we did it the "right" way, she didn't owe. (Your dd might owe something anyway because of the NEC income, but it should be less if the scholarship income is in the right place.) I felt TaxAct was a bit glitchy this year! There were a couple of times it took us to a wrong screen (things that were true last year that we marked as not true this year, but it still wanted us to go through those parts and wouldn't let us out until we went back and tried going forward again--then it appropriately skipped that section.) Weird. I don't usually have an issue with it.

You can find so much just through googling. I simply googled "where to report 1099-nec on 1040" and found this: https://www.hrblock.com/tax-center/irs/forms/form-1099-nec/#:~:text=You'll use the amount,report it on Schedule C. I've had independent contractor forms since 2008, so I've done a lot of reading on self-employment and taxes each year! I just haven't had that particular 1099, and I also have no experience with it for a student. As an adult, I look for all of the expenses I can to offset the self-employment income--things like travel expenses, gas or mileage, health insurance, equipment expenses--anything to reduce that income means owing less if she does owe something. Whether it's worth tracking that and whether she can claim all of those as a dependent though, I don't have any experience there. I would think there would be at least some she could claim though. (Like, maybe she can't claim mileage if you own the car, but maybe she can claim the actual gas she spent, things like that.) I don't know what other credits may be available for you, but check this: https://turbotax.intuit.com/tax-tips/family/rules-for-claiming-a-dependent-on-your-tax-return/L8LODbx94 And here's another one: https://www.policygenius.com/taxes/who-can-i-claim-as-a-dependent-and-why-would-i-want-to/ If she technically *can* be claimed as a dependent but you don't, I don't know if that means she gets a larger deduction (or whether that would help her). If I'm reading the information I linked earlier correctly, her deduction is her income + $350 up to the standard deduction for her filing type...so that doesn't sound like her deduction would be less if you claim her. I think I would try a sample run of her taxes through an online service (turbotax, taxact etc...) marking that she is a dependent and see what they look like. If it's not favorable, then try it the other way, with her as independent (but *could* be claimed as a dependent), and see if it's better. Just don't submit anything until you decide how you want to do them, and then go through them with her. I know it's a pain!!!

The "advanced move" I mentioned can be used for other grants/scholarships *IF* the grants/scholarships do not restrict their use just to tuition. So, if she has one or more scholarships that are allowed to be used for room and board, then you can allocate part or all of those particular ones for that purpose. It's definitely more to think through and you want to be sure you know what the parameters are of the scholarships. If they specify that they are only for tuition though, then you can't. I usually do some sample runs of my kids' taxes to see if they would owe under various scenarios (and how much and whether it's still cheaper go give me the credit--if it is, I just pay what they owe) and to see what would be most beneficial, but without submitting them. Then I delete the "practice" taxes and have my kids do their own with me there, and I have them enter the scenario that worked out best.

A few links: Is my child a dependent? https://www.irs.gov/faqs/filing-requirements-status-dependents/dependents Standard Deduction - https://www.irs.gov/taxtopics/tc551 This is how it worked for both of my kids last year. They both had different “standard deductions,” and both of their deductions equaled their wages plus $350. Parent or Child: deciding who takes college tax breaks - https://www.creditkarma.com/tax/i/student-tax-credit#everyone-needs-a-break (I reread your post and it doesn’t sound like she qualifies this year, but maybe for other years.) However, if she received a Pell Grant, there is an “advanced move” that could help you receive the credit if her income is just slightly over her qualified expenses. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-utl/Pell AOTC 4 pager.pdf Tax Information for Students - https://www.irs.gov/individuals/students I hope this helps some!

I would encourage you to look up stuff in the tax forms yourself or find a preparer who is more confident/able to advise on college tax issues. I'm *not* a tax preparer or offering any official advice, but I do quite a bit of reading and looking each year because I've had 2 in college and it makes quite a bit of financial difference with how you handle things! #1 - NEC income--basically an independent contractor/self-employed? That is more involved, but not insurmountable. Yes, for over $400 she would have to file because basically, no company is paying medicare tax or social security tax for her and she will have to pay this for herself. (When you are an employee, you pay half and your employer pays half. When you are self-employed, you pay all of it.) #2 - yes, you would claim her as a dependent. "Exemptions" were replaced (I believe in 2018) by a larger "deduction." That doesn't mean she will end up owing necessarily--there is still a deduction for dependents, you just have to follow the instructions since you are claiming her. #3 - she reports the *income* on her forms. If she had less grants/scholarships than qualified expenses, you could take the American Opportunity credit on yours, but it doesn’t sound like that’s the case this year, so she wouldn’t qualify for that. #4 - No--I think he's just trying to say that "exemptions" went away (in 2018). Yes, she's still a dependent (students up to age 24 who are full-time college students for at least one semester of the year are dependents. If FAFSA would make you claim her as a dependent, she's your dependent for taxes.) Anyway...if you google, you would probably come up with the right tax forms and info on all of this. I'll see if I have time later to try to track things down a bit more.

Thanks! Our state lets us file for free anyway and it’s pretty easy, so I don’t worry about that. Was this your first year using Tax Slayer? That could be why they wouldn’t let you import stuff. Tax act only imports it from their own system. Maybe a second year in tax slayer, they would let you import?

Almost this exact thing happened to my dd! She was 5’3” at 12.5 years old. She just grew 1.5 inches this fall at 22.5! So now she’s 5’4.5”! Blew all our minds, but she remembered her cousin growing in college too. She had always held out hope she’d eventually grow, and she did!

Thanks @Lanny, it was nice to hear how you have liked using the various services. We have used taxact under irs free file, but it has an age limit of 56 I think! So, when I hit that, I’ll have to switch to something else. I was bummed when I saw that, because it’s nice to be able to import info each year, plus I know their system well. I know some of the others have varying requirements, so I’ll see what will work out. I remember the price jump you mentioned too! I used taxact when it was cheap…I think $12 or something, and then it tripled one year and I went looking for options. That’s when I found free file and wondered if I could have been using it for free the previous years!

1, right, if you claim her, she doesn’t claim herself. 2 and 3, here’s a good response—it can depend on how you do things. https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/college-education/discussion/if-we-paid-my-son-s-college-tuition-with-his-529-plan-do-we-claim-anything-in-our-taxes/00/752222 4, sorry, I haven’t had to deal with that one, so I don’t know. Maybe your employer has information?

I wonder if it’s some supply chain issue or some ingredient got expensive and they tried to change things? Weird!

Hope everything is okay!

Yeah, I was wondering the same! Good to know!

Lol, open! I don’t know of any friends or family members who close it either!

I still go walking in teen temps and above too. I don’t get enough movement at home otherwise! I did go to a show this fall. It was masked and social distanced, but still felt very weird! When it was nicer out, my husband and I went to the botanical gardens, and that was lovely!

We’ve done car dates. We get pick-up food or specialty coffees and park at a nice nature preserve to eat and talk; then if it’s not too cold, go for a walk after.

Thanks for posting that! My cat loves her kibble slightly wet, and while I do just a small amount and she usually finishes it all, every once in awhile there’s a little left. Usually I see and toss it, but I’ll be more vigilant now that I know it could be bad if left out.

Thanks! I wonder if it will be that way for my dd then. The U specified that they do half- year dorm contracts for student teachers, but since they don’t assign schools that early, I wondered how the kids are supposed to know what length contract to get!

My dd is in the dorms, but she’ll have student teaching a year from this spring and doesn’t know where she’ll teach yet. Did your kids stay in the dorms and commute if needed? Did they try to gat an apartment or something for those few months if the school was farther out? Just wondering how the housing ends up working!

Lol, the meme I saw said something like…2022, when said out loud, is 2020 too. Oy!

I’ve been thinking about “living water” a lot, and I think I’m going to go with thirst. Thirsting for God, remembering he is the one who satisfies, strengthens, enables me to grow etc… and also physical thirst and drinking more water. I have some new quiet time resources and a few books to read to start, and we’ll see how it goes from there. I’m excited!