@HoggirlOn one hand he will feel good if he is accepted to one of those schools. But, on the other hand, that is an enormous loss of income. I wonder if he has also looked at MBA programs where they are I don't know the word for this, but I know at least one former colleague who got his Ph.D. in Education by attending one weekend a month. It was from a reputable school in Florida. I think there are programs that are Online (or partially Online) from very reputable universities that he could do while working and hopefully his employer would pay part or all of the cost. He's very smart and he will find the best path forward.

Over many years I developed a lot of trust in PayPal because of their Customer service etc. Now PayPal has a company called Xoom. That would also be a top choice of mine. As Bootsie wrote, one can shop around and maybe get a lower price and hopefully excellent service. This is the URL for Xoom: https://www.xoom.com/

Follow-on from the OP. DD went by herself for 9 days. She went to 3 places, in 3 countries, which I believe is one too many. All different. A glimpse is IMO better than nothing and if she wants she can go back to any of those places in December after the Semester Abroad program ends. Germany and most of the EU will end Daylight time on 31 October and then the USA will end Daylight time on 07 November. I will wait until 07 November and then will begin researching airline fares and schedules from different places in Europe (she will probably be in Spain but that's not in concrete) back to RDU during the first week of January which is a "Peak" season. There will probably be major airline schedule changes on both of those dates when they change back to Standard time. And possibly some additional flights will be added?

This is OT but for the Safety of your DD I am going to put this here. Belize City is only a few hours by bus or car from Cancun. Between them in Mexico are Playa del Carmen and Tulum. There are Pyramids in Tulum. I have been there. And we took a boat from Playa del Carmen to go to Cozumel. This happened last week in Tulum: In a bar there was a shoot out between 2 drug gangs. A woman from India who was living in California was eating Dinner. Also a woman from Germany was eating Dinner. Both of them were killed. After that, the German government put out a travel warning that German tourists there should stay in their hotels. Message: The state of Quintana Roo where Cancun and Playa del Carmen and Tulum are located is now dangerous, like on the Pacific Coast in Acapulco (especially Acapulco) and other cities. I hope your DD has a very good time in Belize!

@MamaSprout I googled for "best apps to learn precalculus" (without the quote marks). I suggest that you do that or that the potential student does that. Then... Near the top of the first page, where it says "People also ask", for each question, at the end of the line click to expand that and study what it says... I don't know about doing this with an App on a Tablet, but I think it may be very tough sledding for someone to teach themselves PreCalc. Here's a link about "MOOC" courses. One can Audit them for Free. That's another possibility. https://www.edx.org/learn/pre-calculus This is the link for an ASU course on edX. Possibly that would be good? https://www.edx.org/course/precalculus Note: Prerequisites: MAT117 College Algebra & Problem Solving (Estimated 9 or 10 hours each week for 15 weeks) IMO it would be very nice for a PreCalc student to be able to have an Instructor or T.A. to explain things that one has difficulty understanding and to grade exams. Good luck to the student!

I believe that a student living in Delaware may have a "plus" when they are considering Admission. They look for diversity in the students they are admitting and probably not a lot of students from Delaware are applying to them.

kokotg wrote: " but a school that meets need will close that gap (according to their own formula. They won't just take your FAFSA EFC; they'll take things like home equity into account). You can find a list of schools that meet demonstrated need online and try some of those NPCs. The trick with those, of course, is that they're generally the hardest schools to get into" I don't know if either of these schools have the Major, but I believe these 2 Public universities can/will/do "meet" full Financial Need. That also entails Loans... University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and University of Virginia And yes, schools that can do that will probably require the "CSS Profile" in addition to the FAFSA. Fortunately, you only need to do the "CSS Profile" once!

@mermaidkitchen I suggest that you and your DS, immediately, sign up for accounts on the FAFSA web site (Parent account and student account) and each of you complete your part of the application for FAFSA. To begin with you can specify a minimum of one school. Later you can add to the list of schools they send the information to. There is more $ available now, because the new FAFSA form becomes available on October 1 of each year. I read, approximately 4 or 5 years ago, that approximately 50% (?) of the students who do not submit the FAFSA application, because they assume they are not eligible for Financial Aid, were in fact eligible for Financial Aid. If a student receives Financial Aid from the U.S. Government (Pell Grant, etc.) then I believe that will increase the possibility the school may also have Financial Aid available for them. PLEASE NOTE: (a) There are always FAFSA forms for 2 different school years on their web site. Be sure that you submit the form for the proper school year and (b) This is the URL for the FAFSA web site: https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa (c) A Grant is a gift to the student. A Loan must be repaid... Good luck to your DS!

@sbgrace You wrote: "We spent 2 years with Algebra 1--working through CLE and Lial's. It was torture for both of us, but I felt that his Algebra 1 foundation was pretty strong at the time. It was misery, though. That was 2.5-3 years ago I think" IMO 2.5 or 3 years, without using the material is about like never having studied the material before. My DD took Pre Calc when she was a Senior in High School. During her first semester in university, she couldn't get into the Calc course she had tested into. No space available... The 2nd semester, when she was starting the Calc course, she said that she didn't remember anything from the Pre Calc course. When the Instructor mentioned something she remembered she was relieved and she did very well in the course, but I am sure it was tough sledding at first. Random comments and thoughts below. Possibly something below will give you an idea. Books... I am rereading all of the replies to your thread. So far, I see mention of books. Question: Have you tried things on the Internet such as Khan Academy? There are probably many web sites for Math. It has been a long time since my daughter was in High School Math so I don't know which web site(s) she used when she didn't understand something. It is not unusual for one to study something and not understand and then be exposed to the explanation of another Instructor who explains something differently and then it will click. Eg: Instructor ABC leaves one confused but then Instructor XYZ explains it differently and things click into place. I wonder about his retention if he is looking at videos instead of books. Bocky mentioned a live teacher. Yes. Having someone available to answer questions or explain things can be a huge help. My DD was a "Distance Learning" student so she was able to send questions to the Instructor. Also, when she was studying for the SAT primarily she used KhanAcademy but for the ACT she had access to a very low cost program from one of the huge test prep companies whose name has slipped my mind as I write this. That course had a lot of videos the students could watch over and over if they wanted to. Also, and more importantly, occasionally they had sessions where the students could ask questions of a Live Instructor. My DD found being able to ask those questions in a Live session was extremely helpful. If he is in a course in a CC that has "Office Hours" available I would encourage him to take advantage of that free tutoring from the Instructor and/or T.A.s Extremely helpful... Much good luck to your DS!

I read there were three (3) guns on the Set. He was told the gun was "Cold" (unloaded) when it was handed to him. First rule when people begin to handle firearms is that there are no "unloaded" weapons. Always assume a weapon is loaded! Second rule is not to point a weapon at something/someone you do not want to kill if necessary. Sadly there are many accidents where people are killed by "unloaded" guns.

I was a "Member" of IEEE for many years. One of the reasons I joined was to be able to participate in their "Group" insurance policies. I believe the cost may have been somewhat lower, but the coverage more extensive. I hope your DH will look into the professional organization(s) available to him.

ieta_cassiopeia wrote: "In community college and college, your son will probably be advised to review his books and lecture materials multiple times to prepare for exams, whichever subject he does, so you can call the review "study skills - where you get to be ahead of many other students because lots of them don't learn why this is a good idea before college" In 2020 or early in 2021, I took (audited free) a MOOC course on Coursera. It is one of their most popular courses. "Learning how to learn" is (I believe) the title. It is a great course IMO. If I took away one thing from that course it is that one should study in 25 minute "chunks" and then take a break and do something unrelated to studying. The brain will continue processing what was studied in the previous 25 minute "chunk". Several 25 minute Chunks are much better than one long study session.

@TheReaderI hope this goes well for your DS and your family! It sounds like a lot of research has gone into this addition to your family. When our DD was about 6 (?) my DW went out of town for a few days. I thought she said we could get a Bunny but sometimes there is a language barrier and apparently I misunderstood her. So, DD and I went to the local "Farmers Market" ("Galeria" in Spanish) and we bought a rabbit and cage and brought it home. Set it up in the laundry room. Well, when not in the cage it cut wires in the Washing Machine (Whirlpool). And then one day it got out. One of our dogs (Medium size) apparently killed it. That was at the worst possible time. DD came home from school with a friend eager to show the bunny and it was deceased. Much much good luck to your carefully planned adoption of this Bunny! And thank you for giving the bunny a 2nd chance to live with a nice family who wants it!

The "short math break during the Summer" may have been extremely bad for his education. Students without his issues forget a ton of material, if they do not study during the Summer. IMO it is better to study 12 months a year and have the continutity. Suggestion: Test him thoroughly in Algebra 1. If he is not rock solid with Algebra 1 go back to that. Algebra 1 is the foundation for just about everything and a weak foundation leaves one on the edge of failure. Much good luck to him!

I would have a couple of copies printed out. In case her phone does doesn't work. Have the file on her phone and have that printed out. When we had that horrible issue at our local airport (CLO) in April 2016, my Stepson took a photo of the Photocopy my DW had put into the baby album. He sent that photo to my DW via WhatsApp. The Avianca Ticket Agent was very kind and she gave us the 2 Boarding passes (one to Bogota and one to Orlando) but she told us to go to a place in the Bogota airport (I could take you there it's near the domestic check-in counters) and have copies printed out, which we did. I don't think Avianca took the copies but they did look at them... NOTE: After having the photocopy of her birth certificate, showing who her parents are, it might be nice to also have available for the airlines and immigration a Notarized note, signed by both parents, showing who her parents are and giving permission for her to travel from point A to point B for that program. With regard to the ton of paperwork you did, that may save you a lot of time in the future. My DD applied for the NSLI-Y program a few years ago (around 2018) for a Summer program. There were a lot of forms and a doctors visit and 1 or 2 vaccinations. Well, later, when she filled out university applications, a lot of that work for the NSLI-Y program came in handy and saved a lot of time. (She was a Finalist or Semi Finalist for NSLI-Y. It is quite selective with appproximately 15% acceptance if what I read is correct)

We live in Colombia and they are incredibly strict about Minors traveling with only one parent. In 2016, when our DD was a Minor, I screwed up terribly. First, I did not have a photocopy of her birth certificate showing who her parents are. That information is not in passports. The photocopy would have cost about 5 cents, so it was not the cost. About 3 A.M. when it was our turn at the Ticket Counter to check-in, our trip to Orlando was nearly cancelled due to my error. Thanks to a wonderful Avianca Ticket Agent (I sent a letter to the President of Avianca commending her) and the fact that my Stepson and his wife had returned to our home from the airport and that my DW had a photocopy of the Birth Certificate in an album in the Living Room and WhatsApp, we were able to salvage the trip, but it was a miracle. Both of her biological parents were with DD and we had that problem... I thank God for his help that day!

+1 for WhatsApp (despite the fact that it is owned by Facebook) and for Signal. Both are "end to end" encrypted. We live in South America and almost everyone here uses WhatsApp and we use that to communicate with DD. She's on a "Semester Abroad" program in Europe now. Except for the day of the long outage on WhatsApp recently. we use WhatsApp. As an alternative, DD had Telegram installed on her phone so I installed that for emergency use. Telegram is NOT end to end encrypted.

NSLI-Y is at this link: https://www.nsliforyouth.org/ It's a program of the U.S Dept. of State for strategic languages.

In the title of this thread one option is Travel. I suspect that the current age (17) of the DS would be problematic, for him to check into hotels, for example. After his 18th birthday that will become easier. I don't know about Internship programs for High School graduates, but possibly they do exist. I do know that there are programs, for example NSLI-Y for foreign languages that might be available to him if he is interested in languages. For Math there may also be programs (Texas A&M University and other schools are possibilities) and in other subjects there may be possibilities for him. Good luck to him!

@regentrude Would you agree with me that if a student is going to seek a BSEE degree, for example, that it is better for the student to take Calc 1 in the school that will issue the degree? My reasoning is that they know best how they want to teach it.

@MamaSproutThat's much better than what many students do, but IMO it is not ideal for your DD. The best situation is for STEM students to take Calc 1 in the school where they plan to get their B.S. degree.

@MamaSproutThe title, which has been updated, includes "Easy" and "STEM". They really don't go together. I think the idea you have now of her taking courses in the local CC is good. Then, when she enters a STEM college or university, she will have a basic understanding of Calc and she will take the courses from Instructors who know how the school wants them taught.

@mermaidkitchenNote: There are always forms for 2 different school years on the FAFSA web site. It is VERY important that you and your DS fill out the form for the correct school year! Both of you will need accounts on the FAFSA web site. This is the URL where you begin: https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa

The GED may be problematic for him getting into a college or university? Depends on the school whether they will accept a GED or not. Depends on the laws of the state you live in if a public college or university is the goal.

@Kevin RhoadsThere are some things about ASU that may be of additional interest to you. One is that they have some courses where the students can begin for little or no cost and then if they like their grade they can pay for the course. There is a very recent thread somewhere on WTM, perhaps in the past 2 to 4 weeks, discussing that. The drawback to that is the quality, which may or may not be top notch, because of the number of students they must enroll to make that business plan be profitable for them. That model has pluses and minuses and is worth spending some time looking into. I doubt that you would know who the Instructors are prior to beginning so that's a crapshoot. Will those courses transfer to where you want to transfer them? The comment above about "Office Hours" is very important. Something you should take advantage of!