I come from a long-lived family. Unfortunately if you have auto-immune illnesses, you get rejected for LTC insurance, even if you are young. The people most likely to need the insurance can't get it. It didn't occur to me to look at LTC when I was in my 20s, pre-diagnoses.

I found one reason that some people may getting more sticker shock this year. The asset allowance is much lower than last year. For example a 45yo couple could have $28,200 last year but only $17,400 for next school year. May make a difference, if say, you are a cash-only family and saving for a new car. See Table A-5, p.19 in each (I can't paste a screen shot.) 2016-2017: http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/100615EFCFormulaGuide1617Attach.pdf 2015-2016: http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/090214EFCFormulaGuide1516.pdf I'll never understand why a single parent has a smaller allowance. There are two of us, so if one is disabled or sick, the other can make up some slack. A single person needs more of an emergency fund, because if he/she is disabled, there is no one to make up the difference!

It's a weird donut hole of people who make too much to qualify for aid, but not enough to pay sticker price for college. It particularly hits people in high cost of living areas and those with just one child. I was expecting it, so it's OK, but even I was surprised at the number. (Though I do regret not discouraging ds from visiting a particularly awesome LAC.)

Just to make sure: The number after the letters EFC is the expected family contribution and need-based aid only kicks in after costs go above that, right? Having only one kid and a decent income and emergency fund, I wasn't expecting aid, but I will say I am surprised at how high the number is (about 30% of gross, well over 40% of take-home). I'm very thankful that the public colleges aren't allowed to raise their rates to what they think I can afford :laugh:

No fever doesn't equal no infection in every case. Sometimes your body doesn't respond with a fever even if there is a true infection. Our household has had lab verified cases of strep throat and bacterial pneumonia in the past few years with no fever. (I felt like the worst mother ever when I let ds suffer with a sore throat for about two weeks before I took him to the doc. No fever, so I thought it was just drainage/cold.)

Degrading (or breaking down) histamine is good for allergic people. We react to the histamine so less is better. ETA: Histamine is an important part of the immune system and not all bad. It has a function. It just causes a problem in overabundance or with sensitive people.

This is the one that I use when on antibiotics, and I've just started taking it full-time to see if it makes a difference in the inflammatory disease. Though some survives at room temperature, I've been told that it is most powerful if kept refrigerated.

It's not about weight loss, but I've read some interesting ideas about probiotics and histamine/inflammation. Early research suggests that some bacteria produce histamine and some degrade histamine, which would be important for people with allergies or inflammatory disease. These are just the first couple of links that showed up in my google search: http://www.optibacprobiotics.co.uk/faq/which-probiotic-for-histamine-intolerance http://thelowhistaminechef.com/these-probiotic-strains-lower-histamine-rather-than-raising-it/

The degree looks similar to a B.S. in Applied Physics at some universities. Those may be worth adding to his search. This is just the first one on my google search: https://science.iit.edu/programs/undergraduate/bachelor-science-applied-physics With Applied or Engineering Physics, I would say that it would be easier to get a job with just a B.S., though as with engineering, a master's is desirable. A more theoretical physics B.S. mostly prepares you for graduate school, though I've found that often physics degrees do provide for many free electives which allow you to choose to take more career-type classes and tailor your degree.

I really wondered about the terminal illness thing, also. With everything he's said, it seemed like he was planning on suicide by cop. His goal from the beginning seemed to be to die to progress his cause.

When Dinosaurs Die by Laurie Kransy Brown and Marc Brown (author of the Arthur the Aardvark books) When Bad Thing Happen to Good People by Harold Kushner I have a list somewhere in the clutter, but these are two I keep on hand.

I'm pretty sure that could be used as an argument against having kids. "Parenting" definitely puts stress on the person undertaking it (so does working, going to school, or most anything with worthwhile benefit, I think.)

Instructor, definitely. Ds is going to college to learn from smart people who are passionate about their field. He's not paying money for someone to read powerpoints to him. He does know that once he gets to upper level classes, there is often only one choice of professor, but while he has an option he is taking advantage of it.

I would suggest looking for a family bathroom first, but it's not a big deal. My reason may be a bit different, men's bathrooms just aren't kept as clean (and sometimes are downright gross). Kids touch things :-P

I can't press Send either. I really could have written your post!

The article I read said "short" battle with cancer. Maybe it was so quick, he hadn't let on to the media and it hadn't had time to leak. :( We just watched Galaxy Quest this weekend. It was the first time ds had seen it.

I liked Warren Buffet's take on leaving money to kids. Most of his funds are going to charity. He felt his children should be left "enough money so that they would feel they could do anything, but not so much that they could do nothing." http://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/1986/09/29/68098/index.htm I would love the idea of money not being an issue in the college decision!

Just reached post-acceptance, technically we have one deferral, but it is out of the running now. Ds has two reasonable choices, both state universities. One, he is DE at right now, quite a commute, but possible. The other has a small satellite campus near our home, but the university itself is also quite a commute. He has been accepted to honors programs on both campuses. I am now very, very tired. I am glad that the decisions are in, and there are no more test/essays/interviews. DE starts tomorrow, and he (and I) will actually be able to focus on classes instead of applications. It was torture while it lasted, but I'm really glad that we did EA for all of the schools and are done. ETA: Realized that I sounded disappointed, instead of just tired. We really are happy with our options and ready to move forward.

It did seem like easy low-key stuff: PTA, Junior League, etc. I can't help myself, but I do think it likely she actually had enough energy for TeA in the evenings!

I added ds to one of my cards when he started dual enrollment in the fall. They have to carry an ID everywhere anyway, so he'll need to keep up with a wallet, lanyard, or something. If he just needs money for on campus, check and see if they can add dollars to their college ID. At ds's school I can add money to the ID online and it can be used like a debit card all over campus.

I love this! I think it is the perfect answer. After reading through all of the article, I now think I might be a bit disappointed if the writer's don't chose this direction!

We stayed at a B&B that gave us a 10% discount for cash. We reserved the room on a card, but gave her cash when we left.

The assets portion of the FAFSA doesn't come from the tax return. I imagine the income section only would come from 2015 and the assets questions will ask about current assets (around the date of filing). Unless one is really lucky, I imagine they will be lower than on the previous FAFSA.

So the FAFSA still says the information is available to the states on that page and order may matter. Does that mean it is only available to the state itself and not the state schools? I couldn't quite figure how or where the information would go to the state without going to the state universities.

So I got it mostly done with estimates, but I got stalled with putting the colleges in order. It mentions that states use the information, so I did a search and got a little freaked that it might effect admissions decisions?!? I'm thinking we might should wait until admissions information is in before I submit FAFSA. I'm off to search the forum...