Yes, we've thought of those things. The cost difference for School A and School B will pay for transportation, and my in-laws are 45 minutes from School A.

So….DS just got a monkey wrench thrown in his plans. School A (highly ranked for program, very expensive for out of state) was his first-choice school all along. School B (in state, honors college, scholarship) was tied-for-first to 3rd, depending on where in the application process DS was at the time of ranking. DS committed to School B on Friday because School A did not offer enough money in the official award letter. DS committed while still hoping that School A would offer him a departmental scholarship. His hopes were not high as he has been told repeatedly that School A is very stingy to OOS applicants. DS paid the deposit, registered for housing and a meal plan, and signed up for New Student Orientation for School B. Even taking those steps, DS asked me to make “one last ditch effort†to see if School A would increase his aid. Fast forward to a couple of hours ago, DS checked his portal for School A and found out that he has been given a departmental scholarship that makes the cost of attendance for School A (out of state & more prestigious) less than the cost of attendance for School B (in state, solid reputation for son’s major). I don’t know if this money was offered because of my “one last ditch effort†or if he was chosen for a departmental scholarship because the departmental scholarship students were notified around the same period of time of my “appealâ€. I have a tension headache and my stomach is in knots with this new information. School A is a 9-10 hour drive from our home. School B is a 1 hour (2 hour if traffic is horrible) drive from our home. I wanted DS to be able to go to his first-choice school and was a bit disappointment when we made the decision that we could not send him. However, once he committed to School B, we began to accept the fact that School B was where he was going and that he’d be much closer to home. DS hasn’t decided what he will do. He wants to wait to get more details about the additional money. I don’t want him to go that far from home bc he has LDs which affect his working speed (he’s slooooooow), and he gets overwhelmed quickly and stresses easily. What to do? What to do?

My DD is also taking geometry using the Jurgenson's text with WHA. Her teacher skipped chapter 10; however, the class is scheduled to start chapter 14 in two weeks.

Monica, can you clue me in on this teacher/tutor on takelessons.com? My daughter is just about finished with her first year of German through OSU German Online. DD loves this and learning German. It's amazing how much she's learned and retained with this method of learning. She has a Skype lesson every week with someone, but it is more about understanding the material and pronounciation. She's not really communicating in German with them...rarely if ever has a convo in German. I'd love to add a weekly session of her speaking entirely in German. One thing we've looked into is having a Language Buddy. This is a service through Center for Cultural Interchange, Greenheart (CCI Greenheart) where a German young adult exchanges living in your home for a certain amount of time with giving (daily or weekly...can't remember which) language lessons. You aren't required to do any tourist activities or anything like that. The exchange person does that on his/her own. I do believe that you have to provide maybe breakfast and dinner and, of course, a private room. We have hosted summer and year-long exchange students through this company, and it is a good company.

Anyone have any experience with asking schools for more money? DS got a financial aid package from his 1st choice school. The "free" money is good, but we would still have to pay more than we can afford. DS wants to call the school and see if he can get more money. How would he go about doing this? Should he call the admissions office or the financial aid office? How should he word his request? If he can get the cost down to in-state tuition here, we will do everything in our power to send him (even though we'll have to tighten our belt to pay that amount). When elder DS went to college, one of the schools offered to give him more than it originally offered to get him to go there, so younger DS wants to at least give it a try. I've encouraged him to do so because the worst that can happen is that the school says no. Any advice (either way) is appreciated.

We got the same good news Matryoshka! DS got letter today with Presidential Scholarship from Rochester Institute of Technology.

Faith, thank you so much for keeping this list updated. To DS's University of Maryland entry, please add Dean's scholarship. He just got the letter.

I so don't want to be one of those cash cows, but DS reeeeally wants to go there. We are anxiously awaiting a financial aid packet, but don't have our hopes up because we've been told by a high school counselor in Detroit that U-Mich is notoriously stingy. There is no way I could commit to paying a lot of money when DS has a full tuition scholarship here in MD. ​

Yes, more than RIT. We are in MD, so we'd be paying OOS tuition.

Last but not least.... DS accepted to Virginia Tech (engineering).

Matryoshka - DS's top choice is University of Michigan. He won't be able to go unless he gets a good amount of merit money.

DS got acceptance letter from Rochester Institute of Technology today. It's a safety, but if they offer him enough merit money, it could be a consideration. Only one more to go and he might find out from that school Monday.

DD is doing DE but only 3 credit hours. She was allowed to join the American Sign Language club on campus. I'm guessing that clubs are for all students and the # of credit hours does not matter.

If you are interested in the course, I'm sure the instructor would be happy to send that to you.

Oops! This was meant for Catherine. Sorry.

I agree also with declining sooner rather than later, but Pegasus' post helped me to understand that DS is not yet ready to make his decision. I'm giving DS more time, so he doesn't feel rushed. DS has always wrestled with making decisions, so I think it's imperative that I give him more time. Creekland, reading your DS's experience was enlightening. I appreciate you sharing it. I'm going to PM you.

Thanks for the advice, Creekland. My rationale for having him decline the nonfavored schools now is because it would give someone else the opportunity to attend and receive a scholarship. However, he's just not ready. As far as the decision on where to attend goes, he makes his own as long as we can pay without him or us taking out loans.

DS has only received 1 aid package from the schools in his top 3, so he cannot really request more aid yet. The two he's waiting to hear from are notorious for not giving much aid. They are very large state schools that (so I've heard) funnel its monies to the graduate students more so than the undergrad students. In addition, I have no idea of how to guide him to appeal a financial aid decision. Pegasus - Thanks for your insight. I hadn't thought of his feelings until now. I'll let DS wait until closer to May 1st.

Is there an advantage to waiting to decline college acceptance offers until closer to the May 1st deadline? DS has been accepted to several schools: his first, second, and third choices; some not in the top three, but worth considering; and three safeties. He’s also waiting to hear from 3 more (one of which could replace a top 3). I think that he should start declining offers to the schools that are safeties. However, DS is hesitant to do so because he’s been offered merit scholarships at 2 and waiting to get a financial aid packet from the third. One of the schools offered him its highest scholarship, which is NOT a full-ride. DS feels like he might be missing out on something if he declines these schools now (as opposed to waiting closer to May 1st). Does anyone have an experience or any advice to share to help me convince my DS to decline now……………….OR to allow him to wait until late April?

Thanks for this info, Faith. I didn't know to check only the list on the 1st page.

Congratulations! USC was a dream school for my DS21 (music major). When he found out that he needed to take 3 SAT IIs, he decided not to apply for undergraduate, but he's going to apply to one of the graduate programs in music.

DS17 liked TPS's CADD for Mechanical Engineering. He did not take their 2nd course in that series because the colleges to which he applied either moved away from using Autodesk Inventor or use a different CAD program.

Another acceptance for DS: University of Maryland College Park, School of Engineering & Honors College Whenever the list is updated, here is the info for DS that I do not see on the last list (newest acceptance) University of Maryland College Park, School of Engineering & Honors College (missing from list) University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC), merit scholarship (correction) Case Western Reserve University, merit scholarship (missing from list) Penn State University (missing from list) Kettering University - merit scholarship

So.... My 17 year old DS and 15 year old DD say, "First, leggings are for girls, and second, girls should not even wear leggings in public unless under a skirt/dress." My 21 year old DS dresses very metrosexual (he’s never worn skinny jeans or leggings, though). I always was upfront with him about how he might be perceived. He was comfortable in his skin and in his clothes. He went to college, made lots of friends, and in the second half of the semester, his friends told him that, at first, they thought he was "gay" because of the way he dresses. Although DS has a flair for fashion and loves extravagant styles (he’s even worn a beret), he now tends to save his fashion for special occasions and for going places where his style can be appreciated (like when he goes to New York or other urban areas). Edited to add: DS now also wears a Mohawk. I say allow your son to wear the leggings in public (as long as they aren’t indecent) and let HIM decide if he wants to continue wearing them in public. But, you should warn him about how he might be perceived.

I agree with this statement. My DD also started dual enrollment courses at 14, and we carefully choose her courses to avoid situations like this.