How old will your child be when he starts college (redshirting)

[love2read]

The redshirting thread got me wondering if many of you have children who will be starting college when they are almost 19. I've had a few go at 17 (won't do that again, at least not full time), a few at 18 and I have one coming up who will be closer to 19 when he starts college.

[chaik76]

If we continue on the path we are on, my oldest will be nineteen when he begins college...he will be eighteen for his entire senior year of high school.

 

My youngest isn't school age yet, but I anticipate starting him in K at five, and him being eighteen for freshman year of college.

[Mrs Mungo]

My eldest just turned 14 and is in 8th grade. Unless we accelerate for high school she will start college at 18. My middle will be 18 but barely (summer baby). My youngest will be 18.

[Renee in NC]

Yes - he will turn 19 in October of that year. I don't know if he will be in college, though.

[H.S. Burrow]

My oldest will be 18.

 

My youngest has an August birthday. We are thinking that we will have a "bonus" year after his senior year before college. I'm not too comfortable with my son starting college 2 weeks after he turns 18.

 

But we'll see how it looks when we get there!

 

 

[joannqn]

My oldest two will turn 17 in December and January of their senior year.

[mktkcb]

summer bday 18, summer bday 18, fall bday almost 19

[Heather in AL]

Both my kids will be 18 when they graduate high school/begin college.... ds will turn 18 in May right at the end of his senior year, and dd will turn 18 in Feb. of her senior year.

 

The above is, of course, providing we don't accelerate high school (and we aren't planning on doing so, but we're keeping the option open).

[Daisy]

I really have no clue what age she/he will be when they go to college.

 

If they continue on the present course my daughter will be 17.5 and my son will have just turned 18 when they graduate from High School.

 

I worked a year before going to college in order to save up money to go (still went to college at 17yo) but anyway, I have no clue how old they will be. But it doesn't really matter. There are students of all ages going to college.

[littlebug42]

Mine will both be 18 getting ready to turn 19 in October and November. I was 17 getting ready to turn 18 when I went 1200 miles away from home to go to school. I don't know how my mother did it although my sister was 17 getting ready to turn 18 when she went to Army boot camp. I don't know which would have been harder.

[LibraryLover]

If she begins as she hopes, our dd will be nearly 19 and is very mature & clearheaded.

Edited January 5, 2010 by LibraryLover

[Rosy]

I have one who will be just barely 19 (late Aug b-day), the rest will be 18.

[Ellie]

I would have been 18 (July bday; graduated at 17, was 18 the next month). Mr. Ellie was 17 (September bday; graduated at 17 in June, started c.c. in August at 17, was 18 the next month; cut-off date in Calif is Dec. 2). Both dds would have been 18 (May bday), except that they started taking c.c. classes when they were 14.

[swellmomma]

My oldest will be turning 20 when I graduate him, dd will be 18, ds6 will be 18, and little dd 17-18 we will see as she gets older how she is doing. Due to birthdays(all between the end of July and mid Sept) all the kids should be graduating at 17, but I am holding them back a bit with gap years to wait for maturity levels, especially with my oldest ds.

[TravelingChris]

My oldest was 16, my second will have either just turned 18 or about to depending on the start date of the college, and my youngest will be 17 and 3/4 if it goes the way she wants (she doesn't want to be 18 and 3/4).

[AngieW in Texas]

My oldest will be 18y6m, middle will be 17y11m, youngest will be 18y3m.

 

I was 17y11m. My dh was 16y10m.

[QueenCat]

My youngest ds will turn 19 during the summer between graduating high school and starting college.

[prairie rose]

If we keep a traditional schedule, my oldest will be just turned 19. My next son will probably be ready to graduate around 16/17 as will my oldest dd. But that doesn't mean I will graduate them then unless there is a very good reason to do so. Plus that's a long way away, so much could change between now and then.

 

My youngest two, currently 3.5yo and 21 mos would graduate just after their 18th b-days if we are going by the starting K the September they are 5 rule. But my 3.5yo is already reading and learning to write so who knows?

[MotherMayI]

I guess my boys are all "red-shirted". My hope is that they take advantage of going to JC and getting their associates for their Jr/Sr years. They will then all be 19 (2 April birthdays and 1 late August) when they start a 4 year college. My dd is too young for me to know.

[ereks mom]

ER graduated high school at 17, turned 18 a month later, and started college the month after that.

EK will graduate at 18, and will turn 19 about a month after she starts college.

 

Dh & I both graduated high school at 17. Dh turned 18 the month before he started college, and I turned 18 about a month after I started college. Nowadays, our state's cutoff for school age is September 1, while back in my day, it was December 31. Because of that, when EK starts college, she will be almost exactly a year older than I was when I started college.

Edited January 5, 2010 by ereks mom

[Nestof3]

Our eldest was 18 when he started. He graduated in November, started in spring semester, and turned 19 that April. He'll turn 20 this April.

 

He CLEPed out of two courses, so he started with 6 credits. He took a summer school class as well, and after this semester, he will be ready to start taking classes at the local 4-year university. So far, he's been taking classes at a local community college for $1,800 a semester. :)

[SonshineLearner]

I'm planning on my son at least... getting an AA before he goes away to college... I'm hoping that he can really have a great learning experience... with not too much $$$ owed. I'd really like him to go to New St Andrews... and if he does that...... We'll owe more... and he'll have to probably go at the regular age of 18...

 

Carrie:-)

Edited January 5, 2010 by NayfiesMama

[Suzanne in ABQ]

The redshirting thread got me wondering if many of you have children who will be starting college when they are almost 19. I've had a few go at 17 (won't do that again, at least not full time), a few at 18 and I have one coming up who will be closer to 19 when he starts college.

 

 

Dd1 will be barely 18 (July baby). Ds will be almost 19 (Nov. baby). Dd2 will probably be 18 (another July baby), but she's quite precocious at 4yo, so who knows?

[JenneinCA]

If we manage to wait that long my oldest will be 17 (will turn 18 in October of Freshman year). My middle will do the same, start at 17 and turn 18 in October of Freshman year. And my youngest will be 18, he birthday is in May.

 

Reality is, my oldest is likely to start college classes much much earlier than that. Perhaps as early as twelve. (Eeek that is scary to type!)

[AnitaMcC]

The redshirting thread got me wondering if many of you have children who will be starting college when they are almost 19. I've had a few go at 17 (won't do that again, at least not full time), a few at 18 and I have one coming up who will be closer to 19 when he starts college.

 

Well, I have one 14 yr old who is taking a class next week.

[Cedarmom]

My son will be 19 when he begin full time at a college. He has taken a few classes at the community college though, so I'm not sure which you're counting. I'm glad I waited until he was older. He is very bright but needed the time maturity wise.

[chaik76]

If we manage to wait that long my oldest will be 17 (will turn 18 in October of Freshman year). My middle will do the same, start at 17 and turn 18 in October of Freshman year. And my youngest will be 18, he birthday is in May.

 

Reality is, my oldest is likely to start college classes much much earlier than that. Perhaps as early as twelve. (Eeek that is scary to type!)

My eldest is likely to start college classes very early too...but we hope and plan that he will go away for college after high school (we think it is a great growing-up tool), so that is what I based it on. Even if he got a BA/BS before graduating high school, I would then count going on for an MA/PhD as his first going-away-to-college time. I didn't count community college/local university time at all...as I think the going away part is one of the integral parts of a true college education.

[sassenach]

My oldest will be 18 1/2.

Ds7 will be 19 shortly before or after he starts college. We red-shirted him, because he is a late August birthday.

Dd5 will 18 shortly before or after she starts. She is also an August birthday, but she was ready for K.

[Cera]

It looks like both kids will go away to college at 17, probably with some cc credits. Of course they will have the option to stay at home for an extra year or so if they aren't ready but I am fairly confident they will be.

[Laura Corin]

They'll finish school at 18, but I'd encourage taking a gap year if they want to, so starting university at 19.

 

Laura

[Tap]

Ds will graduate high school at 17 and turn 18 just before fall semester starts. He could graduate a term early because he went into public highschool with #3, 8th grade/highschool credits. But, it is quite likely that he will start college next year, so he will be 16, finishing both highschool/2years of college at his regular highschool graduation date of 17. If he doesn't do the combo hs/college he is anticipated to graduate with a special diploma (magnet school-math, science, technology) and 4-5 AP credits. He has his choice of programs at this point.

 

 

Even though he has done well, if I could do it all over again....I would have kept him in a 2nd 8th grade year and spent some time delving deeper into topics of his choice, doing a lot of research and reading. In No way would it have been a remedial year, but more of an advanced study year, before we started highschool. Once I told him my regret...he wishes I would have also. If he isn't ready for a 4 year school, at 18 we may still do the same, hopefully incorporating some intern opportunities for him as well.

[Amber in AUS]

Over here most kids turn 18 during their first year of University, so they begin aged 17. I expect that my DD will go 1 year early, my DS should be spot on although it is a little early to tell for him.

[hsmamainva]

My oldest son will be 19. He has Asperger's and I'm taking the high school years slowly with him. He should be in 10th grade, but he's doing 9th grade work and, according to our homeschool records with the county, he's in 9th grade.

 

He also needs that extra year maturity-wise.

 

(My oldest daughter graduated at 18 and my youngest son will graduate at 17, as he has a late September birthday. My youngest has been held back in public school and is repeating 1st grade, even though she should be in 2nd grade - she autism, and is more affected by it than my oldest son, so she probably won't go to college, but who knows?)

[Chris in VA]

My son was 19 and turned 20 less than a month into his Freshman year at college. We held him back in 3rd grade, and he entered K as an almost-6 yo because of the cut-off dates.

 

He did his senior year in a summer plus fall semester, then worked the rest of that year and into the summer before college.

[laughing lioness]

Our oldest was 21- (turned 22 between semesters). Our second will be 20 this August and may or may not go this coming fall. It's not a given that they go, though we hope that they do. We (o.k. I was) really into advancing them ...you know, my 7 yo is doing 8th grade english and 5th grade math- geez, there was so much pressure back then to prove that your homeschooler wasn't M.R....but now, it just seems like there is SO MUCH to do with them, that it's really a waste of time to rush. Does that make any sense? This summer we decided that our end of August ds (just turned 15) would be a freshman this year.

My dh and I both started college at 17/18 (I turned 18 the week school started, he did 2 weeks later). While we could certainly do the academic work, the time management was difficult for both of us, and I certainly wish I'd been more socially mature.

[EKS]

Oldest will be 18.25. Youngest will either be 17.75 or 18.75, depending on when he graduates.

[elegantlion]

My ds has a September birthday. He will turn 19 at the beginning of his freshman year.

 

If it had been up to me he would have started school a year earlier, but he missed the cut off for prek and K. He turned 6 right after starting Kindergarten. In the end I think it will be a good thing.

[Guest Katia]

Oldest was 16

 

Middle was 19

 

Youngest will be 18

[Mrs.MacGyver]

Looks like all of mine will be 18. But it all really depends on what kind of opportunities crop up. If they plan on playing sports, they will probably go straight in, but if they aren't I would love for them to do a "gap" year. I started college after just turning 18 (and would loved to have gone earlier - emotionally and maturity wise), but realistically, I could have used a year or two of real life work/intern experience so that I knew what I wanted to do with myself. I was ready to leave home, but not ready to decide my life's path...is that clear as mud?

[Meriwether]

My oldest will turn 17 about the time she graduates (May birthday). I don't think I'll be too excited about sending her away to college then. I wouldn't mind cc until she turns 18. The boys should turn 18 about the time they are ready to start college (fall birthdays), but to be honest, I wouldn't worry as much about them if they were away from home.

[zaichiki]

But it doesn't really matter. There are students of all ages going to college.

 

:iagree:

[LynnG in Arizona]

I just sent my first daughter off to college a few days before her 18th birthday. She turned 18 on the second day of classes. :) I've been happy with that decision . . . in fact, her senior year was tough because she was mentally ready to "fly the nest".

 

My second daughter will likely go off to college when she is 17. She will turn 18 at the end of November during her freshman year.

 

Now, after all these discussions on red-shirting (both on this board and in other circumstances), I am wondering what to do with my next two kids.

 

My 3rd daughter turns 5 at the end of October in fall of 2010. Do I start her in kindergarten? Yes, I know I can go at her pace and not worry too much about labels . . . but even as a homeschooler I think the grade level is somewhat important. (Sunday school classes, community sports, etc.) She does seem a tad young to be starting K this fall . . . but on the other hand I think she would seem ridiculously "old" to start a full year from now.

 

And then there is our only boy, who has a mid-July birthday. It's too early to tell much about him. But assuming he has "average" intelligence/maturity (no significant learning or social issues), what do I do with him???

[Denise in Florida]

Haven't read all the replies yet. My oldest dd turned 18 in May after finishing high school and went off to college in August. I thought she was just barely old enough and encouraged her to take a gap year, but she wanted to go. We used traditional timing and started K when she was 5.

 

My younger dd also started with traditional timing and will turn 18 in November of her senior year. She says she wants to start college immediately, but I would prefer she wait a year also. Why do younger children just seem so young at any given age? :confused:

[AnitaMcC]

My kids will go off to college when they are ready.

 

Niece turned 19 in October of her first year of college. She graduated with honors last May.

 

Nephew#2 turned 18 the week before he started college. He would have been better off being delayed but it wasn't really our choice as he came to us just before he started 4th grade and he was a state ward. He passed every class in high school... barely at times. He is a very bright kid (scored a 28 on ACT) but very immature and has a lot of emotional baggage. He ended up failing out of college.

 

Ds#1 is 14 and will be 18 at end of April of 12th grade. He will be taking his first college class next week. If he does as he planned out... he will graduate high school officially end of his 11th grade and attend CC full time in what would be 12th grade and earn his associates by age 18 and 2 months old. He will then go off to university as a transfer student when he is 18 1/2.

 

Dd is 14 and she may do similar to her twin brother. She hopes to graduate high school at end of 11th grade, attend CC full time in what would be her 12th grade. But she may take an extra semester or two of CC to finish her degree. She may go at a slower pace to finish the college courses required for her degree.

 

Ds#2 is 10. He will turn 18 beginning of March of his 12th grade. Don't know what path he will take. He will have same opportunities as his siblings. If he works hard he can graduate early and attend CC (dual credit or early graduate) for associates degree before going off to university or whatever.

 

Ds#3 is 8 and will turn 18 end of April of 12th grade. He will have the same opportunities and it will be up to what he does/capable that will guide his educational path. It really depends on him... he is on autism spectrum (very high functioning but very immature). He may need a bit more time to mature and become more independent. At this time he still isn't able to even cross the street on his own or go anywhere on his own... he doesn't comprehend safety issues very well.

[Carrie12345]

Ds started out in public school, and we did not hold him back because of his August birthday. If he were still in ps, he would graduate at 17 and start college within a week or two of turning 18.

 

We are considering knocking off one of the "middle" years, so he could potentially start college as a very new 17yo. We don't plan for him to go away to school as a freshman, so it's all good, imo. :)

 

My second daughter may wind up in a similar position (but with a July birthday instead of August).

 

My other two are likely to be the traditional 18yos.

[Paintedlady]

Mine would both be 18 when they started. One has a winter bday and one has a spring bday.

[nukeswife]

If mine decide to go right after graduating high school, my oldest would be 18, my middle dd would be almost 19 and my youngest would be just turned 18

 

It's really up to them though. I have no expectations of them going, that's something they need to decide for themselves.

[Carmen_and_Company]

Taz started @ 19 & doing great

Storm will be 17 unless she does a gap year

Blaze will be 18

[Old Dominion Heather]

Mine will be at least 19 when they start, because we want them to take a gap year and work/travel. I think starting college at 16 or 17 is one of the worst mistakes people make. I saw my sister and my best friend flounder after starting early.

[Tree House Academy]

Both of my kids can graduate as early as 17 if you go by birthdays and public school type advancement. If we speed up in highschool and finish our credits early, they could be taking classes at the local university by the time they are 15 or 16. I did this when I was in highschool as well (private school on a college campus). If you mean, how old will they be when they "go OFF" to college - then not before they are 17, but I prefer not before 18.