<p>ucla, when we pay the university (like for room & board or whatever), we always pay by check due to the significant fee they charge for paying by credit card (isn't it 5% or something like that?). It's annoying, but it's sure worth the cost savings. I think you can pay by e-check (where you type in the bank routing info and all that). At least that way you could still do it online.</p>
<p>Merchants (which in this case is A&M) have to pay a fee to the credit card company that can be 3% or so. A&M can't afford to pay 3% of its budget to credit card companies. If everyone paid by credit card, they'd have to raise all their fees 3% to cover it. So, I guess they discourage people paying that way by tacking on the fee.</p>
<p>Can you list the 2 financial institution on Campus? Is that B of A or Wells Fargo?</p>
<p>Timely, I am awared credit card company charge the fee, However not all U tag on that charges by using the cc payment option. Our S1 don't have to do that. Ask your S2 new U next year in CA, don't assume all U do that. That is why I ask which bank is on campus. Then we can set up the account link to that for direct withdrawn and deposit etc. without paying for the fees. It is a profit only benefited the credit card company and not the U. As a smart consumer it is a waste and I do not feel to like giving to them any more of my hard earn dime unless absolutely have to.</p>
<p>The two financial institutions on campus are Wells Fargo and Aggieland Credit union although there are many banks close to campus also. I have wells fargo because it's the only bank that's both in my home state and College Station. I fully reccomend that you use the e-check option when paying fees and such on campus, it charges a flat fee of $0.50 instead of a percentage of your total. It is very easy to use, so it's not inconvenient to pay that way instead of by credit card. I hope this helps you with Financial stuff.</p>
<p>About Fish camp/Lechner:</p>
<p>I went to fish camp and enjoyed it, but airline tickets were much cheaper last summer (stupid fuel prices...) and I linked it with Impact (the Christian camp for freshman) and a different trip I had to be in TX for. Some of my friends from Lechner also had a ton of fun at fish camp, some of them hated it and said it was the biggest waste. If you have to choose I think the most beneficial thing for your son would be moving in the very first move in day (sunday august 16th I think) and spending "Howdy week" (that's what Lechner calls it, the university calls it Gig'em week) with Lechner. I had fun at fish camp but I don't hang out with any of the people i met there anymore, conversely the people I met that first week make up 2/3 of the friends I have now. The Sophomore Advisors in Lechner (they'll be sending your son a letter at the end of June) have a ton of fun activities planned to help "Lechnerds" get to know each other and the school.</p>
<p>You also had a question about dorm furniture? In the modular dorms a bookcase, small dresser, desk and bed are provided. The couch you saw was probably owned by the resident of that dorm.</p>
<p>Weather:
I have no problem with cold weather in TX, but I'm from just under Canada, so the August weather was killer to me. The week you visited (was it spring break for the TAMU students?) was one of the coldest all year, if that helps. Your son can always buy a coat if he needs one, or get one during the winter break.</p>
<p>I think that's long enough for now. I do have a friend at A&M from Camarillo, CA if you'd like me to ask her something specific (she went freshman and sophomore years w/o a car) and if you have any more questions go ahead and e-mail me.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your information, looking forward to the "Lechnerd" information ((:
Q1) Do you need parents to attend NSC? We don't plan to and have email and requested the parents' information. We are concern for those non-mandatory extra fees schedule, health insurance etc that probably need some parents guidance.
Q2) What is the prefer amount of meal plan most "OOS" student will select? Since those long weekend break is not feasible except major holiday.
Q3) How to OOS student deal with summer storage?
Q4) Is helmet “REQUIRE” to ride bicycle on campus? Web site did not mention.
Q5) What to OOS student do in summer? S1 probably will do the Study Aboard Engineering program next year. Anybody has experience with this program?<br>
Q6) Can OOS take summer classes in their own home state? Where is the web site for equivalent credit information for other Univesities?</p>
<p>A1) Whether a parent needs to attend NSC depends on how independent the student is and how involved a parent wants to be. The parental part of NSC is to help them feel comfortable about sending their child off to college. The following is the URL to 2008 parents' NSC handout:
<a href="http://newaggie.tamu.edu/Files/Publications/2008FamilyGuidetoAggieLife.pdf%5B/url%5D">http://newaggie.tamu.edu/Files/Publications/2008FamilyGuidetoAggieLife.pdf</a>
A2) Go with the 105 meal/$200 dining dollars. Parents generally select more meals and dining dollars than students use. Eating at SBISA can get old pretty quick. Imagine eating at Golden Corral day-in and day-out. After a while, cafeteria food will be a meal of last resort. You can always add meals to your plan or buy meals elsewhere on campus but you lose unused meal plan meals at the end of the semester. Remember too, they may be going out to eat with friends on weekends and ordering delivery pizzas at night. There are also lots of off-campus eating places within a 5-10 minute walk from Lechner. Don't forget the college student's ultimate survival food - ramen noodles.
A3) Did not have to deal with that but if an OOS student has an in-state student for a roommate next year or has friends who are staying in CS over the summer, maybe they could help out. This is where it would be advantageous to have a laptop computer vs. a desktop.
A4) Helmets are not required. In fact, I imagine that very few bicyclist wear helmets. It wouldn't be cool to wear a helmet.</p>
<p>A1) Will your student have a cell phone? I'd recommend planning to be available that day in case he has questions about optional expenses or about anything else.
A3) There are storage unit places in College Station. Maybe he could share one with 1 or 2 other students. My S is going to be in California, as you and I discussed before...so we will have the same problem! :-)
A4) Very few students wear bicycle helmets.
A5) Most students go home for the summer, though they may do summer abroad for one summer during their time at A&M. Sometimes it also helps to pick up a summer school class or two at home so he won't have to carry such a heavy load of classes at school. Things like literature classes are good to take at a community college instead of at A&M.
A6) I don't think there is anywhere online that tells equivalent courses for oos colleges. I would suggest having your son ask his academic advisor about that when he goes to NSC.</p>
<p>Honor Freshman Housing
My son received the unofficial notice of Lechner Housing from the Honor Program yesterday. The official notice regarding the housing assignment will come in July from TAMU Residence Life. At that time, name of roomate will be notify. Who is going to be in Lechner, any Local Texan or OOS where we can create a forum and communicate with each other? Thanks!</p>
<p>Carry Over...
A maximum of 100 Dining Dollars can be carried over each semester, with the purchase of another meal plan. No Dining Dollars will be carried over after the end of the Summer Sessions in August (SS II & 10 week Session). Meals not eaten do not carry over to the next semester.</p>
<p>Conversion...
Students have the option of using a Meal for entrance into Sbisa or Duncan or the daily Maroon Plate Special at all other Dining Services locations or you may convert your Meal to a 3 Dining Dollars equivalency to order anything on the menu. Remember, any purchase made with Dining Dollars earns you an additional 8% discount at the register (15% at Sbisa and Duncan)! All Meal conversions must be done at the register upon check out or by emailing <a href="mailto:dining@tamu.edu">dining@tamu.edu</a>, with your name, UIN and number of meals you wish to convert. </p>
<p>Q1) Why won't you want the max meal plan and just convert to dinning dollars later where he can eat anywhere on campus? 105 meal / $200 dinning equivalent to 7 meal per week. Unless you go home weekely, that is not enough.</p>
<p>You know your student better than anyone else. Do you think that they would like to eat cafeteria food day-in and day-out for most of their meals? </p>
<p>It might be okay for the first few weeks or first month but they will tire of it after a while.</p>
<p>Living a Lechner, there will be lots of alternatives within a 5 minute walk at Northgate. There will also be dorm parties, student meetings, and other events on campus where refreshments (pizza, bar-b-que, sandwiches, etc.) will be offered. They will be ordering food delivered to their dorm late at night and going out to eat with friends on weekends. If they have a microwave and refrigerator in their room, they can heat up something there, especially if they want to sleep late in the morning.</p>
<p>They can also buy food with their dining dollars and Aggie bucks at various places around campus. Don't think of the cafeterias as the only place where your student will be eating.</p>
<p>A lot of parents want to make sure their child does not go hungry but don't worry about it. If they run low on meals, you can always add more to the meal plan as needed. They will probably have friends whose parents buy too many meals who will let them have some meals off of their meal plans just to use up the meals.</p>
<p>You would probably be better off using the money that you save by buying a 105 meal/$200 dining dollar plan and using it for Aggie bucks so they can eat elsewhere.</p>
<p>BTW, one of the hazards of buying too many meals is that students eat meals when they might not be very hungry just because they have meals left on their meal plan. That's a contributing factor to the freshman 15's. </p>
<p>By the end of the semester, the cafeteria will become the place of last resort for food rather the primary place to eat.</p>
<p>Text Book
Son2 received mail about 2008 Textbook Reservation Package from "Tradition Bookstore". Are there just list price? How about used books are there good quality and more important same edition as listed in the course schedule? We are aware of quite a few online bookstores and S1 can help S2 about that. The difficulty of online purchase is when professor bundle thing together, that become dicey. Where do most of you get your books? I know there was a post earlier but I can't find it anymore. Sorry and Thanks!</p>
<p>What is the best female dorm at A&M? I am trying to figure out if it really does come out close to Cambridge with the shared two bedroom shared bath. It looks like the dorm is 2400 or so a semester, plus $1440 or so for the meal plan, parking $280. Is this correct?</p>
<p>Taken from someone who is from Texas, whose sister is currently a student at A&M, and who went to Aggie swim Camp for three years, I can only say that their facilities are stunning. The pool is gorgeous and huge, and their Women's program is ranked in the top 5 teams in the country every year. Men's program, not so much. Want to be a good male swimmer in Texas, go to UT.</p>
<p>A&M is great. I'm not that sociable either but the other aggies kinda adopt you, so don't worry you'll make friends. The car situation- it is nice to have a car in the evenings since the busses while reliable are slow after 5. The busses do stop in front of most residence halls. There is lots to do in bryan and college station, no its not dallas but its not a small town either. There are tons of places to eat and shop. The dorms aren't bad, not anything to brag on but they're not worse than any other dorms. The campus is rather safe, and we have an alert system that will send your cell phone text if something does occur. I hope you do choose a&m, its an experience you have to see for yourself.. not explanable. And if you don't want a dorm, there are tons of people looking for roomates who have apartments, condos, or houses- you can look at Uloop.com if you're intersted.</p>
<p>The cafeteria is definately not a last resort for me and i live on campus. I feel that there is plenty of varity on campus so that the students dont get bored of any type of food. I feel that the 150/150 meal plan works for me. I also use a lot of meal plans with my organizations, and if I have extras I normally buy meals for friends that live off campus. </p>
<p>There are lots of choices to eat on campus…Mexican, pizza, salad, pasta, and sandwiches, as well as a coffee shop with some basic food just in the Commons alone. The dining halls (I never hear them called cafeterias…that makes them sound bad!) are actually decent and have TONS of different kinds of food. I live on campus but often eat on campus during the weekend, except maybe Sunday night. Depending on if you get up for breakfast, you could use 15 meals during the weekdays. </p>
<p>I pay 1,600 for my dorm, but that’s a Corps dorm so I think ours are cheapest. </p>
<p>I rarely see students wearing helmets on campus. </p>
<p>Many people stay in College Station over the summer to work or take classes, so you could probably pay a friend a little bit to have the stuff stuck in a closet of theirs or something.</p>
<p>As for textbooks…Don’t buy from the MSC bookstore! They’re the most expensive. You can check online before the semester, or just wait to get your syllabus and order books online from Amazon and others much cheaper than the bookstores sell them!</p>
<p>Bring a car-absolutely. College Station is a rural town, meaning its not walk able, and public transportation is very limited. And its somewhat spread out. Without a car, you’ll be relying on the university buses and bumming rides from friends. Its not impossible, but its a hassle and will limit social opportunities. It’d be different if the campus were near a major urban center or something, but its not very pedestrian friendly.</p>
<p>Greek Life-In my opinion, don’t do it. It seems like you’re just paying to have friends to me. Most of the Greeks you ask though will say they have no regrets and love their frats/sororities. It also kind of depends on your personality. The type of people you enjoyed associating with in high school might help determine if you’d enjoy Greek life or not. One thing that’s nice about A&M though is that there’s a great social and organizational scene outside of the Greeks. Organizations like Fish Camp, carpool, msc hospitality, etc provide the same opportunity to be a part of a social organizations without the ridiculous fees or the hazing. At a lot of universities greek organizations are the only student organizations, but at A&M there’s a lot more options.</p>