<p>The added info is very helpfu. Given that she’s probably unsure of what she wants to do/may change her mind again soon, I’d probably drag my feet a little bit. A while the costs “might” level out if she lived at home, I,m going to ask honestly if you’do want that or if you’do think it would be good for her. One of mine? The answer is a strong no to both questions. She’s dormed and now has an apartment at a local school. It is affordable for us, and the best thing for her. I could not let her go another local school if it was only affordable by living at home. This may be a factor against a transfer if you put it out there now. </p>
<p>My husband had no intention of going to college. His parents said, yes, you’ll go for one year before the final decision. His brother drove home after the first weekend at a big school and said, no more, I’m moving home. His parents made him return. Both finished with degrees and are successful today. This is a very close large family. I’m saying this because sometimes parents need to show a little tough love (unless it’s something very, very serious) and let things play out over the first year. I think it’s too soon for her to leave. If after a year, she still feels the same, I’d pursue it then.</p>
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<p>OP, it sounds like your D is putting in some quality thinking into trying to figure out who she wants to be and what she needs to do to get there. </p>
<p>Powercropper’s questions are good ones for the supportive devil’s advocate approach. </p>
<p>I think you and your D can come to an adult meeting of the minds without you having to pull rank. </p>
<p>While it might be a bit of money, if you can swing it, it might enable her in a career that she really likes. </p>
<p>Isn’t that the end goal anyway? </p>
<p>I am not sure where the OP is, but in California, to become a teacher, the teaching credential program is a year long program after graduating with a 4 year degree. To teach Health or PE, the candidate would need to take the corresponding “CSET” (California Subject Exam for Teachers). A four year degree is required, and although there may be required prerequisite courses, an actual degree in Health or PE is not required. So a degree from either school would be fine. </p>
<p>If it were my D, I would go and see her face to face to see what the real issue is. If in fact it is nothing more than she thinks the program at the other school is a better fit, I would encourage her to stay, at least through the year, finish up general ed requirements and play a season of lacrosse. I imagine that a sport “in-season” is a lot more fun, than “off-season”. </p>
<p>Since there seem to be a number of major changes in a short period, if she were my daughter, I would try to take off the pressure of picking a career at such a young age, and encourage her not to pick a major yet, and just to explore a variety of majors. Maybe job shadow over winter break or try a variety of classes next semester. When my oldest was a freshman she had NO IDEA what she wanted to major in. She narrowed it down to 6 or 7 that she was considering. We sat down together and compared the various requirements for each of the majors and saw what was similar and built a plan from there. It wasn’t until the end of her sophomore year that she decided for sure on her major, and she was still able to graduate on time, without taking any summer school. </p>
<p>In my area, our athletic directors are teachers who also coach, and they have one period in the day for their AD duties. They have a secretary that does the majority of the scheduling, paper work, etc… Also, in our area, for high school, the athletes don’t take PE. So the PE teachers, who LOVE sports are teaching PE to kids who, for the most part, hate it, but are required to take it, and it isn’t as fun as they imagined it would be. </p>
<p>To answer your questions… The new school my D is looking at would allow her to graduate with certs in P.E. and Health, which, in theory would make her more employable… at a cost of 35K more over four years. She will also have the 27K of Stafford loans to pay back when she graduates bringing her debt total to 62K. That is a lot of debt for a P.E./Health teacher. If she stays at the OOS school she is at now will only owe the 27K since we’ve told her we will pay the rest. I’ve told her living at home makes it difficult to be part of the college community, which, IMHO , is one of the rewarding aspects of college attendance. Moreover being a college athlete is made more complicated when you do not live on campus and besides nothing says she makes the lacrosse team at the new school since the new school, although still Div III, has a more competitive program and she will be a transfer/walk-on. I think what we will do is ask her to finish out the year while researching other schools, including in-state less expensive schools. Our hope is that this was nothing more than a bout of homesickness and after a full year she will opt to remain where she is. If she refuses to stay there we don’t have clue what we will do. We have asked to visit her this weekend and discuss this face to face and she has told us she is “too busy” … This parenting thing is not for sissies. </p>
<p>I would suggest, as a few others had, to look at this backwards, in terms of feasibility.</p>
<h1>1: If she wants to transfer to start in January 2015, her paperwork should have been completed already. So first, she has to check with the proposed new college about whether she can start there in the spring.</h1>
<h1>2: If she is able to transfer, she has to find out if the courses she took in the fall will transfer. They may not, and that could be another semester paying for college unless she feels she can take a high courseload (but she is an athlete, so that is unlikely).</h1>
<h1>3: If she wants to play lacrosse where she is going at a varsity level, she needs to have that completely squared away or realize it might not happen this year, or possibly at any other time. Lacrosse is a spring sport, so she would be expected to either miss a season or be on board for pre-season at the new school. (as you mentioned, she apparently thinks she can just “play”, but the possibility of not playing has to be brought up). She would need to get a release from her current college, or do a self-release.</h1>
<p>This might be helpful for her: <a href=“http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/AMA/compliance_forms/DIII/DIII%20Permission%20to%20Contact.pdf”>http://fs.ncaa.org/Docs/AMA/compliance_forms/DIII/DIII%20Permission%20to%20Contact.pdf</a></p>
<h1>4: If the money is not much of an issue, it should not factor in, BUT I agree that she should live on campus if a student-athlete let alone to get the most out of the college experience.</h1>
<p>If she were my daughter, I’d request that she plan to switch for Fall 2015 instead, find out if her courses transfer to the new college, take courses that will definitely transfer to the new college in the spring, and square away the lacrosse issue.</p>
<p>That is, after I spent a little time confirming that her motivation is not affected by “freshman blues” in any way.</p>
<p>The thing I didn’t get in the responses I saw above, is that there was talk about courses one has to take in order to coach. It varies by sport, and by state. In my state, you have to take specific courses run by the HS athletics association which cannot be substituted by any other course, college or not, in order to coach in HS. In order to coach a club team, the requirements again vary by sport, but here is something about lacrosse:
<a href=“Coaching Resources | USA Lacrosse”>http://www.uslacrosse.org/participants/coaches/coaching-education-program.aspx</a></p>
<p>The licensing is outside of college as well.</p>
<p>As for ADs being paid a lot or a little, that depends on the district, and probably the state. If an AD is in charge of only the sports teams, and not PE and health, and not other extracurriculars, the salary can be low, and essentially a stipend. But if you factor in those three categories, it becomes a full-time job with decent pay. However, just like being a principal being a teacher first, it is more likely that you’ll need ground-floor (coaching and teaching) experience in order to move up to administration. </p>
<p>Good luck to her, and NFN, if she is “too busy to see you”, she is clearly too busy to transfer for spring 2015 because of all that would be involved and the time line.</p>
<p>Nope, parenting is not for sissies. (((hugs)))</p>
<p>Because she is so busy and can’t see you, I wouldn’t give this another thought. IF she brings it up again, tell her (if this is how you feel), that you would like to discuss it in person and see whether she makes that happen. Let her know that time is ticking and that as the days turn into weeks it means windows of opportunity for change are closing. And then wait for her to make the next move.</p>
<p>And not that it matters as I don’t think you live in my state, I don’t know a single female AD. In my state, they are all football coaches. The football coach IS the AD.</p>
<p>Who is going to pay that additional $35,000 for her at this new school? If it is not going to be the parents…the student needs to hear that. There is no question, she can find a less expensive option than a private university to get a teaching certificate in health and PE.</p>
<p>Where does she intend to teach, ie which state(s) are on her radar? She needs to consider this in her choices. Perhaps an instate school would be the best choice for her proposed major and also save a lot of money. The conversation should include finances and her realistic goals for her future location. Winter break is a good time for her to rethink her options. Finish the school year at her current school as 24 credits usually needed to transfer anywhere. Consider cost/benefit ratios for various options, including some she hasn’t yet thought of. She will have had her freshman experience at her chosen school then pick the one for the academic track that suits her and the budget.</p>
<p>Be sure to give her time to relax, unwind first. But- when January comes she needs to study her future options seriously. You need patience to wait until then. Transfer applications do not have the same deadlines as incoming freshmen ones.</p>
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<p>Your D is exploring career options and what it will take to achieve them. You are not taking her efforts seriously. This is unfortunate in my opinion. You are treating her like a fickle kid. </p>
<p>Obviously having her borrow $35K for this career is a bad idea. If you can’t afford to or don’t want to pay for that, you need to calmly, seriously, and unemotionally work with her, by phone, to understand that this new school is unattainable financially and is not an option. She can’t borrow the money without your co-signature, which I assume that you feel would place the rest of your family at undue risk. You can offer to help her research more affordable options, or not. </p>
<p>Whether she lives at home, or plays lacrosse, or whatever is not your call, IMHO. </p>
<p>I do know one female AD, at Rutgers. She is the victim of a lot of negative publicity, some of which seems to be warranted.</p>
<p>It would be notable, to be a female AD. I live in the Northeast, and usually the AD is not the football coach because the football coach is too busy during the fall season to do anything else but teach PE and coach football. Coaching PE is pretty easy to be honest.</p>
<p>The AD at my daughter’s high school was a very administrative job. He hired coaches, he assigned fields and practice areas (inside and out), he ordered food for the snack bar, dealt with the parent booster groups, determined if the athlete was eligible to play that day (by pulling school attendance records and grades), worked with the maintenance crews, and I’m sure a million other things. He introduced the students when they had the signing day for colleges. He was the first one there to open up the fields and usually the last to leave, although the coaches did have keys.</p>
<p>At another high school my kids went to (private) the athletic facility was a $40 million dollar complex that was run separately from the high school. The AD was in charge of it all, from renting the facilities, setting the fees, making sure the gym/complex was available for times the school needed it (school masses, fundraisers). The school teams needed to rent practice and game times. The local swim teams rented the pool and needed access to the pool (outdoor) and locker rooms. The baseball fields were used almost every second of the day on Sat and Sun. There were many soccer tournaments, almost every weekend. A business degree was much more important than any coaching or health degrees, but knowledge of sports was important too.</p>
<p>It is nice to have a goal of being an AD, but that’s like saying she wants to be president someday. There are a lot of roads to get there and many steps to take before it is even a possibility. The college degree is just the first step.</p>
<p>I would imagine that a candidate would be able to teach health, despite not going to a college that offers the “health certificate” by taking a few classes and maybe passing a test. This might be something her current school could answer (maybe the department of education?) Also, there are LOTS of jobs in sports besides trainer and athletic director. Lots of schools have sports management programs (many programs are masters) and these might be worth looking into as well. I feel like at her age she is too young to be boxed into one thing or another. Maybe a visit to the career center on campus would be helpful. </p>
<p>If she is too busy to talk to you and it isn’t even in season for her sport, then I would be too busy to worry about or research this for her as a top priority. Tell her you will discuss over winter break when you both have time to consider options and costs, and she can decide then whether to fill out transfer applications for the next fall. And you will know that even if she does this, she is not obligated to transfer if she does get in (D1’s boyfriend filled out transfer apps after soph year and got into a top school, but decided not to transfer from their LAC after all – which worked out fine for him). Filling out apps gives her options, but she does not need to decide for sure until late in the year – and once she is into the season with her team, she may change her mind.</p>