<p>Oops, I meant to say 16 yr old in title...
My friend's child is a young rising senior at 16. He will be 17 in his freshman year. Will there be housing issues since he won't be 18? He is just starting the college search. Great grades, wants to major in biochem and will consider east coast schools. Any advice? Or experiences to share?</p>
<p>Tons of Freshman college students are under 18 y/o when they start college - it’s not at all unusual. It shouldn’t be an issue if staying in dorms.</p>
<p>There will be some special paperwork to be done when he enrolls in college – so that, for example, he can get medical care at the campus clinic without having to contact his parents for permission every time. But colleges know how to handle this. It is not unusual for students to start college at 17.</p>
<p>I don’t think his age should affect his choice of colleges. Whatever would have appealed to him if he had been 18 when he started college should also be fine at 17.</p>
<p>More parental signatures will be required on more kinds of paperwork until the student turns 18. Registration for voting won’t be possible until the student turns 18 (although it may be difficult anyway if the college is in an area that tries to disenfranchise college students).</p>
<p>Agreed. It shouldn’t be an issue at all unless something in his demeanor makes it an issue. The college will treat him just like any of the other students. The parents will have to be okay with him being like all the other college students.</p>
<p>One of my daughter’s classmates started college last year at 16 (turned 17 in September).</p>
<p>My daughter is moving into the dorms in 3 weeks and she’s still 17 (and will be for quite a while).</p>
<p>Thanks for the replies. Looks like there won’t be any real issues with housing.</p>
<p>There should be no issues with housing. I know a freshman last year that was 16 when she entered college. Maturity aside, she had no problems in terms of housing protocol. I’m not aware of any special things that need to be done (at least for WashU); I entered at 17 and took care of it all myself.</p>
<p>My daughter entered MIT at seventeen, and there wasn’t any kind of “special paperwork” to fill out. She was treated like any other student. However, MIT does apparently keep track of students who enter at age 16 and younger, or so I’ve heard.</p>
<p>Stanford doesn’t let students under 18 use the fitness facilities on campus. Why? Who knows…</p>
<p>The only issue we had filling out paperwork when our 17 year old was filling out registration stuff was we had to sign in a few places where had he been 18 we would not. Not a huge deal at all.</p>
<p>Here is a thread with some suggestions:</p>
<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1177575-what-issues-exist-if-your-child-college-minor-under-18-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/1177575-what-issues-exist-if-your-child-college-minor-under-18-a.html</a></p>