<p>@ MaryOC - We also are subject to a 3% fee for using a credit card to pay for tuition. Vendors that accept credit cards get smacked with a fee by the cc card companies. I’m sure they decided to pass it on to the parents when we all wised up to washing it through our accounts for points/miles/etc. Before everything was online we sent checks, fees were minimal (or associated with ISF). Once they went online and took cc their revenue dropped by 3%…they had to make it up somewhere. I’d rather it be a fee for using a credit card (something I can control by using an e’check) vs. just raising tuition (which I know they do anyway).</p>
<p>Militarymom – glad no one was hurt and insurance came through. Every trip has a low point, and it sounds like you got yours out of the way right up front!</p>
<p>1st semester tuition isn’t due til Aug 11. That’s four rounds of lotto away. Wish me luck.</p>
<p>True, Blue…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Wouldn’t that be nice? Good luck!</p>
<p>I may just go get a quick pick for one of the big jackpot games in my area~</p>
<p>Militarymom- WOW! Hang in there!</p>
<p>We just got the Welcome Packages mailing today! Five baskets delivered throughout the year and a student advantage card (good for discounts at places like Target.com and BarnesandNoble.com all for the low low price of $120!</p>
<p>Surprisingly it also included a student notice, indicating how sad the students get, written by A. Graham.</p>
<p>And to think I was feeling left out about all the other CC parents getting this and not me :-)</p>
<p>momofzach - I loved the note about how sad my student will be by me not sending those overpriced, mostly not wanted or needed stuff. My poor sad DS…</p>
<p>We got the Student Advantage notice, but it was by itself and $20.</p>
<p>MM - you are an amazing woman. I thought I was a good juggler. I’m nothing compared to you.</p>
<p>I woke up at 6AM today panic-stricken, that with 13 days til take-off, we would never get everything done. DH & DS came thru - 2 of 3 boxes to be shipped next week are packed. The third is for his current bedding, towels etc that are going to school w/him. I broke down & washed his sheets too. I felt guilty reading about you super-moms. Tomorrow we’re buying DS’s smart phone & my iPad. YIPPEE. Gives us time to get used to it. Feeling better now.</p>
<p>MM - Glad you were able to get settled a bit, hope the heat isn’t too bad! Missed hearing from you! </p>
<p>I still haven’t gotten the “care package” push, feel kind of left out. Already told ds about it and his sisters all agreed that they would be the best ones to pick out stuff for a care package and not some company. I think that will be some fun for us to look forward to. We didn’t do the 18-for-18 birthday thing so we have lots of little chotsky to pack up.</p>
<p>FlMathmom - I did the same thing and washed the sheets and towels today - felt like I was the bad mom of the thread! Good thing I did though because those towels had soooooo much lint, just ridiculous. </p>
<p>I am just a little panic stricken because ds is moving in basically a week early for band camp - I have received normal move-in info but I haven’t received anything from the band dept yet. They actually move into their rooms with the help of band frats and sororities and then the next day go away to band camp at another campus - so he needs stuff packed for camp seperately. Wish I had the details because yes, I like to plan. He found out another suitemate is also going to be in the band so he won’t be totally alone. We won’t be at orientation at all so the “send-off” is going to be odd, awkward and quiet.</p>
<p>MM - wow! Sorry to hear about the accident and all the hassles, but glad that everything seems to be under control now!</p>
<p>We don’t have the option to pay by credit card – guess they didn’t want to incur the fees – can’t blame them! Too bad for us tho :)</p>
<p>I paid the first semester bill a few days ago too. All of his financial aid (loans and grants) is still in the “pending” column, but they’re not trying to bill us for that. And already there are $180 in new charges to go toward <em>next</em> month’s bursar bill. And he hasn’t even gotten there yet! ($130 for a PE class, and $50 “administrative fee” for the meal plan, wth?)</p>
<p>Would love a pointer to the non-stinky overstock.com mattress topper. I’m not buying DS a mattress topper at this time, but if he asks for one after he’s slept on the bed for a while, we’d probably send him one, so having the link handy couldn’t hurt. I suspect that whatever he ends up with for a bed will be 1000x better than what he is sleeping on at camp now! I don’t know how we adults all survived college without memory foam mattress toppers ;-)</p>
<p>also washed D’s towels…so much lint, glad that I did it…</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>mathmomvt, probably because when we were students is when they purchased those mattresses and they are still kicking around all these years later LOL</p>
<p>^^ ours were not even twin XL, so we were able to just bring random sheets from home 
But that also suggests that it is not the SAME mattress as the ones our kids will be sleeping on :)</p>
<p>Here’s a link to the 3" Green Tea Topper:
[Dream</a> Form Green Tea 3-inch Memory Foam Mattress Topper | Overstock.com](<a href=“Overstock.com: Online Shopping - Bedding, Furniture, Electronics, Jewelry, Clothing & more”>Overstock.com: Online Shopping - Bedding, Furniture, Electronics, Jewelry, Clothing & more)</p>
<p>and the 2" Green Tea Topper:
[Dream</a> Form Green Tea 2-inch Memory Foam Mattress Topper | Overstock.com](<a href=“Overstock.com: Online Shopping - Bedding, Furniture, Electronics, Jewelry, Clothing & more”>Overstock.com: Online Shopping - Bedding, Furniture, Electronics, Jewelry, Clothing & more)</p>
<p>Gosh, all the sizes are the same price – you could buy a King and cut it in half and have TWO twin XLs for the price of one :D</p>
<p>MM: It’s nice to hear from you. As usual, your life sounds hectic and stressful, but somehow you mangage to deal with it all. I hope that things calm down and you get settled into your new home shortly.</p>
<p>Home safely after the 12.5 hour trip back from Michigan yesterday with my five teenage travelers. About 4 hours away from home, we started a round-robin iPod session. Each of us took turns picking a song to play through the car stero. On my turns, they got introduced to Cat Stevens, Chicago, James Taylor, Carole King, the Beatles, etc. It was great fun and made the last part of the trip go faster.</p>
<p>Here’s one stretch of songs. “Dearest” by Buddy Holly. Then “American Pie” by Don McLean–a tribute to Buddy Holly. Then “Buddy Holly” by Weaser. Then “The Saga Begins,” Weird Al Yankovich’s Star Wars parody of American Pie. Very clever kids.</p>
<p>I posted some pictures of the trip on the shutterfly account.</p>
<p>Oh, how I hate this excessive heat wave thing. It’s 102 here now, feels like 112. Back at the lake cottage it is 75. </p>
<p>The second tuition bill came today, adjusting for the physics lab fees. But we are still missing the scholarship check from the Cotillion for Achievement. (Some of you will remember the waltz lessons!) I’m putting off paying it until the last minute so we can see if the check arrives at the financial aid office before the payment deadline. Don’t really want to overpay!</p>
<p>MilitaryMom: You hang in there, lady. I’ve told my kids that how you handle adversity makes all the difference in your life. You are a shining example of it.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I called Penn and told them that there were scholarships coming, and asked if they wanted me to lay out the money and then get a refund. The person I spoke to told me not to do that, he would put a temp. credit on my account so the scholarship (1/2 for this semester) was reflected in my balance due. It might be worth a call to ask.</p>
<p>Thanks all, for the welcome back messages.</p>
<p>Our big shopping push will be this weekend- computers, printers, clothes, school supplies - all tax free. D is just driving me crazy- she has PMDD which is mostly controlled by medication but her adhd does get noticeably worse at this time of the month. She went out shopping and all she came home with for herself was a pair of flip flops and the wails that she hates shopping. Actually she must like it more than me since she voluntarily goes and does it. I think she is missing her thrift store haunts. She keeps wailing that she is bored- which I can sort of understand. For the last umpteen years, she has kept herself very very busy with all kinds of commitments- choirs, sports teams, school courses, work, volunteer work, etc. Here she has nothing- just waiting for college in a few weeks. So now she is playing computer games noisily- another annoyance. I agree with whichever poster said a few weeks ago that it must be the plan to make our soon to be freshman quite annoying these last few weeks so the break from them will be easier. Fortunately, she is finally starting to see the advantage that going to college will bring apart from the academics- today, she mentioned she could go to the gym there.</p>
<p>I was washing towels this afternoon for DS and power went out several times–guess I better go try and figure out where the cycle left off. I think washing it just for the lint issue is good–DS would wash it with his clothes and have lint all over everything–ah the joys of laundry–he’ll learn it the hard way.</p>
<p>Thanks for all the info on paying/not paying tuition. DS scholarship isn’t listed, so I’ll have him give him a call to figure it out. Anyone deal with receiving a scholarship check made out to the school. I’m trying to figure out whether to mail it to the school or take it up with us.</p>
<p>It seems like almost every day we receive some new invitation or letter from Pitt - from Greek organizations to the Choral groups soliciting members- and now we’ve been invited to a big “freshman send-off” party for the Philadelphia area freshman who are headed to Pitt! I’m really impressed so far with how the school is reaching out to incoming students!</p>