This is the first year for this so I sure that there are a lot of unhappy campers. My son let his previously reserved room go to get a 2 bedroom suite with 2 of his suitemates in his current dorm . He doesn’t have a roommate yet as the other 2 are rooming together .
at S16’s school, all students are required to live on campus the first 2 years, but the 2nd year most have to move into the apartments, which are more expensive and most are 12-month leases. We were fortunate that our son managed to grab one of the 10-month leases since he’ll be home in the summer following sophomore year, but I can’t really tell if he’ll be with his friends who registered at the same time to share the apartment or not. It got very confusing, but at least we got confirmation that he has a space to live. Problem is, it’s run by a separate company so he can’t move out of the apartment complex without owing for the entire lease period. He’s not great about following up to make sure everything is in place, but he thinks the other guys’ families have completed the paperwork and that they are all set for next fall…guess we’ll find out right before he moves in! It is a very stressful process!
DS did not get into the dorm with his service frat so he will have to register when his turn comes after spring break. We knew it was a long shot since that dorm was one of the least expensive on campus, but he would have liked to be done and with his group. He likely now will end up in the most expensive dorm on campus since it is the only one reserved for sophomores. We did his budget based on the expensive dorm so it will work out fine but it would have been nice to have those $$s to spend on other things.
Just catching up with posts. We have housing woes as well. For D16’s residential college they do not guarantee housing for sophomore year. I have been mentioning to her that she needed to start trying to figure out housing starting her first semester. She kept assuring me that if she didn’t get a room in her college she could stay in another for the year. She has two friends that also planned on doing he same so they were trying for a suite together. Sunday night they found out that none of them will be able to live on campus next year. They are now trying to find off campus housing and having no luck. D16 texted me yesterday to tell me she found an apartment for $2500 dollars. I pretty much laughed at her. Not sure what she will end up doing. My guess is she will need to start looking for a room to rent late July.
@lifegarding: I am almost totally confused by what you wrote. Though sophomores must live on campus, most of them move into apartments - apartments run not by the university but a separate company? Why must one cover an entire lease period if one moves out because something more advantageous came up? Can your student find another tenant and have them take over his portion of the lease, thereby waiving that expense, were something to come up?
My head is spinning now.
D still has several weeks to go before deposits for next year and housing choices happen. She and her roommate are planning to stay together and go with the sophomore girls’ dorm rather than the coed one. She begins spring break next Thursday (no Friday class) and when she gets back on Match 13, that’s when class selection for fall (!) and dorm choices happen. This semester is going by fast-she’s done with midterms (has another 3.7 something) and school is over for the year on April 28.
So sorry some of you have such stressful housing situations! I chose the college I attended primarily because of the 4 I got into, it was the only one which could guarantee housing for FRESHMEN, never mind the upper years.
In other news, there’s a boy who seems to have passed D’s very high standards. He is working three jobs-one at Fisk-as he prepares to start there next fall. Right now he is taking online classes, having moved from CA. He cooks like a pro, has a photography and video business, AND works as a janitor. He will meet up with D in the library and do his online work while she studies, and she sits in the media lab and watches him edit. D’s BFF from home gave him quite a grilling and he passed-we are still trying to manage the time difference and our schedules to do the same.
@Waiting2exhale yes, it was a very confusing process! Students at S16’s school must live on-campus for the first 2 years, but one option that fulfills that requirement is apartment housing. One apartment housing complex is officially owned and run by the campus, but the one he picked is not. A separate company is responsible for oversight of the apartment complex, but only university students can live there and it is right next to the campus grounds. The apartment complex has study hall rooms, and free shuttle services, but we sign a lease with an outside company rather than the campus. The school has other apartment complexes nearby, but those would not count as living on-campus…only the option S16 picked or the campus-owned complex. My guess is that the campus ran out of property for building more on-campus housing, but they contracted with a company that runs student-only apartment complexes to keep the requirement that they have to live on campus for the first 2 years? It feels like a hybrid of on/off-campus housing, but I like that it has security similar to the campus and only enrolled students can live there.
Just popping in from Parents of HS Class of 2017 – we are working through admissions cycle and sharing our questions and experiences. Just wonder if you all have advice for us you might what to impart – http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/class-20xx-community/1479899-parents-of-the-hs-class-of-2017.html#latest
Things to make sure we/our students consider as decision are made, then next steps regarding housing, transition to college etc. Anything you have learned that you wish you had known earlier. etc.
Hope all of your children are having a positive experience & thanks for sharing your wisdom!
@sseamom, is that the same boy she was skyping with for hours?
Yes, time is going by fast. My D is very busy. I will be glad to see her for a week.
No, this is a different one. The other boy made the mistake of trying to hook up with one of her friends with her there in the room. That was the end of THAT. This new kid had met her at the beginning of the year (his brother is a current senior) and they’d exchange texts occasionally, but once she realized he was working on campus, they decided to meet for lunch or something along those lines and they’ve been together ever since. He’s from Cali so there’s been mention of his visiting Seattle this summer but we’ll see. D’s still waiting on internships that aren’t even in town.
@me29034 @mommdc My S16 is in Lothrop now and is planning to stay next year as well. He likes having his own room (and sink!). It’s pretty quiet there too. The only real down side is the lack of A/C, but there is a powerful fan on each floor that keeps the air circulating so it’s actually not too bad. The heat was only an issue the first few weeks anyway.
@RyanG1207 Thanks for that. Nothing has really changed for D since last my last posting but I think she is past the shock stage. She is normally a pretty upbeat person and is back to her old self. She says she thinks it is most likely that the friend with the good number will decide to get a double and draw her in - she says probably about 70% chance of this. She says if she ends up in Lothrop its OK. I think she will be fine no matter what, now that she is past the initial panic.
She had her advisor appointment yesterday and found out that she is officially a sophomore because of her AP credits. She didn’t realize that before the meeting. You think that would have helped with housing numbers but I guess not.
Ditto here. With AP and CLEP and a couple online classes over winter intersession, our D16 is also a sophomore on paper. In fact, she has her eye on graduating in three years.
My D is senior on paper but is still on the 5 year plan
Care to elaborate?
My son is a Sophomore , 2 credits shy of junior status , on paper , but does not plan on graduating early because if the schedule of higher level CS classes.
@me29034 I think it can help to break ties, but if the lottery number is too high for the number of suites/apts available, that might not be enough.
Between dual enrollment, AP’s and CLEP, OU gave her 100 credit hours, 46 hours can count toward her degree the other 54 credits can be used to fulfill requirements for minors and for class standing, 90 credits or more is senior class standing.
Of the 46 credits that can be used for her degree requirements 34 are from AP and the Meteorology department will only allow 32 AP credit to be used toward her degree. I’m not sure how that’s going to work out, I think she plans to ask for an exception for those two credit since she taking between 16-18 credits every semester.
She came up with a plan that would allow her graduate in four years with a meteorology major, and minors in music, German, Math and Comp Sci and to do a six month exchange program in Germany.
After the first semester she decided she still wanted to continue taking classes on her instrument but no longer wanted a music minor because the required performances were too much work. Fine with me. Then she decided that instead of a minor in Comp Sci she wanted to double major in meteorology/comp sci. She could possibly take summer classes and still finish in four years but she really wants to spend summers working in her field and later doing internships. She’s also found that schedule conflicts might require a 5th year anyway so she’s just going ahead planning on it now.
I had really hoped that she’d finish college in four years but I’m ok with this even though it will be more than we budgeted for (we’ll have 3 kids in college that year). Her scholarship covers tuition for a 5th year but not fees which can actually cost more than tuition and then there’s another year’s worth of living expenses. Having a double major of Comp Sci and Meteorology will make her highly employable and spending summers building a resume isn’t a bad idea
@3scoutsmom: I can barely breathe reading that. I find it all incredible, layered, revealing of an amazing focus and introspection by your daughter, and obviously a great deal of walking side-by-side with her by you.
I’m pretty sure that I have always felt the most in the dark about what my children are doing among all the posters on this thread. Pretty sure I’m still there, but really it feels like “in the dark” only if I make the comparative.
I have the good fortune to be able to listen and take pointers from what you all are saying. That is a plus.
Re: feeling in the dark. I can’t name a single class my D16 or D13 is taking this semester! I only know the most basic outline of their lives; lucky when they toss little bread crumbs of info my way every once in awhile!