@jmek15 I did enjoy the car ride back to school - talked about classes, activities she’ll be doing, and more. Then I helped her cart more stuff up to her room since she won’t be home now until probably Thanksgiving. Of course, I think she would have preferred to sleep the car ride down as she was exhausted from work, but she was nice enough to indulge all my questions.
Not looking forward to - doing FAFSA.
Glad not doing CSS profile.
FAFSA is not that bad. We get a state grant so that’s an incentive.
Once they do the first FAFSA, when they do the renewal, most of the demographics are already filled in.
Filling out FAFSA the two years after my son enrolled was pretty easy. Easier than that first year before he enrolled.
@payn4ward FAFSA was so much easier than the CSS profile. I felt like the CSS profile wanted to now how much money was in my couch cushions! :))
@botcom Good thing, they make us count pennies below the couch cushions :))
I talked with D17 tonight; the heavy rains have already made it to Huntsville and classes are cancelled for tomorrow. She said that a group of kids have planned to meet up in the common kitchen and make a pancake feast for breakfast, then take advantage of the extra time to study. She’ll be contributing ramen for the rest of the communal meals, since no one wants to fight the wind and rain to get to the nearest cafeteria!
Glad to hear how things are going for your kids. Thinking dry thoughts for those in Florida and the Southeast.
We have 5 days until drop off and about 2 weeks until his classes start. He should start packing soon. It doesn’t seem real yet, though I just paid the bill, so that part is real once the check clears.
Who else is on the quarter system here?
here is an interesting question. Some of the schools in Florida will have been out for over a week by the time classes start. How do they make up that lost time? do they extend out the end of the semester by a few days and tighten finals time. You have to figure that somehow that material needs to still be learned . For example, some required class such as 'engineering I" is probably offered both fall and spring, and precurser to the next course. Will the kids in the shortened fall semester be an a disadvantage.?
@sdl0625 Hmm, good question. Good think they don’t have the quarter system much in the Southeast.
My D finally met with her Advisor and got her class schedule. Classes start tomorrow. Books were $615 but most cover for both Fall and Spring so next semester books should be light. She’s got a pretty ambitious schedule so we’ll see how it goes.
We were in Princeton this past Sunday for the “Opening Ceremonies” for the new Frosh. D was in good spirits after her 5 day back-packing Orientation Experience. She’s had a very tight schedule of activities as they don’t seem to give the Frosh time to feel homesick 
When school was out for a bit over a week after a hurricane when we lived in Florida several years ago, we learned that (a) our school district every year built 5 extra instructional days into the calendar for weather closures, and once those were used up they (b) changed some teacher inservice days to instructional days. If they’d needed more, they’d’ve gone to © shortening spring break and then (d) extending the end of the school year, though as I recall a couple districts harder hit than ours ultimately (e) got waivers from the state allowing them less than the state-mandated number of instructional days in the year.
When our district was hit with the ice storm in 2008 in MA, they basically closed the schools on December 12 and did not go back until after the scheduled winter holiday break on January 5th (New Years was a Thursday). In essence it was 8 snow days just for that event. I can’t remember how many additional snow days there were that academic year - but to make up the days beyond the allotted 5 the kids would not have gotten out of school until July. The looked at shortening February and April breaks and even held school on four Saturdays during March and April (they could not make these mandatory for attendance). They also extended the school day for several weeks by 30 minutes or something. Ultimately they got State waivers to allow for less days.
Like @dfbdfb Florida school districts(K-12) have “weather” days on the calendar. They also can shorten the winter/Christmas break by a few days (they did last year in my district). Universities/colleges, on the other hand will have to squeeze the extra material into the regular schedule.
@Dolemite My Son is also starting first day of classes, of his first year, today at Princeton. Wishing your daughter the best First year.
@gator88ne is it possible they will cut fall break and extend into semester break?
@Mom2aphysicsgeek They could, but that’s a last option. Keeping an University open for an additional week is expensive. The two semesters are not “linked” (you’re taking different classes), so missed days in the fall have to be made up in the fall.
Looking at the fall, the Thanksgiving break starts on a Wednesday, so you could extend classes to Wednesday, but students wouldn’t show up for class. Same if you shorten spring break, students wouldn’t show up… It’s better to extend class at the end of the fall semester, or start of the Spring (shortening the winter break), but that does throw a monkey wrench into the academic calendar (schedule for finals, reserving space for finals, etc.).
UF lost three days of classes (Monday thru Wednesday). Typically, that’s only 1 or 2 days of actual classes, as they tend to be scheduled on M/W/F or T/TH schedules.
Hurricane season runs till 11/15…
A friend’s son is at Miami and I believe they evacuated last Wednesday and are closed through next Monday (8 school days?) I don’t know what the plan is but maybe they will hold classes on the weekend? Tough spot for kids to be in.
@itsgettingreal17 Dd just called me. She surprised me b/c out of all of the classes she is taking, accounting is her favorite. She is going to ask her accounting professor out to lunch (they get to have mentor lunches and she has decided that her accounting professor is who she wants to ask.)
Caught me totally by surprise! I knew she would like her Russian and French classes. I wasn’t so sure about the business classes she is taking bc in her heart she has always thought she would love to be a foreign lit major. 
@Mom2aphysicsgeek That’s excellent! My D did an intro to accounting program last summer and liked it. She was having doubts after talking to many students who are doing consulting. Now that she’s taking a full accounting class now, she’s really excited again about accounting. She’s already talking about doing accounting research with a prof next semester. She very animatedly told me about all the stuff she’s learning in accounting (went right over my head), but I was very glad to see her that excited about what she’s studying. She’s also loving her business law class.
How to combine Arabic, Spanish, and accounting remains to be seen…