@laralei I am not sure if it’s still per credit, or only above 15 credits.
But supposedly honors students can get additional scholarships.
Hi, parents of seniors - I posted a wicked long trip report on our visits to WVU and OU over the weekend. It’s here
http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/discussion/comment/20893441/#Comment_20893441
Enjoyed your post @Gatormama. I considered OU, but just can’t get the numbers down lower than our state schools. , sounded really nice though.
@Gatormama So funny! I actually spent part of my morning reading through the OU physics department pages (their website is kinda iffy, btw, with dead links and erroneous page titles, ie. the Applied Physics (B.S) page has Applied Physics (B.A). as its title). Appreciate the heads-up!
visited Temple on Friday. It was a full day. Started at 9am in the dance department. Had an interesting talk with a current junior and then the dance admissions department gave a talk. Tour of the facilities and then they allowed the prospective seniors to join a dance class. My daughter loved the class. Unfortunately it was given by and alum and not a current teacher (though I guess it is a good sign that a graduate of the program was able to give such a great class).
We had lunch and then the school admissions program and tour. My daughter was hot and sweaty from the class and hated her salad from Cosi. She wanted to bail on the the second half of the day. I refused because I’d taken off a full day of work and my husband was meeting us for the tour. The admissions program was short and informative. I was surprised and amused when the admissions director (who reads the apps) asked a prospective student in the back if they had retained any information because they had been snap chatting and taking selfies the entire presentation. I think his parents wanted to sink in to the ground;) I was glad that my usual snap chatting daughter restrained herself, but she is used to being hyper-aware of behavior once you enter that situation. She has been attending dance auditions
since she was 10 and had it drilled in to her that people are watching you from the moment you enter a building and that the audition starts then and not during the actual audition class. If that makes sense?
We had an amazing tour guide. Really on of the best we’ve had (and they have all been good) Just really amusing and informed. Able to answer questions about Fox Business school to the Music Department. I received my undergrad and my husband his law degree from Temple, so we really enjoyed seeing how much the campus has grown. Fox Business school is gorgeous, their Tech Center is unbelievable and they are completing a new library. The library will be situated on a large green quad. They are removing old and outdated buildings to open up the space. We were able to tour a dorm. They pay students to be on the list to show their rooms. Daughter thought that was great, except you have to always be tidy…haha!
Daughter thanked me afterward for staying, lol;)
Just started doing FAFSA yesterday. This thing is a huge pain in the butt. And there’s also the CSS thing for some schools, which I understand is more detailed. Yuck. I had to stop because I just wasn’t sure how to report some items and got nervous. Will return to it later. The NPCs I’ve run indicated he wouldn’t get any need-based aid, and after some research about how the EFC is determined, I feel more confident in that result. I guess we should still do it just in case and if it’s used for merit scholarships.
Pestering DS to get teacher recommendations. Have to start on the questionnaire for the guidance counselor one.
One of the state schools he might apply to has a scholarship deadline of November 1. The NPC showed he wouldn’t get anything and I don’t think he’ll be ready by then either. 
Why so early? Whah. The deadline was buried on their website too. I stumbled across it looking for something else. Not prominently displayed at all. Weird.
I can’t wait until this is all over.
There should be help buttons on the FAFSA. If you link the tax return, most income information should already be there.
we are honestly so lucky. My daughter’s performing arts school has only just extended to high school. She is in their second graduating class. The top 50 of 250 students get a separate counselor and have had her guidance since 9th grade. They’ve run college information sessions every year to explain what parents and student should be focusing on. They had all English classes working on essays for the first 2 weeks. You can visit the counselor for any help in submitting applications. I honestly think my daughter was up there once a day for the first month.
We were signed up for the first fafsa workshop where 30 families at a time are walked through the process in the computer lab and could hit submit on October 2nd. Today the 9-11 grades are taking the PSAT’s and the senior class has a college “boot camp.” All counselors will be on hand along with senior student ambassadors who have completed their applications. My daughter is an ambassador (though she still has one more to complete;)
They are really focused on getting kids in to college or other post high school training to prove the strength of the program and we are certainly happy in the process. They are very responsive and I think I get an email a day about something college related. I am so sorry that that is not the case for everyone. I’ve done so much research on this site and another dance related site that I felt comfortable but I cannot imagine how hard it must be, especially for first generation college students.
@mom2girls, Glad to hear the Temple visit was fabulous. I graduated in '90 and loved my time there. D is also a dancer (ballet), but not looking to be a dance major. She is looking at LACs.
Yay! Dd got into Wyoming! She was admitted to New Mexico this week, so she was getting very antsy about her darling Wyoming. Turns out her test scores were kinda hidden. So dd is 3 for 3! 
I think she’ll apply to two more schools. But it’s already becoming a tough decision for her.
Who took the SAT last week? Dd thinks she did much better this time. She dreamt she got a 1380!
congratulations to your daughter Kardinalschnitt!
Go Cowboys (they won today). Wyoming is a gem.
@twoinanddone We know! Go Pokes! Dd is having a really tough time choosing between Wyo and ISU. I don’t think she even knows exactly why she loves Wyo so much. Travel might be an issue for us. Flights into Chicago are sooo cheap from here, whereas Denver not so much. Then there are a couple of clubs at ISU that are super attractive to dd: glassblowing and the flight club. No flight club at Wyo, though there is one in town. But the perks of the flight club at ISU are really great. Such a tough decision! But we have time!
The schools are similar, the towns are similar. Ames is not close to Chicago. Laramie is much windier than Ames, so flying is difficult. I flew from a town in Wyoming to Denver many years ago and it was a United plane, but small. The cockpit door flew open, there were lights and sirens, I looked at my friend and said “We are going to die.” Windy is an understatement.
Iowa is more of a farmer atmosphere, Wyoming more of a rancher one. Wyoming has one state school so all the resources go into that school, where Iowa has several and must split its riches among the schools. I have a friend who works in higher ed financing and is always telling me that Colorado schools have about $5k per student from the state while Wyo has about $14k.
Both have good football teams this year.
@twoinanddone We’ve lived in some truly remote places so an overnight bus from Chicago to Ames (7hours40) seems fairly close to us, believe it or not (not close but not ridiculously far, either). Flights from where we live to Chicago are running under 400 euros + a 69 buck bus (or short flight). We’re very used to trips of 48 hours door-to-door so this doesn’t really phase us. But I can guess how people on here are going to react to that. We’ll figure it out (yes, I’m aware she could fly into MSP or even Des Moines). We’ll see how we handle it.
Good point about the wind. And, yes, dd is aware of the farmer/rancher thing – finds it amusing.
Catching up here after several months away. DS18 has actually stepped up to the plate and we’ve done quite a bit of applying. I keep running NPC’s in the hope that I will come up with somewhere that is somewhat affordable. He’d love to go out of state but I just don’t know that it will happen unless it has reciprocity. Plus that state grant really helps. So far we have:
UW Eau Claire - accepted. We will visit here again this week
UW Madison - applied EA. This will be a reach for him based on GPA. He’s got great test scores but not a great GPA. This would be a good fit for him.
UMN Twin Cities - doesn’t really want to go here, but he applied. His sister DD14 goes here right now. Too close to home.
UMD - He likes Duluth. This will definitely be a safety school. Applied here also.
Gustavus - fee waiver and offered the potential for good $$ based on his NMSF status. The only LAC he’s applied to
University of Manitoba - working on the application. Will apply this week. This is currently his top choice based on $$ and fit. With tuition reciprocity plus some scholarship $$ this is easily the most affordable option for this MN kid. We visited this summer and would probably visit again before deciding.
New College of FL - applied. He’s interested but I don’t know that it will come in as affordable.
Still on the list for “might apply”
WSU - He likes the idea of west coast, but WSU isn’t really “coast.” They offer full tuition (not room and board) for NMSF, so he may apply for the heck of it. Niche gives it an A-. It might be too rural for him.
WYO - Mom likes this better than kid likes it. Might still be too $$, and too rural, but they’ve got good programs in the areas that interest him (German & Psychology)
And “somewhere else - I don’t know yet” - Gaaaaaah!!! We agreed on 8 schools. UMN/UMD were one application fee, so we’re nearing the limit. This is the 3rd kid and I’m kind of over it. Ha!
@Momtoatrio have you looked at University of Montana in Missoula for pysch?
@lr4550 , no, but I will! Thanks! I’m not sure that he will qualify for any merit $$ there because of his GPA (3.1). He has awesome test scores (SAT 1570 ACT 34), but mediocre EC’s and the not excellent GPA. The school doesn’t weight - it would be somewhat higher if they did. He has decent rigor. He’s a NMSF but honestly probably won’t make the cut to NMF because of grades (just being honest here. He’s well aware of this). Probably an unmedicated ADHD kid (we’re working on this).
@Momtoatrio So many of your schools are ones that dd would apply to if they were affordable (UMN-TC, UW, etc.) . She considered Gustavus for a long time but it looks like she won’t apply. I’ll be watching your visits, etc. with interest. She’s planning on applying to La Crosse and then she’ll be done, I think.
What is U Manitoba like? I don’t think dd has mentioned that one. She did mention Alberta. And Wyoming is good in German? I didn’t know that. Do tell!
Western Washington might suit his idea of coast better. Eastern Washington/Oregon do not really have the same vibe as the coastal areas (well, not at all probably).
@Momtoatrio New College of Florida is such a interesting choice!