D22 says she doesn’t need much either. She’s definitely a minimalist. Since we’re flying to her school, I guess it’s good.
Summer is definitely flying by! We head out 4 weeks from tomorrow which seems way too soon and makes me a bit teary. I’m trying to focus on how excited I am for her. She is ready even if I am not.
I was nervous about D22 as she really hated high school and it seemed like she was only applying to college because we expected her to, but she went to orientation in late June and absolutely loved it. She met four girls and they became fast friends. They decided not to live together 'to not wreck the friendship" and all decided to just go into the “random” roommate pool. All requested doubles. All got singles. D22 started to freak out until we found out that all the rooms on her floor were singles. Seems like she might have gotten the best of both worlds.
Now I just have to deal with all of the room decor that shows up from Amazon daily.
@vwlizard Where is she going? We were looking for a school with singles for freshman, but it was low on the list and D was able to get a medical accommodation for one.
Fitchburg State University. It is one of our state schools. It is an all freshman dorm with the top two floors (8th and 9th floor) being all singles.
Summer is flying by! S has been seeing friends and helping to make a minimalist list of items that we need to pack for school. We’re going on vacation next week so we’ll squeeze in a shopping trip somewhere around the first week of August.
He loved orientation at the end of June and is already happily chatting away with friends he made there. He’ll learn who his roommate is in two weeks 
and he’ll get his room assignment just about that time. Move-in is August 12-14 and then Welcome Week starts.
My D is wrapping up her summer job tomorrow, so she’ll help with the packing of S’ stuff. Thankfully she’s off-campus at college (rising senior) so I don’t have to manage two move-ins at the same time. (They are about 4.5 hours apart from each other!)
We’ll be empty nesters in less than 4 weeks!
How are y’all doing?
Summer is flying by so very fast here! D22’s in the last few days of her summer job and one of her good friends is leaving this weekend to go to his grandparents’ many states away and to college from there in a few weeks. All these milestones that were hazy on the edge of the horizon in May are coming up fast.
It’s just two weeks before D22 will leave for college! We are not ready. I mean, we need to go to the store and buy sheets, etc, but I’m not sure how I feel about an empty nest either! On one hand staying home during the first part of COVID brought some extra time that we wouldn’t have had, but on the other hand it feels like ripping off a bandaid a little bit instead of a gradual separation.
I think D22 is pretty ready emotionally, though. I mentioned something about making sure to have some quality time before she goes and she said, ‘you had two years of quality time.’ I think she’s eager to be moving on with her life and that’s what I want, too, really. But our '19 just moved out in Feb so after having that super full nest during the stay at home COVID time it’s just going to be weird with me and the man and the cats rattling around the house. Might have to plan some trips!
Hope y’all are doing well down the home stretch!
We’ll pull out of the driveway at 8 a.m. tomorrow for the 584 mile trip to school.
Today I managed to call the hotel we’re staying at for move-in and successfully updated the reservation to include the university code for a discounted room rate.
#Distractions
I hear you! We’re psuedo empty nesters. D22 is leaving but D18 came home during COVID, transferred to a local university and we joke that now she’ll never leave 
. Honestly we don’t mind, we use her now as our live in cat sitter so H and I can just plan to do whatever we want and she will be here to hold down the fort!
H and I are going to Europe in September for our first foray back into couples vacationing. I’m very excited but I’ve not given up on the family vacation yet, I noticed the girls spring breaks line up for the first time in probably 8 years and I am excited we might get to do something then!
Otherwise I think things are going well with drop off plans. Time is ticking away. We made a list of shows we watch with her so we can prioritize getting everything watched before she leaves
I’m kind of looking forward to getting my music room back, which D22 has claimed as the staging area for all the stuff she is bringing to school. Of course, it’s the first room you see when you walk into my house, so since May it’s looked like we are holding giant indoor tag sale whenever someone comes over. Gee, you’d think we didn’t have a giant finished walk out basement (easy access to driveway) or anything .
Not only does it look like a tag sale. D22’s decorating theme is “Jersey Shore” 
(And not the Jersey Shore I actually grew up on). Everything is black and pink with lots of pink leopard print and sequins. I cringe every time something is delivered. Especially as I know a year from now she will come to her senses and will be replacing all of this stuff.
D22s drop off day is unfortunately the first day of school for me (public school teacher). She’s less than an hour away. I’m thinking of having my husband and son drop her off and do all the heavy lifting and then heading over after work to help with the finishing decorating touches. Or perhaps I’ll wait til the weekend and run out with her to a store so that we can pick up anything she’s determined that she still needs and we’ll have actual measurements to work with.
We got the lease locked down on the apartment (non-flagship state school doesn’t have board, and S22 wanted to room with friend from high school attending nearby art school, rather than stranger on campus). Friend from HS is moving in on Monday, so S22 is thinking about moving sooner rather than later. (Art school starts early Sep, friend wants to jobhunt near school rather than stay home. S22 school starts late Sep, but he thinks he’s ready to move, with the knowledge he can come home if it turns out he’s bored and it’s less comfy there than here.) Still need to acquire a bed and stock the fridge, but electric is on, we’ll hook up wi-fi on Monday, so we’ll see how things go. It’s about 1.5 hrs away by car, which probably means 3 hr by public transit, which is what they’re going to be using after initial dropoff. I suspect there will be a visit or two back home before school starts, so I’m ok with S22 leaving a bit early to test the waters and figure out what all he actually needs to keep things running smoothly before classes eat his brain.
Or not. My sister is 50 and it’s only getting worse. Actually though, it has worked out for the good. She is a pediatrician and often is dressed just like her patients (imagine leggings, a hot pink leopard print top and a black sequined hair bow) which, of course, delights all involved–I see the smiling pictures on social media!
Hello everyone! My youngest is actually graduating 6/23 but have a few questions. Some background, my child has 3.6 and 1230 SAT (one and he was DONE lol). Although his gpa is slightly higher, I actually so much more comfortable on the 3-3.4 pages. So here are my questions:
Any thoughts on the University of Rhode Island and the University of Maine (Orono)? These seem to pique his interest. We are in MA and understand there is some type of tuition reduction for both universities. Are these two also generous any additional merit aid for OOS students? He does not have any interest in UMASS schools.
Thanks
@nidaco My daughter with a 3.6 and slightly higher sat scores got merit and honors college from university Rhode Island. It was still a higher cost than Rutgers in state but she strongly considered it. She got more merit from UMass Amherst, but they recalculate GPA and I think their formula helped her.
Both URI and UMaine are pretty solid flagships overall. From my experience neither schools are able to offer large amounts of merit aid like an ASU or Alabama and others with large coffers. I am more familiar with URI (attended Undergrad there) and if looking at a major UMass does not offer such as pharmacy, out of state students from New England can attend at close to in-state costs.
I will add that if your s has not visited UMass Amherst, though stats may be a little under their median, it may be worth a look. My daughter was NOT AT ALL interested in UMass until we visited and toured. We’re in-state. It jumped to a top choice, she attended and loved it. It’s academically a bit higher than the other Two schools overall as well so thought worth
mentioning. Best of luck to s and any questions on URI or UMass Amherst (if changes his mind) glad to answer.
I don’t have direct experience with either school but, my D18’s good friend from HS transferred to UMaine after her freshman year at an in-state (for her) CA public. She was very happy there, studied Marine Science and is headed to graduate school this fall. I believe the costs were less than she was paying at her in-state public in CA, and that’s about all I know regarding costs. 
My friend has a kid at UMaine who seems to really be enjoying her time there. SAT score was a bit higher and she received a 7k/yr merit award freshman year and 13k/yr the following year. The family was pleasantly surprised by the increased merit as they weren’t expecting much in the way of financial aid.
Does he have any idea what he is interested in studying? I don’t have any experience with URI or Maine, but we might know of some other schools to check out with his areas of interest.
Check out the majors that are part of the New England Regional Student Program. If he is interested in one of those majors, he will qualify for (close to ) instate tuition in NH, ME, RI and VT. You need to check where you can go for the major you want and also, remember, that if you switch majors you will go back to OOS tuition.
I think both URI and UME are targets with those stats and that you can expect at least some merit money. When I looked at ME for S23 (high stat kid), it felt to me like the “merit” was getting instate tuition and there wasn’t additional merit on top of that, but I can’t remember now. Maybe you qualified for instate tuition with a certain GPA.
We know kids that are very happy at both schools. I kind of think of those schools as places most kids that want a bigger school (but one that isn’t overwhelming) would be happy
Thanks for the info about universities. When he was a Freshmen, he wanted to go to far away. Now as an incoming Senior, he wants to stay in the New England are but cost is a consideration. Right now, no interest in UMASS but that could change.