@sfSTEM We actually went to a UVA summer send-off type event years ago for our son. Big house on the water and very nice of the family to host.
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W&L and UVA always have well attended send off parties in my town.
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Hereās an article about hazing, which I saw today and thought might be something for parents to talk to their kids about:
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Same for my Stanford bound D in 2019.
I went to a summer event for incoming Northwestern students in New York when I got in, in 1988. Met a couple of my best friends there. Havenāt heard about a Boston event for S22ās NYU cohort, but weād probably miss it anyway since we just completed our own move to NYC. (Well, ācompletedā is a stretch given the state of our kitchen, closets and remaining boxes, but weāre here!) S22 is going back to Boston next week to spend some time with his friends before our vacation in early August, but he hasnāt been particularly interested in NYU events anyway.
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Thereās a big event for DSās college this summer, but itās after he heads off for Quarter Plus (a one-month summer school/orientation program and once he goes to that heās āgoneā) and Iām too much of an introvert to want to go to a big party and meet a bunch of strangers without my son giving me a reason to go.
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Hope everyone is enjoying the summer. My D22 has just finished her A level exams - 12 exams in 4 subjects over 5 weeks. Thankful that she didnāt get sick, catch Covid or miss an exam due to rail strikes in the UK. Now, for the first time in years, she can fully relax.
Weāre off to Southeast Asia in a couple of weeks, then back to the UK and then D22 heads to Japan on her own (first solo international trip) to visit friends (LostWife and I will join her towards the end).
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How marvelous! What a nice feeling to have made it through without disruption. Congrats to her and best wishes for a nice trip for all.
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Stanford usually hosts two for our area. One for the SCEA admit students and the other for the regular admit. We attended the first one though my dd eventually turned down Stanford but it was a great group of students and parents from the region. They had alumni including the person who interviewed her come and and socialize and answer questions. We had a great time.
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That was the same in our area. S attended the scea reception held at the rather large home of an alum. Was a great experience exceeded only by his time at Stanford.
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The local recruiter is working to get a place/host for a gathering for kids and families going to Alabama. At this point, I donāt think itās going to happen. It would have been nice though.
We go down to orientation tomorrow. Heāll register for classes too.
And move in is coming up fast! Only 5 more weeks and weāll be gone. After orientation, I will really start to buy what is needed and get going on it all. I have my list, but heās been dragging his feet finding out a few shared things for roommates and who is bringing what.
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My kid graduated a week ago. He took the online orientation this week and registered for classes (which sound really interesting ā not my cup of tea, but I think heās really going to enjoy all the readings and essay writingā¦). Still stalking apartments near campus ā weāre likely going to pull the trigger and apply for one in the next couple of weeks targeting an Aug 1 start to the lease. His roommate is attending a nearby school that starts right after Labor Day, while my kid doesnāt start classes until late September. So, weāre not quite sure when heāll move down there, but itāll be sooner than I think, Iām sure.
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I am wondering how/when students decide to waive the student health insurance? How do you decide? I have a family plan with younger children at home so I have to pay the same premium whether or not my oldest gets the college plan. That makes me think we should just waive the student insurance. However, I think that either the financial aid office or my daughterās outside scholarship will cover the student health insurance if we want to opt-in (I will call the financial aid office to double check tomorrow). But I donāt want to waste someone elseās money on this item if she doesnāt actually need it.
Reading the college web site, it sounds as if some students just stay on their parentsā insurance while others buy the school insurance and still others have both parent and school insurance. If a student has both then the parentsā insurance gets billed first and the student insurance may pick up additional costs that the parental insurance does not cover. But it is very vague about what those costs would be. I guess that I am wondering if there is actually any advantages OR disadvantages to signing up for the student insurance even as she remains on my family plan. If it is just a waste of money, Iād rather waive it even if it is the scholarship foundationās money not mine.
Was an easy decision for us as our health insurance is far better than any offered at the schools our kids were accepted at. S is in the workforce but remains on our health insurance - less expensive for him and no impact to our insurance costs ( our family plan covers all children and rates do not change if we go from 2 to 1 kids covered).
It very much depends your school, your plan and how close/far the providers are to campus.
We schedule routine visits such as physicals, dermatology, dentist, etc. when the kids are home for summer. They only use insurance at school if it is an urgent care type of situation. The past couple of years they have been able to arrange virtual visits with their doctors at home for stuff where they didnāt need to see a doctor in person.
Thanks. I will definitely keep her on the family plan no matter what. There doesnāt seem to be any reason to take her off of it since the family plan covers all household members and there is no discount if one child is away at college.
I am mostly trying to figure out if there are any advantages or disadvantages to having both plans given the cost will likely be the same. The web site says that some students have both. I just donāt really understand why I would want to do that. Would it potentially be helpful or would it just turn into a bureaucratic nightmare thus it would be better to have only the family plan and waive the school one.
If you D has both plans, one will be primary and the other secondary. You have to look at the terms of both plans to figure out which one will be primary, or you can let the two insurance companies figure out between themselves. Thereās really no additional hassle other than having to give both insurance IDs to medical service providers when visiting, if they accept both (some doctors may only be on one of the networks).
The college website says that the parent insurance will always be primary and she should tell providers to bill it first. So it sounds like there are no disadvantages for keeping both.
Is the main advantage for keeping both that she could potentially go to a doctor who is out of network for the primary plan (my insurance) while in network for the college plan? If co-pays for prescriptions are cheaper on the school plan, could we potentially use that plan for medicines or will we still have to use the primary plan for all prescriptions? Have any of you made this choice to have both school and family insurance for your older children? Did it end up being useful?
The only reason to have both is if the providers on your plan are farther away from campus and your student wants something closer. In the end, it usually comes down to how easy or difficult it is for a student to use the familyās plan at the school they are attending.
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Got it. Thanks! Iāll research this question, but I think it should be easy enough to use the family plan at school as long as we time physicals and routine vision care for summer breaks as you suggested.