We told S22 to not worry about tuition or grades. We are paying for his college because we always planned to, but we did made him take the 5.5k/yr in federal loans and he knows he will be responsible for paying that back. tbh, I can’t imagine putting GPA criteria given that Cal already puts enough academic pressure.
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Well - let’s hope they come to their senses.
With a 3.85 benchmark they clearly are either entirely ignorant about their child’s mental health - or they just don’t believe that mental health is even “a thing”.
A lot of things can go wrong when moving from HS to College, living alone for the first time, isolated from friends and family. Not having every single course be an A is to be expected and not a reasonable criteria, no matter how high-achieving your kid was the first 12 grades.
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S22 found out his NYU dorm assignment for next school year — he and his friends (one of the roommates from his current triple and two other guys) didn’t get their first choice, so they’ll be a little more distant from the heart of campus than they’d wanted. They’re OK with it, though. Apparently the apartment-style suites at the dorm they got are quite nice, and the location will just mean a little more planning to grab a CitiBike or the university shuttle bus. Will actually be even closer to our apartment, so that’s nice. Hope your kids are all pleased with their arrangements for next year.
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I would have to understand why grades were lower. Is it just hard classes that they are working hard at? Or are they skipping class and not working at it?
But we will pay, is the plan. S22 has a scholarship but the other kids will probably use our money and as long as they are working and making progress I’m good with that.
S22 is doing well and grades are good. He’s having fun but I still wish he had more friends and did more social things. But he’s happy and that’s what matters.
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I feel for your son’s friend – that seems like a recipe for disaster. Glad to hear your son at USC is enjoying it and doing so well!
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Yes, I’m thrilled son got his 1st choice, which is staying in his current awesome dorm.
Their plan was for son + 1 of his current quadmates + quadmate’s friend (who is currently in another dorm) to go for a triple at son’s dorm.
Both boys at this dorm got to stay in their dorm, but 3rd roommate didn’t get matched with transferring to this dorm.
So now I don’t know if son/roommate will have a DOUBLE or a TRIPLE (and adding someone they don’t know???).
While this dorm is fantastic (central location, size, newness, amenities, etc), it includes a great cafeteria, but that means required meal plan again.
So son will probably be racking up a lot of restaurant charges, because dorm food can be really repetitive.
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My son didn’t get his first choice dorm in a 2 person suite, but did get a single in his second choice dorm with his friend on the same floor. I think it is great news because many sophomores just get placed because there aren’t choices left.
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ooooh: a nice SINGLE!
Son’s other roommate wanted a SINGLE for next year, but then learned that a SINGLE $14K is 43% more than the cost of a QUAD $9700, and since he’s on financial aid, he said he’ll save some money.
One of the dorms is under renovation for 2 yrs, so that means the rest of the dorms will have some forced DOUBLE and TRIPLES.
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S22 will have a double with his current roommate. They decided to move to a different dorm or more like S22’s roommate wanted to move and S22 went with it. The next year’s dorm in newer but farther away from his favorite cafeteria which he isn’t happy about. One can see where his priorities are 
S22 is already eying college dorm apartments for his junior year (not available for freshmen and sophomores), but those are based on lottery. If that doesn’t work out, he will have to live off campus starting his junior year.
Today, S22 will receive a few academic awards together with $$$ at the end of the year ceremony. I really hope he put on something else than jeans and hiking boots.
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D22 will be in same dorm as this year with her 2 current roommates. They were hoping to get an Apartment style dorm but knew that was unlikely. They are fine with staying in a large triple that has its own bathroom though. Dorm also has a mini cafeteria which is very convenient.
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D22 is happy in college, was able to get into all the classes she wanted, and made many friends. She’s in the brand new dorm this year but had a second to last lottery slot and was assigned a very old (but not the worst) for next 
She has a summer internship lined in the area of her studies.
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S22 will be in a 3 bedroom/3 bath apartment. It’s being leased by the university so that it’s covered by the housing scholarship. It looks pretty nice. He did have some struggle finding a roommate that has the scholarship, but he did find one, who already had another set up. Hopefully they are a better match than this year’s roommates were!
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D22 will be in an older dorm next year on the 3rd floor w/o air conditioning. Hopefully she can hack it for the first few weeks when it’s hot. She doesn’t do well with heat. She is rooming with a friend she made this year.
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Any of your kids do/will do cross registrations at nearby colleges?
Experiences?
good/bad?
DS2022 is thinking of taking a Spanish class at Harvard;
many students seem to do cross-registrations.
–
I took a Mandarin class at Holy Cross while at WPI.
It was great to just get off campus, meet different people.
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My kid has no room placement yet. Students are guaranteed 4 years of housing, but not any specific arrangement. Students request arrangements and roommates, but upcoming sophomores are last in line, and rooms are usually filled before they can register. But then over the summer, some students find off campus apartments, so rooms in the dorm open up. And the school also turns rooms into forced doubles, forced, triples or forced quads. Because Manhattan’s housing market signs apartment leases only 4-6 weeks ahead of dorm move-in date, the dorm situation is in flux until the very end. S22 will probably find out his dorm arrangement sometime in August! He is not stressed, though. He says that something always works out.
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I like his attitude.
But boy, that would totally stress me out,
especially knowing the housing market in NYC.
Husband is from Manhattan; SIL lives right near Columbia.
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Yeah, but on the UWS, there are tons of apartments that keep renting to groups of students each year - you can tell from their layout. Each year graduating seniors move out, and incoming sophomores sign the next leases.
But yes, by July someone of the friends-group who lived local (enough) would meet up with the realtor, and lined up potentials, and sent pictures and layouts to the out-of-staters.
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My kid didn’t get her preferred housing assignment. She was hoping for a next to campus 4 bedroom university apartment but for the first time ever demand was too high.
She got a suite style dorm but none of the other three girls got the same assignment, so they all decided to look off campus.
They are renting a three bedroom apartment. Two will share, my kid got the loft room. I hope it’s not too hot up there in the warm months. Davis gets pretty hot in the early Fall and Spring. It’s a 15 minute bike ride to the heart of campus or they can hop on the university and or county buses for free. There’s a bus stop right next to their complex.
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D22’s plane lands in just a few hours!! I am so excited to have her home for 3 months. It’s hard to believe her first year of college is in the books.
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Sorry they didn’t get their choice of places. Sounds like a decent option though.
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