<p>Mema32, thank you for the link. I do need to spend more time on the Stanford site.
Yeah, this tuition arrangement is less painful for sure, giving some ‘breathing room’ between my pay checks, :-).</p>
<p>I need to do the flight AND the hotel soon. I gave up on the Stanford Guest House after a few tries and got their message that it must be full. It really could be more user-friendly in its search ability, e.g., more like those in Expedia.</p>
<p>Thanks again.</p>
<p>The Westin Palo Alto is a nice place and is right across the street from the north side of campus. You can easily walk to campus and into downtown Palo Alto from there, and the Caltrain is about half a block from there as well.</p>
<p>Anyone have info on when financial aid award letters for 2011-12 will be sent out? My S will be a senior in the fall, and we haven’t heard anything yet. Incoming freshmen have their info, I’m sure. For previous 3 years we already knew by now.</p>
<p>I’m always kind of nervous until we know exactly how much we’ll be responsible for paying.</p>
<p>We’ve book airfare and lodging. We have rooms at the Best Western Riviera as this seems to be close to campus. Anyone familiar with this hotel?</p>
<p>Just called Financial Aid Office. FA awards for upperclassmen are being determined right now, and some award letters have already gone out. For those who got all info in by the priority deadline, the awards will all be made by Aug. 1 at the latest.</p>
<p>Hope we get our info soon so we can plan properly. Of course, we are going on vacation soon and will be out of cell phone/internet range in the mountains for a couple of weeks. Hurry up, FAO!</p>
<p>D is a rising soph and got her FA award letter last week. Are underclassmen given priority with regard to the generosity of FA, do you think?</p>
<p>I’ve got to say we were very pleased and grateful that Stanford increased her aid to keep pace with their rising costs. Some schools lure you in freshman year with a nice package and then it drops off significantly sophomore year.</p>
<p>According to everything I have seen and heard, students from all classes are evaluated for FA under the same set of requirements. My S has gotten more FA each year, as his and our assets have gotten smaller and the cost of attendance has gone up. Stanford is scrupulously fair.</p>
<p>The information you are looking for is in the Admitted Students booklet…also on the pink sheet that had all the dates of emails sent and that checklist. You get the bill August 22nd and have until September 15th to pay :D</p>
<p>Thanks for all of the answers…
Since we didn’t apply for FA, thus far all I have paid was the $200 (?) tuition deposit back in May 1, and there has been no communications on additional payment. It was a bit unsettling … now I feel I have a good handle on it.</p>
<p>Just booked the hotel in Sheraton (stayed there during school visit last summer, liked its location, pool and gardens) and plane tickets. Now I can relax, :-).</p>
<p>When do freshman parents typically leave after dropping off their DDs and DSs? Looking at other threads I see that at other schools many parents plan to say goodbye and depart after convocation or whatever ritual they have move-in day. But in most of these cases the freshman have written or talked to their new roommates much earlier and have planned and arranged refrigerator or other purchases. Do Stanford parents stick around another day for the extra shopping that is likely necessary once the layout of the room is finally known and what else might be needed? How much time is needed to buy a bike? (Are there any used ones left by move-in day?) I would love to go out to dinner with the roommates’ parents if they are willing. How common is that?</p>
<p>I asked this question too and was told that parents leave right after the move in is over. I believe by 6ish. The parents are invited to the parent dinner, which according to the paperwork you have to purchase tickets for and thats it. I, too, thought it would be nice to hang around in case some extra things needed to be purchased but according to everyone who responded to my thread, it wasn’t necessary. Supposedly, the kids don’t want you around either 
</p>
<p>Hope that helps…</p>
<p>After the meetings in the dorms (around 6 p.m., after convocation), the parents leave. At that point, the students begin orientation, and they make it quite clear that parents are not part of that! 
There is a parents dinner at that point, though, where you can meet other parents, or you can prearrange to have dinner out, with roommates parents perhaps. My son’s dorm let us write messages to our son or daughter in wipe-off marker on the window of the study room. I must say, there were many tears as we were writing our best wishes and saying goodbye!</p>
<p>Parents, here’s the mantra my parents used when it was time to leave: “Thanksgiving will be here before we know it, then it’s only three weeks until Christmas break!” Keeping that in mind helped them a lot. Then there’s Parents Weekend in February, and Spring Break in March. The quarters really do fly by.</p>
<p>Zenokoan, I love your parents thoughts on saying goodbye. It is not easy, especially when it’s your first child (or last one, and thus, the empty nest).</p>
<p>Unfortunately, all those breaks work well when you live close by or can afford to fly back and forth five or six times a year. There are students who can’t make it home for Thanksgiving or Spring break and parents who can’t afford to visit for parent’s weekend. </p>
<p>For those who can, it sure will make it easier to say goodbye :)</p>
<p>That’s a good point, momomom, and I apologize if my comment was insensitive to those realities.</p>
<p>Do they ever send out the welcome to housing email earlier than they say they are? It’s hard to wait until Aug 8 to find out if my daughter will be in SLE. Doesn’t the course schedule come out Aug 1? I wish we could know at that time if SLE will be a big part of her schedule this year.</p>
<p>IHUM assignments come out August 1 with the Introductory Studies email. Your daughter will find out if she is in SLE then! </p>
<p>Stanford Mailing Schedule - <a href=“http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/cgi-bin/drupal_ual/sites/default/files/common/docs/apsu_FreshmanSchedule2011.pdf[/url]”>http://www.stanford.edu/dept/undergrad/cgi-bin/drupal_ual/sites/default/files/common/docs/apsu_FreshmanSchedule2011.pdf</a></p>
<p>This is completely so-and-so said such-and-such information and unfortunately I’ve found no official published data, but I’ve heard that over 90% of those who apply to SLE get it. I hope your daughter gets in!</p>
<p>Sorry about the double post, sadly I can’t just go back and edit the last post!</p>
<p>stillwater, your daughter can see her PWR assignment here: <a href=“Stanford Login - Stale Request”>Stanford Login - Stale Request;
If she has been admitted to SLE, she can find out here! I hope that helps with scheduling :)</p>
<p>OK so I know this may sound ridiculous but do the dorms have closets? I could have sworn that when we visited, the room we saw did. But when I went on line the blueprints of the rooms don’t show closets. They show a wall of shelves for each student but no closets. I just need to know because it will make a difference regarding what we need to buy from BBB.</p>
<p>^ well it depends on where you live. Some dorms (mostly West Campus ones, I think) have closets. The majority of freshmen will live on East Campus in either Wilbur or Stern, where all rooms have wardrobes instead of closets. But these wardrobes are huge, with lots of shelf space, hanging space, and drawer space. And you get a set of drawers (3) too, separate from the wardrobe.</p>
<p>(Every room also has a wall of shelves raised a few feet off the ground.)</p>