@Sparkmom @pbleigh Thank you both! I like the secured credit card idea. Can he withdraw cash with it? I am still looking for a way to get cash in a pinch without paying the ATM fees, but maybe I need to quit focusing on the cash aspect since everyplace seems to take a credit card.
Looks like it’s not too far to the Chase cash machine, so if they need cash rather than paying with debit card it should b okay - see: https://www.screencast.com/t/ANdoAy5G (that’s going from the Memorial Student Center, if they’re near Sbisa/Hullabaloo it will be even shorter).
Thanks for the info @Sparkmom - I will check out Chase.
The chase ATM is considered Northgate area if that helps anyone get a sense of where it is exactly. And if your kids have cars, then there are several Chase ATMs as well as branches throughout the two towns. We did our conference last week too. OMG was it hot on preconference day. I wouldn’t get there before 3:30. No point. The lines will be short inside and it’s much cooler to just walk on in!
If anyone wants dining advice while at the conferences or must sees while you are here, let me know. Been here forever so I’ve got the hook up!
Thank you @AggieMomhelp !
@chercheur I’m not sure about the cash out from the credit card because my son never does that. I give him some cash when he is home and he never uses it. His first year he had dining dollars and meal trades on his tamu id card; and he used his credit card to pay with everything else. I think at most grocery stores though you can charge a bit more then the amount of the groceries and get cash back, but have not tried that with his card.
Thank you @pbleigh I appreciate you sharing your son’s experience. It is very helpful!
How can we contact our roommate if they don’t have anything on their profile?
@AggieMomhelp My D and I are coming very early for ‘day 0’ of NSC and will have lunch and dinner open. I’d love some suggestions on restaurants! Also any areas of CS or Bryan that we should check out? Thanks much!
Sorry @seniormom1823 i just saw this. I didn’t get notified! You’re here today?? Dinner… go to Century Square. Newest places are there near campus across from Bonfire memorial. Lots of places to eat. Star Cinema Grill if ya want a movie or just people watch (oh and there’s a candy shop too… so cute). As for places to see… The Stella hotel is super nice and has a great boutique for good shopping. The mall is just meh… not bad, not great. Downtown Bryan is quaint and fun to walk around. The town is bigger than it looks! Let me know what y’all are looking for and I’ll point ya in the right direction. Where are you staying?
@AGGIED26 On the housing portal, you can message them directly from there. Ask for their personal info there and if that fails, contact housing department!
We were just there last week and stayed right at Century Square (The George) and got lunch at Piada one day. It was SO good… I’m craving it now that we’re home.
Are most of your kids coming back from NSC with only 4 classes scheduled (deliberately) for fall semester? Not sure if it effects Engineering majors as their course plan is pretty well laid out, but 4 was the number encouraged at DD’s liberal arts group counseling; which is semi-disturbing as the would mean 5 years to graduate if taken at that rate.
Son just came back from NSC. The TEAB Counselors (Engineering Academy at A&M) do recommend less hours the 1st semester to adjust to college and tracks are assigned. The tracks were very helpful and my son got a great schedule (Tues/Thurs at Blinn). He has enough AP credits to make up the difference.
@labegg My son is in the College of Science and he has 4 traditional classes and one major-specific class (1 hour/ 1 day per week). He ended up with 1 Anthro class, 2 science classes, and a math class. He plans on using some AP credits along the way. Does your DD have AP credits she can use? If so those could help fill in some of her requirements. We figure he will need the first semester to adjust to college and the way classes work. At NSC, they did a great job explaining that for every 1 hour in class = 3 hours studying outside of class. My son thinks he is going to be studying all the time. ;)) I hope he keeps thinking that once he gets there :)) :)) 
@trish02 DD does have 21 AP hours (hopefully a few more in the next week or 2, lol) so the 4 classes this fall semester is not going to hurt, but I guess I think 5 should be the standard. (My eldest averages 16 hours a semester at another school. My husband and I usually took 15/16 hours as a student.) I was just surprised that TAMU was encouraging 4. Personal experience for our family is that freshman fall semester is not that big of a hurdle, it is spring semester that trips a lot of kids up; and sophomore year seems to be a doozy too. 4 classes doesn’t leave room for a q drop. What happens when you drop below 12 hours and you are living on campus? It’s a 36 hour work week.
DD is on board for 2 Anthropology classes (1=Science), 1 Sociology, and Finite Math 141, plus a required 0 credit seminar for her major.
DS has 4 classes but with labs it comes to 15 hours. 2 four hour classes, 2 three hour classes, and a freshman math lab.
@labegg I completely agree about the 5 classes per semester, that’s what we did as well. My husband and I had such a different college experience than it seems like kids do now. We followed a track, but it seemed like it was easier to switch majors, had more choices for the required classes, and it didn’t seem as competitive. Although, I might be remembering it all with rose colored glasses. LOL. It’s nice to hear your family’s experience that freshman year isn’t that much of an adjustment. I hope that is the case with my son.
I am a little worried about not having room for a q-drop if needed. I think if they do need to do a q-drop then they can take a AP credit so they aren’t under the 12 hour full time status for housing. It works for scholarships and I’m thinking it must work for housing. But, I’m also worried about him going over on hours. We were told by his advisor that if they go over 20 hours for their major, all additional hours will be at the out-of-state tuition rate. We weren’t aware of that policy.
@trish02 I am also concerned. Right now the advisors only gave my daughter 12 hours…BIMS major & they did schedule for her. Probably going to wait until AP scores are in before deciding what to do.
@everyone!!! 12 hours is plenty that first semester. Lots of adjustments. AND you can drop to 9 hours and still live on campus. There are no stipulations stating otherwise that I have seen or experienced through friends and family. 9 is the bare minimum though for living on campus. Also, most kids come in with some credit so not taking a full 15 first semester is not going to hurt them at all. And truly you want them to have fun and not stress too much. I’ve seen so many kids become depressed this first semester getting low grades when they aced high school. It’s a learning curve from start to finish. Let them breathe and just encourage them to do their best.
@trish02 It is extremely difficult to go that far over in your major to get out of state tuition rates. In fact, I’ve never heard of it happening to anyone. Your son’s advisor will tell him to hold off on accepting all or some of the A/P credits. You have up until your last semester to include them, so again… very hard to go over those hours. There’s no rush to accept and it can hurt you later if they want to change majors but have too many credits to change. AND here’s this blip from registrars office… it’s 30 hours not 20 so that’s even more room!
"Effective with students initially enrolling in the fall 2006 semester and subsequent terms, excess credit hours are those hours attempted by a resident undergraduate student that exceed by more than 30 hours the number of hours required for completion of the degree program in which the student is enrolled."
as for how q dropping to 9 hours effects financial aid or scholarships… that’s a whole other story and I cannot speak intelligently about it.
@Tuppence22 BIMS is an extremely tough major. 2 sciences the first semester with labs. They are weed out courses and boy do they. Even the strong struggle, so please don’t be concerned about 12 hours. Let your daughter thrive in that if she’s really good at science. There’s only an upside to it… if she struggles, then great, she only has 4 classes to worry about. If she thrives… then great, she pads that GPA!!!
@labegg are you sure the seminar isn’t for credit? That does’t make sense. Typically it’s a one hour easy A course that may not go towards actual degree plan OR goes against electives, but if you take any course, seminar or other, it should be a graded credit. My son has one for econ that isn’t on the degree plan. They’ll meet 6 times in the semester and it’s worth 1 credit and is graded. No where is it on the degree plan, but they did confirm it is for credit and graded. May want to ask unless you already have. But please let me know for sure because I don’t want to give wrong advice later on!!!
Okay, I think I caught up on all of this. AND I wholeheartedly agree… we always took 15 credits in college. My daughter just took 36 in two semesters (1 class online from blinn and the rest at TAMU). Apparently she wants to get out early!!!