Parents of the Class of 2019

[bjscheel]

Update: she got the job! And will probably get scheduled with her roommate. She pays her own rent and up to now hadn't been able to get a job in college town. It said about 10 hours a week which if true, will be about right to keep her afloat and not be difficult to fit in.

 

[laughinplace199]

DS moves in on Friday. He's in an apartment on campus with three other guys. He can't wait to go back and that makes me so happy for many reasons. Mostly, I'm happy that he loves his school and friends and is very happy there. But also, I'm happy to go back to normal at home - his summer job was virtual and he ended up using my bedroom as his "office" since he shares a room with his younger brother and we don't have a guest room or office for him to use.

 

[Eureka]

DS went back on Sunday. I'm so happy he was here this summer. He spent a couple weekends up at the off campus house but was around here a lot too, he's not as social as his brother, who has barely been home this summer between work and friends. I can't believe we are in junior year already! We take DS18 next week and we'll officially be empty nesters, wah!

 

[Colleen27]

Wow, it has been a long time since I checked in here! Sounds like everyone is happy to have the kids going back and preparing for a (hopefully) semi-normal school year.

DD went back Aug. 6, just in time to get caught up in that whole Spirit Airlines mess, and she's thrilled to be back on campus. She found out that in addition to her room and board, RAs are paid for their required shifts and planning meetings. Only minimum wage but since she's in San Fran, that's more than enough for her spending money. It was awesome having her home for the summer - using home loosely because we were in Alaska for a month and away at fair for a week, so really she had about 3 cumulative weeks in our actual house. We got to meet her boyfriend while she was here because he was driving support for his father & sister on a cross-country bike trip and made a quick detour up into Michigan to see DD (which was a huge deal - he's the first boyfriend she's brought home to meet the family, unless we count her high school boyfriend who we've known since they were in 3rd grade). And even though the summer was a waste as far as internships/jobs went, I think traveling the way we did was helpful because now she's talking about U of Alaska Fairbanks as her top grad school choice and looking into careers with the National Park Service in conservation/climate change science.

 

[bjscheel]

And even though the summer was a waste as far as internships/jobs went, I think traveling the way we did was helpful because now she's talking about U of Alaska Fairbanks as her top grad school choice and looking into careers with the National Park Service in conservation/climate change science.

Oh yeah, I remember you talking about Alaska plans. So cool! Our trip to Rocky Mountain NP sort of started DD's plan to major in Parks & Rec. (And I think being a Disney family fueled DD22's art hobby and she's now a graphic artist. Funny how family trips can affect our kids.) DD19 is less interested in NP work now, though, and more into community based work.

Probably summer 2020 was DD's last summer at home, despite DH's wishes for her to stay here! There's not a lot of Parks & Rec experience commutable from our house. Next summer she's considering going back to this summer's camp (but only if she can have one specific role), or back to our church camp, or live with her sister in the metro and get on at a city Parks & Rec department. Or something else entirely.

 

[soccerdad72]

I haven't updated in a while, but my son did land his first co-op a couple weeks ago. He starts the day after Labor Day and the co-op goes through the week before Christmas. He ended up finding one in town (well, about 45 minutes from our house), so he'll be living here for the semester and then back on campus in January (not sure exactly where yet, but he'll probably find a sublet apartment).

Somewhat strange seeing all the moving back to school posts from our friends, but so glad he was able to land his co-op. His next two are scheduled for next summer and next fall (either a double at the same place or two separate ones).

 

[design_mom]

Congratulations! I'm so glad he found an internship -- and close to home is a bonus!

How does his school work with co-ops vs. classroom learning? (I'm just curious. I'm familiar with University of Cincinnati's program where the year is divided into equal trimesters and you do 2 trimesters/year in the classroom and 1 as a co-op.) It sounds like your son will have a lot of co-op time scheduled in the next 18 months, but not much classroom time. Is that how it works for everyone, or is this how he chose to do it?

 

[yeahdisney]

Fafsa done hopefully for the last time. At least this year; we could use the IRS retrieve tool (prior year the account trashed HIS work!)

It hung up on one page, I googled on my phone; it stated people we’re having that problem and to sign out and re-sign in, That worked. It still booted us out twice. It took three hours and 20 minutes.

 

[mjkacmom]

My daughter got her first acceptance into a DPT program, ranked #1 in the country by US News. It’s at her current university and she’d love to be able to stay, but it will depend on where she gets in and costs.

 

[design_mom]

Congratulations to your daughter @mjkacmom That's wonderful news and must be a load off of her mind to be accepted. (I forget... is your daughter on a fast-track to undergraduate graduation, or is it normal to apply this early to graduate programs?)

I need to get on the FAFSA but I am not looking forward to it at all. I haven't really looked into it, but do you have to do it twice if you have two college students, or do you tie both to one FAFSA?

My younger is a HS senior so we're in the midst of college applications, marching band season, etc. Homecoming is tonight (The dance will be on the football field (Covid)... in Ohio... in October... with 40% chance of rain. Heaven help us all.

DS turned 21 last week. We offered to drive down (2.5 hours each way) to take him to dinner for his birthday, but he was "too busy" with school, tests, and club meetings. He is planning to come home next weekend for Fall Break though.

 

[bjscheel]

I need to get on the FAFSA but I am not looking forward to it at all. I haven't really looked into it, but do you have to do it twice if you have two college students, or do you tie both to one FAFSA?

I'm pretty sure when you get done with one, it asks if you have a sibling that needs to do one and it might prefill some of it.

DD now has two campus jobs but they're not a lot of hours. She pays her own rent and last year she earned enough during breaks to get by but at this point needs to work during the school year or use savings (or get a loan but she wants bragging rights of getting through without). Today she did end up applying at Walmart, which I encouraged her to do, but then I was getting second thoughts on how well they would work around her other jobs which I think she should keep. DD23 worked at Target during college and she really got roped into working more hours than she should have, and scheduled every weekend, and then there were the crazy Christmas seasons. DH says not to work at Walmart because of all that but he's the one that wanted them to pay their own rent. She can probably wait and revisit the third job idea after the holidays though.

DD wondered about DoorDash but it's a town of only 12,000 so we don't know if there's many orders placed or if it's otherwise a bad idea. Anybody know what that's like? Is it possible to make a couple hundred a month?

ETA: I just found an article from her college town newspaper that DoorDash came to their town in February and that there had been lots of orders. It started with 7 restaurants then and now there are 17. So there may be some opportunity.

 

[PollyannaMom]

DD wondered about DoorDash but it's a town of only 12,000 so we don't know if there's many orders placed or if it's otherwise a bad idea. Anybody know what that's like? Is it possible to make a couple hundred a month?

DS did Door Dash for a while. I'm not sure how much he made, but in general, he liked it.

The one problem he had was at...a Walmart. It was rather late, so he had a friend with him for company on the drive - but the Walmart employee wouldn't give DS the order because she said they looked "suspicious". (The friend, you see, has dark skin.) DS used some choice words in return that he really shouldn't have, or I would filed some sort of formal complaint. But I didn't want to get him in trouble at the same time. So instead, I just stopped shopping there.

I wouldn't let that deter your DD, though, as it was clearly Walmart's fault and not Door Dash's! There will definitely be a lot of orders in a college town (and I expect more and more, as places see their competition jumping on.)

The other nice thing is that you can set your own hours. - You just sign onto the app when you want to work.

 

[mjkacmom]

Congratulations to your daughter @mjkacmom That's wonderful news and must be a load off of her mind to be accepted. (I forget... is your daughter on a fast-track to undergraduate graduation, or is it normal to apply this early to graduate programs?)

I need to get on the FAFSA but I am not looking forward to it at all. I haven't really looked into it, but do you have to do it twice if you have two college students, or do you tie both to one FAFSA?

My younger is a HS senior so we're in the midst of college applications, marching band season, etc. Homecoming is tonight (The dance will be on the football field (Covid)... in Ohio... in October... with 40% chance of rain. Heaven help us all.

DS turned 21 last week. We offered to drive down (2.5 hours each way) to take him to dinner for his birthday, but he was "too busy" with school, tests, and club meetings. He is planning to come home next weekend for Fall Break though.

My daughter had 9 AP classes and some DE going in, so she started with 30 credits. My husband is in charge of FAFSA, so I have no idea.

 

[bjscheel]

DS did Door Dash for a while. I'm not sure how much he made, but in general, he liked it.

Thanks. I mentioned it to DH, who didn't like the idea of her driving around so much. We'll have to think about it but if he wants her to pay for things he can't reject every idea.

We'll keep looking for ideas and I might help her out some in the meantime. One reason it worked better for DD23 to work at Target all through community college was that she was there straight through all the school breaks too. DD20 leaves school to work with her sister over Christmas and work at internships over summers, which I think are better experiences than Walmart too! Their situations are different.

 

[mjkacmom]

Thanks. I mentioned it to DH, who didn't like the idea of her driving around so much. We'll have to think about it but if he wants her to pay for things he can't reject every idea.

We'll keep looking for ideas and I might help her out some in the meantime. One reason it worked better for DD23 to work at Target all through community college was that she was there straight through all the school breaks too. DD20 leaves school to work with her sister over Christmas and work at internships over summers, which I think are better experiences than Walmart too! Their situations are different.

My oldest worked at a waitress all through college, my 20 year old worked as a hostess last year and is waitressing this year, my 18 year old worked as a hostess/phone person last summer. Restaurants here are begging for help, and it’s the same at all of my kids’ colleges.

 

[bjscheel]

Well, she just got a job at a flower shop. Should be pretty pleasant and they are not open late so that helps with scheduling conflicts. She's excited. Now she's planning to stay at school through most of her holiday breaks, and during the summer which will work out fine.

The friend group got their housing groupings worked out to her satisfaction and found an apartment complex they'd like so they need to get their names in for next year.

She got a role in a theatre production so that will be nice to get into again too. Everything is going very well.

 

[bjscheel]

So life just hit fast forward. DD met with her advisor last week and was informed that instead of attending Fall 2022 semester and then doing internship Spring 2023, she can finish up on campus Spring 2022, do her short term study abroad and internship Summer 2022, and be done! She has decided to do it. In her mind the only downside is leaving her best friend earlier. They were going to live together next year.

Crazy that depending on when her internship finishes up, she could possibly still be 20 when she finishes her degree (late August birthday).

Now the thought of finding an internship is pretty consuming. We've spent quite a bit of time already discussing ideas. So many things to think about logistically. Ideally she would find one where she can live for free, like with her sister who's in a metro area with more opportunities. Told her to update her resume and start networking. There are some good sounding jobs on Indeed currently but of course they want somebody now, not next summer. I guess when it comes closer if she hasn't gotten something she can start applying to regular jobs too. I'm sure something will work out but she and I are both planners and will be eager to have this pinned down.

 

[yeahdisney]

I had Thursday off so I asked DS if he wanted to come home for a weekend, he decided he would. I asked if his liner was in his winter coat there. Welp
I didn’t send his winter coat yet! I wanted less there in case I needed to bring it all home in one trip due to closing down due to Covid.
Oops. One winter coat going back.

 

[PollyannaMom]

Oops. One winter coat going back.

Look at it this way - you didn't raise a complainer.

 

[mjkacmom]

So my daughter’s BFF has been studying abroad in Florence this semester. My daughter decided to take off of work the Saturday before thanksgiving and fly to Rome where her friend will be. They’ll take the train back to Florence and then my daughter will take the train back to Rome on Wednesday night to fly back home. She wants to be here for thanksgiving since she hasn’t seen dd18 since the second week of august. She definitely is one to over schedule her life.