Parents of College Class of 2018 (A.K.A., "Is this the line to the poor house?")

DD moves in in just about two weeks. She's still a technical theater major, but has added a computer science minor at Dad's insistence that she add something 'practical' to her degree.

She'll be in an on-campus apartment this year, it's 2 doubles with two bathrooms, a living room and a kitchen. She doesn't know any of the other girls who will be in the apartment. The other bedroom than hers only has one girl in it so far, but that will likely change. DD isn't worried about sharing the apartment with strangers because she's hardly ever in her room anyway.

She's excited to be a junior, but she has enough credits to graduate at the end of this year except for a couple required classes that she'll be short on. She has decided not to rush to finish, so she's going to just take it easy, 13 credits this semester and work on enhancing her resume. She's going to be the stage manager of one of the theater department productions this semester, and therefore will be spending most of her time in the theater shop (hence not caring about the room mate situation, since she'll spend almost all her non-class time there).

She spent the summer working on a couple community theater productions, she also worked several shows at her on campus job and the off-campus place that calls for per diem help. Most weeks she worked 3-4 days for the lady who runs an ebay store here in town, just like last summer.

I'll miss her when she's gone, but I will be glad to get back into our routine that we've gotten used to while she's at school.

That's exciting that she will be a stage manager and will get to spend a lot of time in the theater shop. It sounds like she got a lot of experience working on on theater productions. I know what you mean about getting back to a regular routine. While my son is in school, there is much less laundry and I go for days at a time without cooking dinner because my husband and I just make something simple. My food bill is cut in half and I only have to go to the grocery store every other week. The house stays clean. While my son is home, he always has friends over so I have to clean a lot more often. I will miss him though.

I just had to drop back in and say that my sons 2 roommates showed up. And one brought a kitten. And the other brought a year old dog. I didn't realize they could have pets in those apartments.
He said it was hectic in the apartment last night because the kitten kept wanting to play with the dog and the dog wanted no part of that.
I don't know what those guys were thinking - or maybe they weren't. They probably didn't communicate with each other. And pets will mean they can't just take off and go to the beach this year like they did last year a couple of times.

He finally just went in his room and closed his door. In addition, the apartment wi-fi wasn't working and he had to wait for tech support to show up and figure out why. For a computer major, that was extremely stressful and annoying. But it's working now and hopefully will stay that way.

What a shock to have his roommates show up with pets! My son has allergies, so it would have been a huge problem. I am surprised that college kids want to deal with pets while they are so busy with schools and other activities. That is very frustrating about the internet. Hopefully it will not keep going out.

My dd never really came home for the summer. She came home in May before her apartment lease started June 1st. She then went back up for an internship and to work. Stupid part is, her two roommates, have slept there maybe 4 times total, between the two of them, so she is always alone! In a crappy ground floor apartment. I was so excited to not have to move her again until graduation, but there is no way she will be staying there next year. Being below ground floor they get some bugs, and she hates bugs. The real fun part of that is that she will be in England still when her lease ends LOL, so it's all going to be on us and her roommate, if she keeps one. I hate that she is alone. I miss her something awful. I have seen her a few times, but nothing like when she is here.

Then in January she will leave for 5 months, and it will be 3 full months before I see her again, I may totally melt down LOL.

She has added her double major back in, she had dropped it to a Film major, writing minor, but now it's double again. She found she didn't have enough classes to take to get the film degree, so she figured why not. She could have graduated at the end of this year, but wanted to go to England, so she will now finish in 4.

It would be very lonely to be stuck in a crappy apartment basically by yourself. Going to London is definitely worth taking four yeast to finish!
 
That's exciting that she will be a stage manager and will get to spend a lot of time in the theater shop. It sounds like she got a lot of experience working on on theater productions. I know what you mean about getting back to a regular routine. While my son is in school, there is much less laundry and I go for days at a time without cooking dinner because my husband and I just make something simple. My food bill is cut in half and I only have to go to the grocery store every other week. The house stays clean. While my son is home, he always has friends over so I have to clean a lot more often. I will miss him though.

Exactly!

She has gotten a ton of experience working in the shop and on all the productions. I've got my fingers crossed that she'll actually be able to find a job when she graduates.
 
London is my son's dream place. He hopes to get there soon. Honestly I think it is the Harry Potter fan in him driving that. ;)
I wish he would do the Disney CP but that is not in his plans.

Pets? in on campus housing? That's odd. DS is living off campus and the fees for pets are pretty hefty. As much as he'd love a dog he realizes now is not the time. And I know that no on campus housing allows them.

How fun that we are now all seeing our kids majors take shape. It's nice to see them growing up and doing what they love. We know so many kids their age that are basically doing nothing with their lives. (living at home, working part time, no schooling). We did good Moms!
 
I enjoyed reading the updates about how everyone's kids are doing! The time sure is flying by! DD's first day of junior year starts tomorrow. She is still a biology major on the pre-med track. Stress here we come! LOL!

DD ended up getting a last minute acceptance to a paid summer cancer research internship here at her home university after someone else decided to withdraw their acceptance. She had gotten rejection after rejection emails from all of the places she had applied to. She was all set to work at the summer day camp again, but got the acceptance call 3 days before her summer job was to start. She was given an area to research in a colorectal cancer study and was mentored by one of the top cancer population research scientists in the country! She worked on the research for 10 weeks and presented a poster at a synopsism on the last day of her internship. Her work is going to be published in a medical journal. She has also been hired on to work during the school year on a breast cancer research project. Also, she is fully funded to attend a national conference in California in October to present her research poster.

The internship program took the interns on a white water rafting trip and she did some traveling -- Went to a concert in Las Vegas right after school got out, drove to New Orleans and Tennessee with friends, camping in Telluride, CO over the 4th of July holiday, and a road trip to Reno with her boyfriend to see his family after the summer program ended. On the way home from Reno, her BF's car blew a head gasket (or 2) and they were stuck on the highway an hour outside of Las Vegas for 3 and a half hours in 110 degree heat. They had a hard time calling a tow truck because the phone calls kept dropping. They thought a tow truck was on the way but then it never showed up because of a dropped call. Nighttime came and they waited for another truck. During all of this, the passenger side window broke and got stuck in the down position. The lights from their car headlights attracted all kinds of bugs followed by a swarm of bats to eat the bugs. The bats were very close to flying in the the open (broken) car window so they had to hold a blanket over the window (it was still very hot over 100 degrees). They finally got their tow and had to stay in Vegas for 2 more days to see if the car could be fixed. They ended up leaving the car there (another adventure of walking with suitcases and backpacks for 3 miles on an Air Force base in 108 temps and no water). They were trying to be strong for each other, but at one point they both broke down and cried because everything that could have gone wrong, did! They rented a car and got home a few days ago. Thankfully her BF recently turned 21 or they wouldn't have been able to get a room in Vegas, nor rent a car!

Well, this is a long post, so if you read this far, I want to wish everyone a wonderful start to year #3! We moved over the summer to a new house so DD is staying home and commuting to school (an hour total each way on the city bus so that she doesn't have to deal with parking issues on campus). She is done with roommates and wants to save her money so she can eventually get her own place or rent an apartment with her boyfriend next year.
 
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My son just sent me a text - he left his glasses on the coffee table in his apartment and the roomies dog got a hold of them. They are scratched up and bitten. He doesn't have a spare pair either.

Of course the small town he is in has very little in the way of eye care places. So tomorrow I'll see if I can get a copy of his prescription and get it to him so he can get new glasses. Although it'll be a week before he gets it in the mail and then he will have to find someplace to get new glasses made.
I'm tempted to have him just find someplace down there, go get a new prescription and then glasses. He'd get them faster doing that for sure.
Dang dog. Pets don't belong in college apartments. Sigh.
 
My son just sent me a text - he left his glasses on the coffee table in his apartment and the roomies dog got a hold of them. They are scratched up and bitten. He doesn't have a spare pair either.

Of course the small town he is in has very little in the way of eye care places. So tomorrow I'll see if I can get a copy of his prescription and get it to him so he can get new glasses. Although it'll be a week before he gets it in the mail and then he will have to find someplace to get new glasses made.
I'm tempted to have him just find someplace down there, go get a new prescription and then glasses. He'd get them faster doing that for sure.
Dang dog. Pets don't belong in college apartments. Sigh.

If you can get the prescription, consider ordering new glasses from Zenni or one of the other online places and have them sent directly to him. It might be faster than sending him the prescription and having him find somewhere to go order the glasses locally.
 
My son just sent me a text - he left his glasses on the coffee table in his apartment and the roomies dog got a hold of them. They are scratched up and bitten. He doesn't have a spare pair either.

Of course the small town he is in has very little in the way of eye care places. So tomorrow I'll see if I can get a copy of his prescription and get it to him so he can get new glasses. Although it'll be a week before he gets it in the mail and then he will have to find someplace to get new glasses made.
I'm tempted to have him just find someplace down there, go get a new prescription and then glasses. He'd get them faster doing that for sure.
Dang dog. Pets don't belong in college apartments. Sigh.

If you can get the prescription, consider ordering new glasses from Zenni or one of the other online places and have them sent directly to him. It might be faster than sending him the prescription and having him find somewhere to go order the glasses locally.

Oh no, that 's a bummer!

I agree that you might want to order his glasses online tonight to save time since you have his prescription info. He can look at the frames and let you know what he wants. We use coastal contacts for glasses. They used to offer the first pair free, but I don't know if that deal still exists. Here's a 35% off code -- NEWC4J37 If that doesn't work do a google search. There's always a discount code out there. They have name brand frames for a fraction of what you'd pay at a store and the extra add-ons (i.e. scratch resistant lenses) are also cheap like $9.95 for a bundle of three add-ons. Zenni Optical probably has the same deals.
 


And my final update regarding the messed up glasses- turns out his prescription had expired so he's on his own. I told him to go get his eye exam done, get the prescription and then head online to get the new glasses to save money - I recommended Zenni (thanks Scrapquitler!) . He has a car and while there aren't many places in that tiny town for eye glasses, he can at least get an eye exam done there.

Then I wished him Good Luck. and have officially washed my hands of the whole thing other than the fact that we'll have to pay for it. He is an adult so now he'll learn how to handle this which will be a good experience for him.
 
Another semester down, 3 more to go! DD finished her last final yesterday and is ready for some relaxation! She is involved in a breast cancer research study and will continue with that for 20 hours/wk during the break, but is taking off the week between Christmas and Jan 1st since the university basically shuts down.

Her car was stolen at the end of September. It was parked at her boyfriend's apartment complex which is a block away from campus. It was found 3 weeks later, but was deemed a total loss as the thieves ran over something. The underneath carriage was a mess! It lost fluids so the transmission was toast. She has another car now with better thief protection (ignition kill) and a Club steering wheel lock.

How is everyone else doing? I hope you all get to spend some time with your college kids over the holidays!
 
Dd20's last final is on the 23rd at 5 pm! She's trying to maintain her 3.9, and is in the top 10% of the business school. She finally landed an internship for next semester, 3 days a week, $20 an hour, so even if she can no longer waitress on the weekends due to that and classes, she will still be able to pay her rent. She's spending 2 weeks in Greece over the break, a quick overseas class. She is such a different person now, so mature, and nice, even with her siblings. She was home a couple of weeks ago, as was ds18, and the 2 of them went out to dinner.

She has definitely gotten my monies worth out of AAA gold - 2 jump starts, a 40 mile tow, and at least 3 times she's locked her keys in her car.
 
Another semester down, 3 more to go! DD finished her last final yesterday and is ready for some relaxation! She is involved in a breast cancer research study and will continue with that for 20 hours/wk during the break, but is taking off the week between Christmas and Jan 1st since the university basically shuts down.

Her car was stolen at the end of September. It was parked at her boyfriend's apartment complex which is a block away from campus. It was found 3 weeks later, but was deemed a total loss as the thieves ran over something. The underneath carriage was a mess! It lost fluids so the transmission was toast. She has another car now with better thief protection (ignition kill) and a Club steering wheel lock.

How is everyone else doing? I hope you all get to spend some time with your college kids over the holidays!

That's horrible about her car being stolen! That must have been a shock. It sounds like she has a busy break.

My son is still involved in the school club he created and that takes a lot of time. It is sometimes frustrating for him because some of the key members aren't as motivated as he is and he has to do a lot by himself. I told him "Welcome to the real world." in addition to his classes and club next semester, he also got a paid internship. He is thrilled because he will gain a lot of experience and hopefully some very good contacts. He has three semesters left, but he might stay out there and go to graduate school. He is not doing anything during the Christmas break. I think it's good for him to relax without any responsibilities for a month.
 
Dd20's last final is on the 23rd at 5 pm! She's trying to maintain her 3.9, and is in the top 10% of the business school. She finally landed an internship for next semester, 3 days a week, $20 an hour, so even if she can no longer waitress on the weekends due to that and classes, she will still be able to pay her rent. She's spending 2 weeks in Greece over the break, a quick overseas class. She is such a different person now, so mature, and nice, even with her siblings. She was home a couple of weeks ago, as was ds18, and the 2 of them went out to dinner.

She has definitely gotten my monies worth out of AAA gold - 2 jump starts, a 40 mile tow, and at least 3 times she's locked her keys in her car.

They sure have a long semester to have finals on the 23rd. That doesn't give her much of a break, unless they get an extra week in January. My son's last final was on the 14th. It sounds like she got a great internship! I'll bet she is excited about spending two weeks in Greece What an incredible experience. AAA Gold is a great thing. I got it for my oldest son and he helped me get my money's worth out of it.
 
DD got home yesterday. She'll only stay for two weeks. She has a great part time job that she needs to get back to. She also has a paid internship. It was supposed to be just for the Summer but it worked out so well that she kept it up through the fall. Just last week they got a new contract staging homes and she was given a big part in this new project so she's excited to get back to work on it before her classes start. She too has 3 semesters left.

She was rear ended and knocked into another car last week. Her car was a total loss so we had the unexpected expense of a car replacement. We made a trip to see her and help sort it out. She has a new used car but we don't have a settlement yet.

I'm enjoying having her home- dinner with her Boyfriend and his parents last night, mimosas with my sister this morning, my nieces college graduation this afternoon, and the Nutcracker tonight to see my other niece dance. Hopefully some time just hanging out this next week. I love the awesome adult she's becoming!
 
Dd20's last final is on the 23rd at 5 pm! She's trying to maintain her 3.9, and is in the top 10% of the business school. She finally landed an internship for next semester, 3 days a week, $20 an hour, so even if she can no longer waitress on the weekends due to that and classes, she will still be able to pay her rent. She's spending 2 weeks in Greece over the break, a quick overseas class. She is such a different person now, so mature, and nice, even with her siblings. She was home a couple of weeks ago, as was ds18, and the 2 of them went out to dinner.

She has definitely gotten my monies worth out of AAA gold - 2 jump starts, a 40 mile tow, and at least 3 times she's locked her keys in her car.

You must be very proud of all of her wonderful accomplishments! How exciting that she will be in Greece for 2 weeks! I have very fond memories of my time in Greece when I was in college. She will love it!

That's horrible about her car being stolen! That must have been a shock. It sounds like she has a busy break.

My son is still involved in the school club he created and that takes a lot of time. It is sometimes frustrating for him because some of the key members aren't as motivated as he is and he has to do a lot by himself. I told him "Welcome to the real world." in addition to his classes and club next semester, he also got a paid internship. He is thrilled because he will gain a lot of experience and hopefully some very good contacts. He has three semesters left, but he might stay out there and go to graduate school. He is not doing anything during the Christmas break. I think it's good for him to relax without any responsibilities for a month.

Yes, it was a bummer. To top it off, the transmission blew on DS's car the day after we found out DD's car was totaled. DS's car wasn't worth fixing because he had also rear-ended someone a month earlier, so with the needed body work and a new transmission we decided to replace his car instead which meant we had to replace two cars. Both kids put in $1500-$2000 each of their own earned money and luckily we had comprehensive coverage on DD's car --totally worth the $2.75/month premium for that coverage. DD was going to use that money to go to Thailand for spring break, but now that trip isn't going to happen. Both kids are happy to have better cars than the ones we replaced.

What is the school club your DS created? I can relate to his experience being a board member of a club and a VP of another. I just had to start delegating instead of waiting for people to show up and volunteer. Maybe he can pick up some new members in the spring that are more willing to do their part.

DD got home yesterday. She'll only stay for two weeks. She has a great part time job that she needs to get back to. She also has a paid internship. It was supposed to be just for the Summer but it worked out so well that she kept it up through the fall. Just last week they got a new contract staging homes and she was given a big part in this new project so she's excited to get back to work on it before her classes start. She too has 3 semesters left.

She was rear ended and knocked into another car last week. Her car was a total loss so we had the unexpected expense of a car replacement. We made a trip to see her and help sort it out. She has a new used car but we don't have a settlement yet.

I'm enjoying having her home- dinner with her Boyfriend and his parents last night, mimosas with my sister this morning, my nieces college graduation this afternoon, and the Nutcracker tonight to see my other niece dance. Hopefully some time just hanging out this next week. I love the awesome adult she's becoming!

That's too bad about the accident. Luckily she wasn't hurt and hopefully she gets her settlement soon. Sounds like a busy weekend for you. Isn't the change to adulthood such a wonderful milestone after dealing with the early teenage years?
 
What is the school club your DS created? I can relate to his experience being a board member of a club and a VP of another. I just had to start delegating instead of waiting for people to show up and volunteer. Maybe he can pick up some new members in the spring that are more willing to do their part.


It's a group for people interested in law enforcement.

That was bad luck to have that happen to both of your kids' cars. I am sorry your daughter won't be going to Thailand for her spring break. That's nice that they are happy with their new cars.
 
They sure have a long semester to have finals on the 23rd. That doesn't give her much of a break, unless they get an extra week in January. My son's last final was on the 14th. It sounds like she got a great internship! I'll bet she is excited about spending two weeks in Greece What an incredible experience. AAA Gold is a great thing. I got it for my oldest son and he helped me get my money's worth out of it.
First day of class was September 6, I just wish she had more time home before Christmas (ds18 is coming home the 18th, so I've been doing some of their Christmas shopping). Like you son, she might just continue and go for her MBA. Her degree takes 4 1/2 years, but she's been taking extra credits to graduate in 4. I think it depends on job prospects.
 
Sorry hear about all the car bad luck!!
My dd came home yesterday, and I was stressed for days about her not making it. We had temps of -25 (not windchill) yesterday, and snow the day before. It was such bad timing, she had to come yesterday, could not be Saturday or Today. Her car started, then quit while backing out of the driveway. She let it run for another 15 minutes, then it was fine. A slightly slower drive, but she made it home safe and sound. She had some twinkies in a bag in her trunk, they were rock solid when she got here LOL.
It's going to be a nutty crazy freaking out 3 weeks here. She leaves for England on Jan 10th. She doesn't have confirmed housing yet. We have no clue how to pack, or what to do about bedding/pillows/towels etc. She needs some new clothes LOL, so some mall time is in order :-). I am trying not to think about taking her to the airport, I have a feeling I am going to fall apart like when we took her up to school as a freshman. We will go see her in April, but I have never been away from her for 3 months. I know it's silly, but it's going to be sad for me. For her, it will be amazing!!!
Hard to believe though, when she gets back, there will be only 1 year left! She could have done it in 3, but she wanted to go to England, and she added her double major in English back on.
She also got a job doing copyediting for a professor on campus. Starts Jan 1, runs for a year, she can do it in England, and makes $850 a month, for about 25 hours of work or so per month. Not a bad gig, and it's something she can actually put on a resume. I'm hoping, with that job, just maybe she will stay home for the rest of the summer when she comes back, instead of moving back to her apartment right away.
 
Elgerber, that is so exciting that your daughter will be going to England soon. What an amazing experience! That's great that she can continue to do her job from England.
 
Sorry hear about all the car bad luck!!
My dd came home yesterday, and I was stressed for days about her not making it. We had temps of -25 (not windchill) yesterday, and snow the day before. It was such bad timing, she had to come yesterday, could not be Saturday or Today. Her car started, then quit while backing out of the driveway. She let it run for another 15 minutes, then it was fine. A slightly slower drive, but she made it home safe and sound. She had some twinkies in a bag in her trunk, they were rock solid when she got here LOL.
It's going to be a nutty crazy freaking out 3 weeks here. She leaves for England on Jan 10th. She doesn't have confirmed housing yet. We have no clue how to pack, or what to do about bedding/pillows/towels etc. She needs some new clothes LOL, so some mall time is in order :-). I am trying not to think about taking her to the airport, I have a feeling I am going to fall apart like when we took her up to school as a freshman. We will go see her in April, but I have never been away from her for 3 months. I know it's silly, but it's going to be sad for me. For her, it will be amazing!!!
Hard to believe though, when she gets back, there will be only 1 year left! She could have done it in 3, but she wanted to go to England, and she added her double major in English back on.
She also got a job doing copyediting for a professor on campus. Starts Jan 1, runs for a year, she can do it in England, and makes $850 a month, for about 25 hours of work or so per month. Not a bad gig, and it's something she can actually put on a resume. I'm hoping, with that job, just maybe she will stay home for the rest of the summer when she comes back, instead of moving back to her apartment right away.

That sounds bitter cold! Do you live in the eastern part of the US? We are having a mild winter here. No snow, but it did rain on Friday night into Saturday morning. Just shows that it's not warm enough to snow because our temps usually dip into the teens and 20s at sunrise.

How exciting about your DD's upcoming semester abroad! She is going to have an amazing experience! Where in England will she be? Try not to freak out too bad. The lighter she packs the better. She can buy some clothes there. I bought a lot of clothes when I was there, including a leather jacket that I sold on eBay almost 20 years later for more than twice what I paid. I had to leave stuff behind like my towels and sheets because I didn't have enough room after buying clothes and didn't plan ahead to ship stuff home which would have also been costly. Maybe with Brexit the exchange rates are good?? I had on 3 jackets when boarding the plane coming back home! I must have looked like Randy from a Christmas Story (when he couldn't put his arms down). Picture a medium-weight spring jacket, a thick leather jacket over that, and a long wool coat on top! Oh, and it was mid-May when I had to wear all of this on the plane to get it all home without paying extra! :rotfl2:
 
That sounds bitter cold! Do you live in the eastern part of the US? We are having a mild winter here. No snow, but it did rain on Friday night into Saturday morning. Just shows that it's not warm enough to snow because our temps usually dip into the teens and 20s at sunrise.

How exciting about your DD's upcoming semester abroad! She is going to have an amazing experience! Where in England will she be? Try not to freak out too bad. The lighter she packs the better. She can buy some clothes there. I bought a lot of clothes when I was there, including a leather jacket that I sold on eBay almost 20 years later for more than twice what I paid. I had to leave stuff behind like my towels and sheets because I didn't have enough room after buying clothes and didn't plan ahead to ship stuff home which would have also been costly. Maybe with Brexit the exchange rates are good?? I had on 3 jackets when boarding the plane coming back home! I must have looked like Randy from a Christmas Story (when he couldn't put his arms down). Picture a medium-weight spring jacket, a thick leather jacket over that, and a long wool coat on top! Oh, and it was mid-May when I had to wear all of this on the plane to get it all home without paying extra! :rotfl2:

I am in MN, so -27 is nothing new, but we haven't had it in 3 years, and it was the WORST possible day to have it. it's going to be 35 today LOL.
They will buy all their bedding and towels and stuff over there. I think exchange rates are still pretty good, but I really have nothing to compare it too.
 

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