The college search is over, Ramapo it is. And there was much rejoicing, followed by temporary stunned silence when a letter arrived from 2nd semi-finalist school offering an additional $1000 per year in scholarship funds beyond what they’d already offered (which, over 4 years, would save us about twenty-five thousand dollars over the costs at Ramapo :faint: .)

But we took deep breaths and remembered it’s not about the money, it’s about an education, and all of us are sure that Ramapo is the right place for Andy.

When he was 3 or 4 years old his aunt gave him this personalized towel. He chose the roadrunner theme.

Ramapo’s mascot is a roadrunner (in fact when I went there we just used the WB roadrunner on all the merchandise, but now they of course have their own little guy.)

Just when I was convinced that Andy was going to head to Ramapo in the fall… I just got the mail and there’s a fat (well, not that fat, but tall…) envelope from Andy’s reach school, TCNJ :woohoo:.

He won’t be home for an hour, I can’t wait to see his face- he has himself convinced he’s not getting admitted. Honestly, I really didn’t think he would, either, because it’s just a really tough school to get into.

For those of you who don’t know what TCNJ is, it’s the College of New Jersey, a state school. Rutgers is typically held up as the top public school in NJ, but TCNJ has a more elite feel to it. The campus is compact & suburban, they have small classes and no TA’s. It’s real Ivy feeling, which explains why it’s so hard to get into- the top students in the state, the ones who apply to the Ivies, often also apply to TCNJ, since it costs tens of thousands of dollars less to attend. So the competition is fierce. We were told by a number of people that for a kid from NJ the chances of getting into TCNJ are similar to getting into Princeton. I don’t know how exaggerated that might be, but the fact is- its tough.

So I guess a road trip is in order (a short one, the campus is about 30 minutes away.) And now the boy has a tough choice to make.

Glad I’m not him!

Nice to know the federal goverment thinks we’re so well off. I finally got the FAFSA submitted for financial aid eligibility (had to wait for Pat’s W2 which finally arrived- incorrectly filled out but only the state numbers were off…)

So the results are in.

The good news is, with tuitions what they are, we’d probably see some financial aid if Andy were going to, say, Princeton or NYU.

Of course, he’s going to a state college, so his tuition and fees will fall well below what the government has decreed that we can afford. So I guess that’s… good news?

Next step, research PLUS loans.

Things are a little crazy around here right now. Just before Christmas Pat got some interesting news at work, something we initially took as Very Good News. But in the week since then a lot has happened and now we just don’t know what kind of news it really is.

Best case scenario at the moment is that the Powers That Be really are just flying by their pants seats and all will fall into place with little major disruption in the end. Worst case – I’m not going there.

Reality- again, the fact that we haven’t yet begun to go into massive debt to build onto the house is working in our favor. It’s becoming very tempting to try to downscale the plan. I’m already picturing a smaller new bedroom, a cozier sunroom- or maybe just a nice porch and a new deck- and fix up the basement a bit. Can we rethink it all and still be happy with the results? I know I can- I’m not so sure about Pat.

Pat was supposed to have today as a vacation day (one he can’t carry over to next year) but real life dictates that he’s going in for a few hours afterall. I think maybe we need a date night tonight. A few drinks might be in order!

Meanwhile, Andy’s re-thunk his college situation and come back to where he was before- I guess he needed to remind himself why he chose the schools he did. He’s got two apps to complete this weekend, then we submit the FAFSA and go back to explore the campuses. He’s pretty much ruled out Rider- I don’t know why, but it boils down to the fact that he liked Stockton better. Personally if I were a betting woman I’d say he’s going to end up at Stockton- with Ramapo a close second. My choice for him would be Ramapo, for many reasons. But I admit to bias, since I went there, so I keep my mouth shut.

A big envelope from Rider U arrived today! And something from student financial services as well. Can’t open them- Andy’s got a bowling match and won’t be home for at least an hour.

Speaking of bowling- he’s really found his groove- his average over the first two matches is 200 on the nose! Best he’s ever bowled. He’s got this really unorthodox style, he puts all his weight (what there is of it) behind the ball and throws it straight down the lane. His ball is pretty light, too, only 12lbs. In fact I was planning to get him a new ball for Christmas, but considering how well he’s been doing (in his Saturday league as well- not quite those high scores but more consistant than ever and that average is creeping up, too) I don’t think it’s a good idea to change anything right now!

edited to add– he’s in. Was offered their Presidential scholarship :-).

High grades pay off, kiddies.

Andy’s still getting lots of email from various colleges around the country. I’ve noticed a trend – a number of schools have sent emails with special “early decision” deadlines, some including waiving the application fee, no essay required, etc. Fine, good deal for the organized kid.

But now emails are starting to come that say “Deadline extended!” So, kids have been rushing to get their apps in – and then find out heh, no rush afterall. As if this time of year isn’t stressful enough, now we see all the unnecessary stress. I know the competition is getting fiercer and fiercer among the colleges to even bring in the applications- maybe by the time Nick is applying they’ll let the kids apply and get acceptance letters in junior year??

That said, Andy is taking advantage of this- he had decided not to try to get his application in to Rider for their early decision deadline (which was 11/15) but they extended it to 12/1, so he’s wrapping that up to submit now. This way he’ll know where he stands with them by Christmas.

And may I just say that college application essays are a JOKE- and the questions are often inane- how can they get any idea about these kids from a 150 word essay? That’s about the length of this post…

Andy was accepted and offered a Presidential scholarship, renewable all four years! Still three more applications to do but this is nice, having a school he really likes already done.

Me, I liked the academics, etc, but the campus was eh. Of course, I don’t have to live there, so it doesn’t much matter what I think!