Parents on the Coli of Future College Students

[daboywonder2002]

My oldest is in his freshman year. Thankful he wanted to Goto a school in state and my wife and I saved up a decent chunk in his 529. He got HOPE as well in Georgia. Early admission is a must but the period has ended at most colleges around this time of year.

Visit the school- a must

Speak to the dean of the college if the major your kid is interested in. General Info session on the school is okay but it isn’t enough. Do the specific major info session to make sure this is what your kid wants to do.

Get in early on housing. Apply now so you not screwed potentially (like I was. Now I’m paying for off campus housing because they didn’t have enough rooms on campus. Too my residence application fee knowing they had no room and of course it’s non refundable.)

Fafsa, get it done asap!!!

Can you tell me more about this HOPE scholarship in Georgia? Is it worth relocating to GA for to attend in state schools

 

[Rekkapryde]

Can you tell me more about this HOPE scholarship in Georgia? Is it worth relocating to GA for to attend in state schools

Pays for your child's tuition (not room and board, or fees, or meal plans) if you goto a state school. You even can get something if you goto a private school in GA too.

You and your kid basically would have had to live in GA for 24 months prior to the start of their first semester, so be a GA resident by their Junior Year to qualify. Kid has to graduate with a 3.0 as well. GPA is for qualified classes (science, math, english, history, etc). Not no damn PE or Band or Foreign Language. Their is a .5 bump to a grade if you take an AP class.

 

[daboywonder2002]

VA-MD-NC-GA, but it depends. Hate I had to move back to TX, but the public HS my kid went to in NoVA was a top-125 HS in the nation, and they had a good share of black kids who went to A&T, Howard, GW, G'town, or UPenn (for some reason). The curriculum was light-years ahead of the current ISD she's in here in Dallas. hence why I'm looking at getting her into Booker T. School for the Performing Arts.

MD will give you the diversity you're looking for. NoVA definitely doesn't, but my kid is a little code-switching prodigy and shyt, so she survived. I lived in Bama and would stress to only live in Huntsville. They have some EXCELLENT HS there like Tech Demo or Bob Jones in Madison.

My suggestion collegiate wise is look for a school that is big on academics but loves its athletics. My homegirl, who went to Villanova, swears the private, Ivy, and Ivy League adjacent schools in Philly are like this.

My preference is always HBCU or at least a school with some diversity. Wife wants to be in Minnesota but I prefer the east coast over the midwest. We have family on the East coast and travel wise it's easier to maneuver. WE can go on college tours and just drive from Philly, Delaware, down to the DMV to the Carolinas to Georgia.

 

[Booker Carver]

Another good gem.

if you already have good credit, open a secondary account as an additional cardholder for your kid once they turn 16. Did that with my oldest when he turned 16 and gave him his "own" account under my AMEX platinum (he got a Delta Gold Amex in his name under his social as an additional cardholder under my account). Of course with Amex you have to pay your balance off every month or pay their massive interest, so my old lady and me like to make big purchases on it and I have had him do some from time to time and we paid it over every statement. Anyway, 2 years later when he's eligible to open up his own CreditKarma account, his score is 758 from the 2 years we did buying and paying shyt off monthly on the credit card in his name. Starting off life with good credit, esp being black, is a nice feather in the hat.

I added my son as an authorized user. You can do that with discover at 15.

We also just bought a car using a teen auto program at a credit union. That will also help build his credit. Interest rate is 4%. They also allow a 100% interest rebate at $7,500 and 75% rebate on $12,500. Just need 10 transactions a month from the checking account.

I’ll add him to my Amex Gold once he turns 16 next week.

 

[daboywonder2002]

When researching high schools for your kids, what criteria is most important? Test scores, diversity? I also like to look at what athletes from there go to 4 year colleges

 

[Lucky_Lefty]

Not sure if anyone else’s kid did this but what type of schools are on CommonApp? I know there is the HBCU one where one app goes to X amount of schools for consideration. What about the one on the PWI/HSI side?