First Year Recap, Summer School, Jobs and More

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My son has just under a month until he'll be moving home after his first year at college. So far, so good. He's managed to get decent grades, get a very minimal part-time job on campus (begged someone to give him a few more hours, although still not what he hoped for), and he met his first girlfriend.

He'd hoped to take summer school on his campus and possibly live up there, but the $110 per week for the room was a little steep for his budget. Then the courses offered this summer weren't really what he needed, so he's opting for community college and transferring them in. He's talked to his advisors and everyone's on board with his choices.

He's gone through the lottery and chosen his dorm for next year, although he had to give up his vegan roommate so the roommate could be bumped into the full apartment style dorms and possibly survive another year on campus. My son's in his last choice of dorms, since the school has made several decisions to move grad students on campus from an off-campus apartment complex, took the neighborhood houses off the choice list and offered those to visiting faculty. He was overly optimistic that there would be a chance he'd be able to get into at least one of the apartment dorms. There might be a miracle given the school mostly pulls from a 30-mile radius and some kids might opt to drive, but he's made peace with his new roommates and his dorm (right across the way from the full kitchen for when he wants to cook). The dorms were built for the Dallas Cowboys summer practices, but what was awesome in the 1970s apparently don't command the same panache in 2009.

He's starting to look around for a job (not knocking himself out though), but he's gotten his registration appointment for the community college, where he's taking either six or nine units. If he takes Intersession next January, he'll have enough units to be a senior and he'll move up in the housing lottery quite a bit for next year. He's interested in a couple of online only courses, and at least one that meets at the school itself.

The big news is that when he gets out next month, he's supposed to go to the DMV and test for his permit to drive (please, please, please!).

I can't believe that a year ago he was wrestling with the decision on which school to go to. I now have friends schlepping their kids across country doing the same things.

Has anyone had any success with an online only class? Is your colllege student looking at summer school or a job, or both? How many units would it take for you to be concerned it's too much? How do you handle curfews and other issues when an adult moves back for such a short time to make the most of it?

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It's the same problem with the full meal plan requirement at my son's school, and the lack of any apartment/kitchen options for underclassmen are even more limiting. I'm losing sleep worrying about who he'll be rooming with, and where! (If he found an off-campus apartment, there's additional issues of needing to set up utilities, buy parking permits, etc, etc. and the neighborhood isn't the safest....I don't think he has a clue...)

Some of the community colleges here have Intersession because they end the fall semester in mid-December, and the second semester starts the first week in February. For kids interested, they can take the same type of compressed course in 5 weeks as offered in summer school.

We chose this community college because they offer two 5-week summer sessions. He'll get out of school in mid-May, summer school will start at the community college the last week in June and he'll be out the last week in July. The next session starts the last couple of days of July and goes until nearly the end of August.

I sometimes sleep with earplugs, specifically when the wind blows here (called Santa Anas). When he just walks down the hall (bedrooms are on the second floor) he can wake me since it's an old house with all wood floors. I think we'll just lay down the ground rules and if he's out when I go to sleep, I'll just wear the ear plugs. My problem, not his, is that if I wake up at say 2 or 3 in the morning, I honestly can't go back to sleep.

As for his dorm, you and I realize that he's got it made. He's coming to grips he's losing his roommate. While having a quirky vegan roommate is a challenge, they got along well. His suite for next year is essentially two bedrooms, a living area and a bathroom for four students. They can set it up with four beds bunked in one room, the desks in the other room and a living room, or two students in each bedroom. One of the boys already has the HDTV, so they'll be set. They're allowed a 4 cubic sq. ft. refridge and a microwave in their suite ( my son has the microwave, but he'll need a new fridge by losing his roommate). He's on the first floor, and across the hall will be a full kitchen, shared by 15 suites. The school will require he be on the full meal plan, which is what bothers him the most, as he thinks he wants to cook for himself. What he doesn't realize at 18 is that it gets old--fast--especially when you're taking classes and running all over campus.

He's home this weekend, but I'm especially looking forward to the summer, even if I know things have changed, and he's not going to be here forever.

I'm glad to hear that things have worked out so well for your son. I'm curious, what is "Intercession?"

Your son's "last choice" in dorms still sounds fantastic compared to my son's choices. At my son's university, dorms are tiny "shoeboxes," with most built in the 1950's. They don't offer any apartment options with kitchen access unless you're an upperclassman, so he wants to move off-campus, but it's in a major metropolitan area (not a "college town") so rents are exhorbitant, and leases are a year long. To make matters worse, the guy he wanted to room with has decided he might join ROTC, so now my son doesn't even know where, or with whom, he'll be living....

My son is also looking at taking one or two classes at the community college, while working at the same movie theater part-time job he's held for the past two summers and this past winter break. In terms of curfew, to be honest, working at a theater means late evening hours, often to midnight. Since my son is "used to" being out then, we don't really have a curfew, we simply ask that when he comes in, he is quiet. While we don't mind him having friends over, we request that he not do it late on Sun.-Thurs., when his dad gets up at 6 a.m. for work the next day.

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