Getting ready for college

Summer is getting close to the end with only one more week before school starts. Freshman year in college, junior year in high school, and a 7th grader! How did that happen? The best part is that they are all excited. And I am eagerly awaiting August 26th - the magical date where the university finance system updates and somehow merges financial aid, payment plans, and all their fees making the ugly invoice, claiming that we owe them more than 8000$ by August 31st, go away. Here I am - seeing that bill for the first time:

Lucky for my they are very nice and patient in the walk in financial office and got me calmed down and for the first time someone finally explained to me exactly what 6000$ in personal expenses actually covers and why it is only on the financial aid document and not in the university system. Bottom line is that with we are all covered with federal aid, some additional loans, a bit of scholarship, a little work study, and money that we can spare. A big puzzle that will start over every single year (for the next 10 years before we are finally done with putting kids through college😖).

Not surprisingly the last week of summer will be spent getting ready for Ulrik to move out. Since Kristian and I have never lived in a dorm room before, we don’t really know what to expect, but Ulrik is now the owner of a small fridge, a top mattress (for the plastic covered dorm mattress), a shower caddy, a brand new MacBook Pro (mandatory....... seriously.......), and about 200.000 little stickers with his name on, that he puts on every piece of weird tools the art school has required him to purchase prior to start. Apparently a rug will be nice too, since the floors get cold in the winter, but the plan is to wait and see what is still needed once he actually sees his dorm room for the first time and meets his new roommate.

And poor mom here has good days and bad days. Good days where I am so happy for him and can’t wait to see him grow and learn. And bad days where I don’t sleep at night and is absolutely sure, that it will be a total disaster. Sounds familiar? Anyone? And of course it will all start over this year as Teresa enters junior year in high school, where college and SAT scores will be on everyones mind. We have already started to receive pamphlets and emails from colleges across the US. Ugh.