The day is February 17, 2017, and at approximately 3:00 pm the words (Photo to the right) and "Welcome to the Class of 2021" came through our phones via an email alert. It was the news we had been waiting to see since December 2016. These past few months have felt like when I was a teen waiting to hear back from colleges/universities that I had applied to back in the day. When I last wrote, the family was stressed (some more than others-ME) about high school placement testing, filling out high school applications, essay questions, teacher recommendations, and financial aid forms. Deadlines, deadlines, deadlines! The anticipation became intense when we kept receiving emails from the schools stating that decision time was fast approaching!Now as I have explained before, this whole applying to high school (a Catholic school) is all new to my husband and myself. Both of us have a public school educational background from primary, middle, and high school. The public schools in the bounds of our neighborhood (for me the military base) are where we attended. We chose the private school route for the children, because the neighborhood school (nine years ago when the teen was in kindergarten) in our old Northeast neighborhood was closing. Family friends told us about the Catholic school their children were in and recommended the school to us. After touring the school at an open house and the now teen doing a shadow visit, we made the decision to send her there. Our youngest was able to attend one year of kindergarten, until the school closed three years ago.
The Roadrunner, the Mustang, and the Lion are the mascots that represent each of the Catholic high schools the teen applied to. Given the competition among area Catholic high schools, we were limited to just applying to three schools which were ranked (in a sense) by first, second, and third choice. As a just in case, we applied to a prestigious public high school that she could attend by lottery because of out of bounds restrictions (not a neighborhood school in our Southeast area). So on acceptance day February 17, 2017, the Roadrunner, the Mustang, and the Lion all wanted the teen to come join their school as part of the class of 2021!
Exciting!! The teen's current school had just dismissed classes at about 3:30 pm. As soon as she got in the car, we told her the great news! The teen could barely keep her composure sitting in the car reading all three emails! She didn't even give it time to sink in. Before we knew it, she was running down the sidewalk back to her friends gathered in front the school spilling the beans!! Hugs, smiles, high fives, and words of congratulations from her friends and teachers were in order. So we let her enjoy the moment.
So with that flashback, I must...
Now Press Forward
The moment would not last long, because what lurked around the corner was again deadlines, deadlines, deadlines!! By the following week, we received the acceptance packets from two of the schools with information about the registration and financial process. The deadline to accept and register for either school was fast approaching. Three weeks was all we had to decide which school the teen would attend in the fall. The decision was easy to make-right? She was accepted to all three, but only one school could reign supreme! Decision made-Right? Wrong. The decision only became harder when the reality of how are we going to pay the tuition kicked in.
We have always understood the challenge of being financially responsible for our children's education. The teen has been attending private school for nine years and the youngest for four years. Challenging may not be the right word at this moment, but it is right at this moment for some of us "Blues" parents. Whether your child attends a public, private,or charter school, the issue always comes down to M-O-N-E-Y! Then there is the thought of paying for college. If you have multiple children, then the cost for education is even greater.
Thank goodness financial aid and scholarships are available. What happens when you are awarded a scholarship or a substantial financial aid amount to cover part of the tuition? Are you financially capable to make up the difference? What happens if you don't receive a financial award or scholarship for your child(ren)? There is also the scenario of receiving aid for one school, but not the other. What if the school that you really wanted to send your child to, is the one that you didn't receive the financial aid for? These are questions some parents are dealing with at this moment as registration for freshman classes fill up at various schools.
So what is the right answer, and what did we decide? I can say at this point one of the schools has been eliminated. Whether it was the Roadrunner, the Mustang, or the Lion you will have to stay tuned for part two.
Kaisha
Blog post Copyright March 31, 2017
All Rights Reserved.
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