Registering for College.

We registered our oldest son for college 5 years ago and at this point, I can't remember very many of the details.  I remember my husband filled out the FAFSA and I applied for scholarships and filled out the application for the school admission.  Then we waited.  When we finally heard that he had gotten the scholarship, we only had about 5 or 6 days until he had to be there.  That was kinda crazy.  Since the college was so far away, all of my input was by phone or computer.  One of the professors walked through registration and registered my son for all of his classes.  Everyone there had to help us because we were here and not able to come down there.

Fast forward 5 years to registering our youngest son for college (our daughter does not want to go, we have been trying to talk her into it!) and it's different.  He is planning to go to the local community college which is about 20-25 miles away and we've been over there 3 or 4 times.  We've had some issues with financial aid and we didn't want to register him until those were resolved.  He was in their system, but he hadn't registered for any classes.  Finally, they called and said that they were having an easy registration event last week, while we would be in the midst of wedding planning.  So we went over there and registered him. We spent about half an hour talking to the financial aid office and we think that he has a decent financial aid package.  I'm really not sure at this point.  He will get 434 dollars in some kind of aid based on his ACT score but otherwise he's not eligible for the KEES money (which is something the state of Kentucky gives out) because he is a homeschooler.

We've also spent some time talking to the learning disabilities coordinator there on the campus and he seems very helpful.  I think he will be a great resource for youngest son.  While we were there on easy registration day, we spoke to a professor about what our son wants to major in and he chose a major - construction technology - only to find that they are not going to offer it any more.  :-(  So we registered him for classes that would work for any major - English, history, digital literacy and math and left it at that for that day.  This week, I contacted another community college which is about 35 miles away and asked them if they still offer construction technology - and they do, so we thought briefly about transferring everything there this summer, but decided that we will let him start where he is with the LD support and all the paperwork done (hopefully) and possibly transfer him in January or even next August to finish up the 2 year degree in construction technology.

Notes for homeschoolers who are registering for college - we didn't have any trouble with his transcript, it was easily accepted and the professor who registered him was thrilled with his math scores.  He said that if there is anywhere that homeschoolers drop the ball, it is usually math.   He kept looking at the scores and saying "this is great!"  and "you are ready".  He said that most of the kids who come to their college from the public schools need remedial classes before they are ready to start college and that homeschoolers generally only need remedial math but that our son was ready to go in all subjects, which made me and his dad feel good.   Now we've got some things to work on before he's ready to go, namely, he has to get his driver's license now - no more procrastinating about that!!!!  He hates to drive and I hate teaching him to drive because it's terrifying, so we are in for a fun July!  Wish us luck!