Cute Piggy Bank from Amazon.com.

  I spoke to a nice woman at the Financial Aid office today. I was wondering why no financial aid information, including Bright Futures data,  was noted on my son's FSU portal.   She explained that they have not released any financial aid packages for Fall 2016 freshmen yet, but expect to release them sometime during the week of April 4th, 2016.  

 An e-mail should go out to students when the packages are posted, so keep an eye out.   They must accept or reject any offers, so it is a good idea to stay on top of this next month.

If you have not filled out your Federal (FASA) or your Florida Financial Aid Form, you probably should get going on that also. If your child is eligible for Bright Futures, I have been told that both of these forms need to be filled out. They involve entering household financial information, so your child may need assistance with this important paperwork.

Another insider tip is to make sure that your Florida Pre-paid account is actually linked up to your child's social security number. For some reason, my son's was not and I had to mail (not email) forms to the Florida Pre-paid people to have them link it up. I guess that I did not know his social security number when I bought the policy. It should show on the FSU portal if you are classified as "pre-paid", if not, you may want to contact the pre-paid people at 1-800-552-4723.

Anything else that I am missing here? Please let me know. Either leave a comment or e-mail at CollegeMomInsider@gmail.com 

If your child is heading to FSU in the fall, what you should be doing this Spring...

   If your child is heading to FSU in the fall, Congratulations!  We should be new BFF's because we are in the same boat.  I've been interviewing friends who have walked this path ahead of us and have done some research. According to many sources, these are the things that should be on your "to do list" right now:

1. Housing: 

If you have not given a deposit, do so a.s.a.p.  The deadline for sending in your dorm and roommate choices is May 1st. Unlike giving your housing deposit, FSU has told me that the dorm choosing is not a first come, first served thing. Everyone just must have their choices in no later than May 1st, 2016. Placement is solely based on priority numbers which are based on when you signed up for housing.

If your student opts to request a specific roommate, that roommate must also request your child. Space will then be assigned based on the higher/worst contract number of the roommate pair. 

2.  Health Forms: 

Your child will need a physical form filled out that shows all immunizations. This needs to be done before orientation.

3. Insurance: 

One of my friends has advised that her health insurance was not enough for FSU. They required her to buy their insurance which was $1800 for the 2015-2016 school year. You may want to look into this so that you do not have an unplanned expense in August.

4.  Orientation:

Go to the FSU website and pick a date.  During this 2 day/2 night event, your child will sleep in the dorms.  It is mandatory for incoming freshmen, but according to my FSU mom-friends,  at least one parent should absolutely go. This program is packed with information for both parents and students and will answer most, if not all, of your questions. One of my FSU mom friend's described orientation as "fun" and she went twice! 

We were told on our tour of FSU that the earlier you go to orientation, the better because this is when you register for classes. 

You will need a hotel for you. (No dorms for parents!) Good choices in the area are Hotel Duval, Aloft Hotel and Sheraton Four Points.

5. Move in Date:

Dorm move-in date is August 24th, 2016. This corresponds with many school starting weeks for younger siblings so you may need to plan to farm them out.  This also would be a good time to book a room for yourself. Unless you live close by, you will probably need to sleep in Tallahassee for one to two nights while you assist in the  move.

If I am missing anything from this list, please let me know. We are all in this boat together. Ahoy!

About this blog

   My son is a senior in high school and is heading off to FSU in the fall.  I looked for blogs written by FSU moms and, maybe my googling has gone to the dogs, but I couldn't find any.

   I figured that it might help other moms sending their babies off to Tallahassee to give information about the types of things parents want to know.  If you have any input or questions, feel free to comment or drop me a line.

   I'll be blogging about college tours, applying, admittance, orientation, etc now and once he is there...well let's just cross that bird leaving the nest at a later time.

   A little about me... I am a Florida Gator and consider my years as a student in Gainesville some of the very best in my life.  That being said, I'm really excited for my son and I think that FSU really is the best place for him . It may be a little hard for me to sport 'nole paraphernalia or do the tomahawk chop but if he loves FSU, I'm going to love on it too.

    I am married and the Seminole son is my eldest. His little brother is two years behind him.  We live in South Florida and I really pushed for my son to stay in state for college because we have Florida Pre-paid tuition and I did not want him going too far away. Tallahassee is far enough!   

      This blog will be written for parents, and is not going to be about my son's college experience, that will be his story to tell.  If there are any topics that you want for me to investigate, please let me know.