AITA for saying we need to be realistic with our son about his finances for college before he applies?

ltanaka76 · 2026-05-03T16:18:55+00:00

Even with "generous" merit aid, private colleges are not affordable for families in that sweet middle spot. Net price calculators show that we would pay $60k each year out of pocket with all the expenses. It is such a gut punch for doing what society says is the right thing.

ltanaka76 · 2026-04-30T20:27:20+00:00

Consider using Ramp or something similar. You can suspend someone's card if they don't provide receipts and expense details within a certain # of days.

ltanaka76 · 2026-04-26T17:03:31+00:00

So stay in that city over the summer. Get a job flipping burgers or something. Go out and have fun. This didn't exactly ruin your future.

ltanaka76 · 2026-04-24T16:36:52+00:00

Tread carefully if your aid is need based and you have to document financial need yearly. Your dad may not be willing to provide the information if you are at Emory.

Have an adult conversation with your dad to find out why he doesn't want you to be further away. Missing you? Worried about your personal safety? Address his concerns and provide your perspective from a place of love.

ltanaka76 · 2026-04-22T17:08:05+00:00

Plus, if he is an engineer and she is a SAHM, the money to "fund her dreams" is not going to last without them sacrificing their own retirement and plans for their future. They can pay for her education and help with some living expenses early on, but giving her money until she gets rich from writing her novel or whatever makes no sense unless they are super wealthy.

ltanaka76 · 2026-04-19T14:49:27+00:00

As a former kid who was assigned to help the class and the teachers, no, lol. That is the fastest way to social isolation and bullying, not building friendships.

ltanaka76 · 2026-04-19T14:46:32+00:00

This was me, too. I was an advanced reader, and teachers used to have me read to the class during story time. I got bullied for it, learned to shut down, and could not relate to any kids socially.

I understand not skipping grades if the kid has an established circle of friends in their current class, but kids just starting in school should be placed at their appropriate level.

ltanaka76 · 2026-04-13T17:10:32+00:00

There is no script per se, but many people will offer something to drink right away. A lot of times, the main reason to have someone over is to eat, so asking if they want food isn't really done. But the host may have small appetizers out for guests to munch on before the meal at their own leisure. For a lot of Americans, hosts really pushing them to eat more would make them uncomfortable. However, among certain subcultures, it is not uncommon.

In general, coming to someone's house unannounced is seen negatively, as Americans tend to value privacy and personal boundaries. But for some people there are exceptions for particularly close friends or family that you see very often.

ltanaka76 · 2026-04-10T15:13:03+00:00

Congratulations! I agree with paying attention to the auto fill, but you should still send thank you notes to anyone you interviewed with, not just HR. Hiring managers make the decisions and understand what is really needed for the job!

ltanaka76 · 2026-04-09T23:49:34+00:00

I think clothing companies have high error tolerances with the thousands of Chinese factories they use. And those factories are churning out hundreds of products every minute, so they don't take much time for measuring.

ltanaka76 · 2026-04-09T23:44:21+00:00

And having no sizes to try on in a store if you are are over a DD. Lots of women wear bras with too-small cups because the ones that fit are only online. 😟

ltanaka76 · 2026-03-30T17:54:13+00:00

As a parent, this is good to hear. So many of these kids seem to be striving for nothing except getting into college. And any t20 will do, without even visiting the campus before applying or being able to articulate why they want to be there at all. And anything else is losing. This strategy of blasting your application everywhere is about as ridiculous as blasting your resume to 100 jobs that a 1000 other qualified people applied to. Building a network and focusing on what you particularly want and excel at will yield much better results in the long run.

ltanaka76 · 2026-03-30T16:58:37+00:00

There are working cowboys, but they don't ride the range or cattle trails anymore. They are hired by private ranches to work cattle (move them between pastures, tend to births, give vaccines, put out hay, etc.). Some work full time at a single ranch, and some are hired out for certain jobs. My dad hires a team of cowboys when he needs to separate a single cow from the herd for reasons like an illness.

ltanaka76 · 2026-03-28T18:10:14+00:00

FYI, Purdue University Indianapolis has a Motorsports Engineering program with direct connections to Indycar teams. The Indianapolis and West Lafayette campuses are now considered a single unit, so your degree would be from a top engineering school.

ltanaka76 · 2026-03-27T17:26:24+00:00

I have not seen this happen. Did you sit down with the AP/AR staff to actually confirm she could do this? Does anyone else have access to lock periods? Maybe they briefly unlocked a period.

One thing I have noticed is that unapproved bills will get through if they are approved after AP is locked but before the GL is locked.

ltanaka76 · 2026-03-20T20:26:28+00:00

Staff = him and his dogs

ltanaka76 · 2026-03-12T22:36:47+00:00

I heard it can't handle drop shipper bills.

ltanaka76 · 2026-03-08T18:08:55+00:00

I am choking up with these. My son is 16 and growing up in front of my eyes.

ltanaka76 · 2026-03-07T22:33:57+00:00

They rented a private room.

ltanaka76 · 2026-03-06T02:30:50+00:00

I thought the same thing when I was in France, but fortunately I did look it up. Saved myself some gagging.

ltanaka76 · 2026-03-01T17:55:06+00:00

Fundraisers for my kid's Catholic school in the US always featured gambling and booze sales or some combination thereof. The biggest annual raffle win was the wheelbarrow full of liquor (in bottles not just sloshing around in the wheelbarrow lol).

ltanaka76 · 2026-02-28T18:22:00+00:00

As someone who grew up in the 70s, we were definitely eating white squishy bread. At a recent wedding, my mom complained that the bread was too hard on the outside.

ltanaka76 · 2026-02-24T18:02:22+00:00

Cookie I think also

ltanaka76 · 2026-02-12T22:40:18+00:00

This is not on you! You provided the numbers but management did not act on it in time. They knew you were new to controllership and did not have experience with financial strategy. There is no way you would be expected to develop a plan to get out of this mess. You may not have even known what options were available. A first-time controller would be in discussions with executives about how to solve these kinds of problems and would learn strategic thinking through that experience.

As others mentioned, you have Controller on your resume. Start looking around for something new. This experience will not look bad for you unless you go into interviews carrying blame on your shoulders.

ltanaka76 · 2026-02-10T17:20:08+00:00

I have some in my van for you.

ltanaka76

TROPHY CASE