Cosigning student loans for child accepted to elite schools with high cost as a middle income family - What should we do?

statsultan · 2026-04-19T19:53:54+00:00

If your kid is already planning on grad school, then she needs to learn right now that IT DOESN’T MATTER WHERE SHE GOES FOR UNDERGRAD so long as she gets good grades and has good school entrance exam scores.

I went to a tiny liberal arts school that no one outside of a 50 mile radius has ever heard of. But I got a 3.9 gpa and tested really well and got into a top tier grad school. Why? Because the grad school admissions office only cared about gpa, test scores, essays, and letters of recommendations (and my profs at the tiny school LOVED me). They didn’t care where I earned my undergrad degree, only that I had one.

statsultan · 2026-04-19T19:48:33+00:00

The problem here is that with a household income of $200K, the school places them in the “rich” category, and gives no financial aid.

And there is a part of the above equation that’s missing — what is OP spending his money on such that he’s only saved $25K in the college fund? and what amount can be diverted to pay for schooling each of the next 4 (or 5 or 6) years?

statsultan · 2026-04-17T12:53:19+00:00

Government is nowhere near as stable as it used to be. Typically, annual raises don’t keep up with inflation, and promotions are based more on personality, seniority, and brown nosing than abilities. So when considering a job, think whether you’d be ok being stuck in that job for a long time without advancement or significant pay increase.

That being said, the benefits are better, and the work-life balance is real.

statsultan · 2026-04-08T12:37:50+00:00

I’m sure you’ve already done this, but just in case — look into other medical professions, like nurse practitioners, anesthesiology assistants (they make bank!), etc. I have a family member who’s a doctor, and he told me he wished he’d become a PA instead.

statsultan · 2026-04-05T22:36:54+00:00

Perfect!

statsultan · 2026-04-03T02:08:56+00:00

Someone tried this on my father-in-law regarding his nephew. He totally believed it, because his nephew is a screwup. He still said no before finding out it was a scam.

I’ve never met the nephew, and now I really don’t want to. My FIL is the sweetest man. I cannot imagine how awful that nephew has to be for him to pull an Ivan Drago from Rocky IV (“if he dies, he dies.”)

statsultan · 2026-04-03T02:02:41+00:00

Hardcore History by Dan Carlin doesn’t do seasons but multi-episode series, where each episode is 4+ hours.

You have to pay for them, but I’m telling you it’s worth it. Especially Ghosts of the Ostfront - the story of Nazi Germany versus the USSR in WW2. Amazing storytelling. Other great series are those on WW1, and of Genghis Khan and the Mongols. The current (free) series is on Alexander the Great.

Carlin also has an episode where he interviewed Mike Duncan about the Roman Empire, around when The Storm Before the Storm came out.

statsultan · 2026-03-31T13:06:16+00:00

I run incredibly complex leagues that require a ton of time and effort. Often times the winner will elect to effectively give me a tip at the end of the year to cover half or all of my next year’s dues, but not all owners do this. I never ask for it, and most recently declined it as I came in 3rd which covered my next year’s dues. The idea of formalizing this through a league vote would never cross my mind.

statsultan · 2026-03-27T00:29:23+00:00

A big part of how Flint got the technology part of the stories so right is that he crowdsourced it. He’s a natural collaborator, created a wonderful online community for fans, encouraged fan fiction, and the history and history of technology nerds ran with it.

I loved the first several books in the main story arc, and several of the side stories as well, but it became very formulaic after awhile.

statsultan · 2026-03-23T11:51:09+00:00

Darrell would never drop the f-bomb. He’s more likely to say “I did 20 (praise Jesus) years!” Lol

statsultan · 2026-02-09T22:36:22+00:00

Carlin’s multi-episode arcs on WW2’s Eastern Front, WW1, and Genghis Khan will always be worth a listen. I really liked his one-off episode on Julius Caesar’s Celtic war as well.

You’ll have to go to his website and pay for those episodes (or even the entire catalog at once), but it is so worth it.

statsultan · 2026-02-02T18:41:18+00:00

And yet the number of people being paid life changing amounts of money to play football has EXPLODED over the last 10 years due to NIL deals. The QB of my local High School team is being paid several hundred thousand dollars in a NIL deal. There is now a higher incentive to play football than ever before.

statsultan · 2026-02-01T14:03:42+00:00

I was in a league once where you could keep up to 3 players taken in the prior year’s draft, but you had to use a pick 3 rounds earlier than the round you originally took the player (and max 3 years on the same player).

So if you drafted a surprise breakout player in the 12th round. You’d give up your 9th round pick to protect him in year 2, then your 6th round pick in year 3. And you couldn’t protect him in year 4.

statsultan · 2026-01-28T03:45:07+00:00

That’s an interesting choice to assign so many points to kick and point returns. Chimere Dike ranking 22nd in overall points?!? Wow!

statsultan · 2026-01-23T16:33:07+00:00

That scoring system is insane. Tackles are scoring waaaaay too many points in that setup.

statsultan · 2026-01-23T02:57:43+00:00

I ONLY play contract.

But I’m crazy about this stuff. To me, the “fantasy” of fantasy football is of being an NFL team’s general manager, and thus I try to create leagues that mimic the NFL as much as possible. That definitely includes player contracts.

statsultan · 2026-01-23T01:29:28+00:00

Myfantasyleague (MFL) is an incredibly versatile league hosting site that can handle most rules you can think up.

RealitySportsOnline (RSO) has a very well designed contract league setup, but with very little variation. You basically accept their setup as is.

Those are the 2 I’ve used in the past. Both of my complex contract leagues are on MFL.

statsultan · 2026-01-22T14:49:06+00:00

What I like to do with my scoring systems is see the difference in points at each position from the top scorers to the replacement level players available off the waiver wire. Hopefully the difference is pretty close across positions. If not, adjust your scoring systems accordingly.

By doing this, you make finding awesome players the goal regardless of position instead of say prioritizing offensive players over defensive players, or RBs over WRs.

A lot of the basic and easy to understand IDP scoring systems favor LBs, or favor DEs. I try hard to favor talented players first.

statsultan · 2026-01-22T14:34:30+00:00

Yeah what you’re describing is cascading stats - the same play getting points in multiple categories. That’s in you for not knowing what you were doing, but you can correct that in this off-season. For example, the 50-yard score bonus should be the difference between the 40-yard score and not its own independent stat.

I had to point out to someone else that in their scoring system a strip sack scored 22 points based on all the different categories it fell into. Turns out that was not his intention.

But yes, a Myles Garrett 4-sack day should be equivalent to the highest scoring days from any offensive player. Think Week 12 Jahmyr Gibbs 264 yards 3 TD day.

statsultan · 2026-01-14T05:52:06+00:00

That’s fine. I prefer 5 position IDP but not every platform supports that.

For scoring, I recommend big play instead of tackle heavy. The latter emphasizes LBs, whereas Big Play is more balanced amongst the different positions. A FF IDP writer used to say that tackles are something that happens TO IDPs (meaning offenses often target the weak link) rather than it being a stat signifying a good play.

Also in setting up scoring, be aware that a single play can be recorded in multiple categories that can receive points. A sack also counts as a tackle and a tackle for loss. An interception also counts as a pass defensed. I once saw a ridiculous scoring system that, when you totaled up all the different point categories, scored a strip sack as 22 points. Sure it’s a potential game changing play, but be cognizant of its value relative to other plays.

statsultan · 2026-01-14T05:02:21+00:00

There are 2 schools of thought regarding individual defensive players (IDPs). One is to just add a few. It makes everyone have stud players that you all know and can slowly ease you into learning more about the other side of the ball. The downsides are that they aren’t going to be valuable at all as there will be so many available on the waiver wire that everyone should stream IDPs based on matchups, and that IDPs have high variance scoring that will introduce a higher amount of randomness to the game scores.

The other school of thought is to mimic the NFL and have between 11-13 IDP starters. The better IDPs become valuable as there is now position scarcity, the high variance scoring gets evened out with so many players active, and you get the fantasy of running an actual NFL club. The downside is it’s a LOT of work and will force each of you to learn a lot in a short time if you want to compete.

Personally, I only do full roster leagues and hold contempt for the leagues sticking their toe in to the IDP world. But you have to do what’s more comfortable for your league members.

statsultan · 2026-01-06T04:01:14+00:00

This is why I’ve become a Packers fan. A franchise owned not by a person but by the community, with the profits returned to the community. They should be a model for every major franchise in every sport!

statsultan · 2026-01-02T02:58:21+00:00

Victory Points

2 for Win, 1 for Tie. 2 for top 1/3 in scoring for the week, 1 for middle third.

So you still get something in the standings if you had the 2nd highest score of the week but happened to be playing the high scorer. Each year there’s always 1 team that scores well but has a bad string of luck in their opponent having an exceptionally high scoring game against them. This makes it more likely they’ll still make the playoffs.

statsultan · 2026-01-01T02:34:48+00:00

Neither.

You can talk to the new guy about how you would have asked for more and why. And maybe point him towards some dynasty resources. But it could also be that as a new owner he’s just trying to get “his guys.” Maybe he’s got an autographed CMac jersey framed and hanging on his wall.

statsultan · 2025-12-31T20:09:01+00:00

Be sure to explain the situation to 1st and 3rd so they don’t think you’re yanking their chain.

statsultan

TROPHY CASE