HAHAHAHA -- hey, I've been looking online at Florida condos, TOO!!! The prices are MIGHTY tempting right now!!! (But the property taxes -- YIKES!!!! At least compared to Tennessee.) I'm not really sure about hurricanes, either.

No, Nashville is only pool do-able for about 5 months out of the year. Tennessee hardly ever gets snow -- maybe 4 or 5 days a year -- and even then, only an inch or two. But, the last couple of years have seen lower temps than normal. We used to hardly ever go below about 28° during the winter -- but, we've had some brrrrrrrrr spells these past couple of years. (Farmers say it is good to kill the insects.)

Nashville DOES have some very nice water, though -- Percy Priest Lake on the south east, Old Hickory Lake on the north east, and the Cumberland River goes right through downtown. It isn't the same as the ocean though.

I started thinking about another Tennessee school -- MTSU -- about an hour south of Nashville. Apparently, it has one of the top three audio engineering programs in the U.S. Of course, bigger is not always better -- and I always told my students that they might be better served by going to a smaller school where the faculty had a chance to actually learn their names. MTSU's out-of-state tuition would be in the low 30's -- but, if you became a TN resident, the price would drop to less than 12K, I think.

I'm with you -- I'd want to see WHO was offering the BEST financial aid. Unless you apply, you often don't know what schools have to offer.

My son is checking out Belmont now.....and shockingly, my husband (who has been poo-pooing anything NOT Berklee) REALLY REALLY likes the looks of it.

I can't remember what the article was from that we got our first list of top schools for audio engineering, but I guess we do need to do some updated searches. Because it is such an up and coming field, there could be more recently certified with that major.

Dang.....I had my plan all formed for the condo in FL a few hours from son #1 at U Miami and son #2 who is interested in Florida State.

Oh....and....UPDATE....finally got to talk with SSA today and the new amounts start officially next month. I discovered I got an extra check for $1802 this month on Aug 1st from SSDI when I went to transfer my regular check $1823 into my regular checking account. Because they are now updated with 'no more WC for me', I will get $1888 a month now (so they sent a back pay check) and my kids will be bumped up to $472 each. That will all certainly help me get back on track