<p>really?
the schools we looked at depended on where they were- urban more expensive- rural less- didn't really matter if private schools or not. ( I imagine in Ca, the land is pretty dear)
Then of course the private school you could actually get a single for the same price as a double, the public school you might be lucky to even get a room.
The food was better at the private too, althogh the public LAC had an organic farm and student run restaurant that was supposed to be good:)</p>
<p>
[quote]
I think it is ridiculous that the UC schools charge so much for their dorms/room and board ($12,500). Usually "state" schools only charge about $6k - $7k).
[/quote]
</p>
<p>jlauer, maybe in Alabama. But you probably haven't experienced the cost of living in the SF Bay Area specifically, and CA in general, where housing costs a fortune. I'm pretty certain, as state schools, there's not any profit margin in those room & board costs.</p>
<p>avwh </p>
<p>ha ha ha...... I am a California native and have only lived in Alabama for a short time.</p>
<p>The "cost of living" in SF is irrelevant since the dorms are on the state's property. Food is cheap in Calif.</p>
<p>Really? You think that the land is "free" because the state owns it? Well, I can't help you, then....</p>
<p>Usually the private schools charge $9k - 11K for dorm/board. State schools usually charge $5k - 6k. I have Fiske guide and Princeton Review guides here and that's what they say.</p>
<p>avwh: The state does not charge itself property tax. The land is "free" to the state. I didn't say that the cost to "rent" the dorms is free.</p>
<p>New York has a high "cost of living," too, but it doesn't rip off its students with high room and board at its state universities. How do THEY do it?</p>
<p>You said:
[quote]
The "cost of living" in SF is irrelevant since the dorms are on the state's property. Food is cheap in Calif.
[/quote]
and you said:
[quote]
The state does not charge itself property tax. The land is "free" to the state. I didn't say that the cost to "rent" the dorms is free.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>You did say "the cost of living was irrelevant", which implied that the state wouldn't have to charge rent if their land was free. Nowhere did I say that you were suggesting the dorms should be free.</p>
<p>If the UC system isn't competitive as far as what they charge vs. what students receive, I'm sure they'll pay closer attention to your cost studies, jlauer. But last time I looked, the UCs had gotten in excess of 88,000 applications for this incoming class. All but the newest UC campuses had substantially more applications than space for admits. Room & board may not be a bargain in the UCs compared to most other places (I don't have data that tell me that one way or the other), but that's a lot of applications for a school system that you think is overcharging for room & board.</p>
<p>I said that the cost of living is irrelevant because you implied that UC's need to charge more for dorm/board than, say, Alabama.</p>
<p>I NEVER implied that the state didn't need to charge rent if the land is free. I implied that the state didn't need to charge a higher rate simply because regular housing (apartments/homes) in California is high. </p>
<p>And, I never asked for any "help".</p>
<p>jlauer95, the cost of living is not irrelevant. There is more to room and board than just the land. There are maintenance workers, security staff, cooks, waiters, maids, janitors, etc. etc. etc. All these people need to get paid, and I guarantee that they get paid more in CA than similar workers in AL. After all, they don't live in the dorms, and they need to be able to afford those "regular" houses/apartments. Food is more expensive in SF than in Birmingham. Additionally, there are the utility costs. Also more in certain parts of the country. And let's not forget the costs of furnishings and other items for the dorms, cafeterias, etc. </p>
<p>So no matter who owns the land or who pays taxes on it (BTW, most private schools are tax-exempt, so that's a wash), cost of living does matter in considering fees for room and board.</p>
<p>Food is not more expensive in SF than B'ham (I'm a Californian and know that food is cheaper in CA -- fruits, meats, cheese, milk, eggs, etc). And, while salaries in SF may be higher than B'ham, they are not more expensive then NY where dorm/board fees are much lower than UC's..</p>
<p>What NYC schools are you talking about? The NYC state schools are basically commuter schools; very few dorms are even available.</p>
<p>According to 2006 PR: NY state schools that have cheaper dorm/board than UC schools:</p>
<p>SUNY
Albany: $ 7540
Binghamton: 7710
Buffalo 8086
Stony Brook 7730
Geneso 6820
Purchase College 7540</p>
<p>UC
UCLA 11,928
Berkeley 11,630
Santa Barb 9,897
Santa Cruz 10,947
UCI @ 10,000 (not in book, but got this from brother whose son is<br>
there in dorm.)</p>
<p>Certainly New Yorkers pay their school workers as well (or as badly) as Californians do.</p>
<p>I belive that were most of the SUNY schools are located, it would be an entirely different picture if they were in NYC as far as what the workers are paid. Since the cost of living in most of the areas where the SUNY schools are located as compared to where the UC's are located, you probably have to pay a higher salary for to get an employee to do the same work because of a higher cost of living.</p>
<p>I work for a major corporation and I know from my work in HR that we may have non-exempt people in the same salary grade doing the same job but these jobs also ay differently based on geographic locations. A person doing a clerical job in NYC is going to be paid more than a person doing the same clerical job in the same pay band in Rochester because the cost of living is lower. Even our employees who work on LI and in NJ ahave a lower geographic than our employees who work in NYC because NYC is considered a more expensive place to live and you "must pay" a higher salary for the same work.</p>
<p>However, a person doing the same job in CA, or HI will be paid more than the person in NYC because of their higher cost of living.</p>
<p>Also keep in mind that many of these jobs are union positions, so there there is the fringe benefits (medical, dental, pension, retirement, etc), payroll cost (workers, comp, unemployment, state disability) that must be paid in accordance to the collective bargining agreements that each union memeber falls under (this can be approximately 30 to 40 percent on top of the salary. At my company, our fringe is about 38% for our non-union work force).</p>
<p>The UC schools are huge compared to the SUNY schools and they most likely employ more people which means the UC's probably have a larger workforce supporting their infrastructure.</p>
<p>Also taxes, I am quite sure that the taxes on the land and the building at schools most of the suny schools (with the possible exception of stonybrook) are much less than the amount of real estate and property taxes that must be paid on the land and the buildings in the UC system. (thanks for claifying that they don't pay taxes, but each university must still have to pay to maintain the buildings and the land that it occupies)</p>
<p>while both of these University systems are non-profit organizations get both federal and state funding, they both are dependent on revenues to keep their respective ships afloat.</p>
<p>Dorm/board for CUNY Hunter College is @ $6k depending on choices.</p>
<p>UC schools do NOT pay property taxes on their land or buildings.</p>
<p>And a person doing the same job in Calif would NOT get paid more than in NYC. The COL for NYC is higher than the COL for CA.</p>
<p><<< The UC schools are huge compared to the SUNY schools and they most likely employ more people which means the UC's probably have a larger workforce supporting their infrastructure. >>></p>
<p>irrelevant. </p>
<p>huge = more students
huge = more students to spread costs over.</p>
<p>Then shame on my organization because I did look at our geographic pay scales(and compensation charts) before posting and if you work for us, you will get paid more to do your job in CA (especially in SF, SD or Palo Alto) than in NYC.</p>
<p>jlauer - by all means send your kids where you're confident you're not being gouged. Otherwise, I can't figure out what all these posts are supposed to accomplish - unless someone is comparing the SUNYs with the UCs.</p>
<p>As a CA taxpayer, I can only hope room & board is a HUGE profit center in the UC system, so my taxes won't have to subsidize college students. (Since we bounced a governor in part b/c of a $30B operating deficit not that long ago, the UCs clearly haven't been charging enough to fill that gap, for sure.)</p>
<p>Albany, Buffalo, Purchase, Geneseo, and Binghamton are nowhere near NYC. And their COL is significantly lower. (Buffalo is closer to Toronto than to New York; Albany is 3 1/2 hours north.) The only ones even without shouting distance are Stony Brook and maybe Purchase. </p>
<p>And you're also wrong about COL in New York City's metro area. It's higher in many parts of California because of the lack of public transportation and the insane costs of housing. People who work in NY can at least live in New Jersey or Connecticut, where costs are lower.</p>