<p>For not as prestigious UCs like Davis, SB, Irvine etc</p>
<p>The tuition, housing and textbooks are very expensive. There are also many budget cuts each year, so you are not even guaranteed the classes you need. I heard that a whole year at a UC equals the same tuition as a private college, where you are guaranteed classes.</p>
<p>In state or out of state?</p>
<p>In state? Yes, they’re a very good deal for California students. </p>
<p>Out of state? No, not at all.</p>
<p>The annual cost of attendance for in-state students at UC Irvine is about $30,000. At the better private colleges, it’s about $60,000. That sounds like a pretty good deal to me, even if you had to stay an additional 5th year because you got shut out of required classes. (Though, statistically speaking, it seems that only 15-20% of entering freshman need more than 4 years to graduate)</p>
<p>On the other hand you have to look at how much the price of UCs are increasing each year and the fact that they don’t give out hardly any financial or merit aid.</p>
<p>^ To instate students of middle or low income, they do give out some of the best financial aid in the country.</p>
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<p>As far as textbooks go, they would cost you nothing overall if you know what you’re doing. Buy them at the lowest used price and sell them back at around the same price or higher. If you do this right you may even make a profit at the end.
As far as UC schools, if you get satisfaction from people being impressed just because of the name of your school, maybe it would be worth it to you. Otherwise, average job return from your investment isn’t there for the UC schools to be considered a “good deal”.</p>
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<p>Something like a third of the funds from tuition increases are going back into financial aid. I think the cutoff for free tuition is somewhere in the region of $80,000 in income. “Automatic” merit aid is very difficult to get, and the amount awarded tends to be entirely dependent on financial need. There are other scholarship opportunities (at UCLA, through the scholarship resource center) that are a bit less competitive. One thing about these services though, is that they tend not to be well advertised. In general, I get the impression that a lot of private school “perks” are also offered at UC’s, but students have to do some digging around themselves to find them.</p>
<p>Also, a huge part of the reason UC COA’s are so high is that it’s expensive to live on campus. You’ll save a lot of money if you go off campus. Textbooks are probably a wash compared to other schools around the country.</p>
<p>As for getting classes you want, I think the issue is overblown. Your first few years there will be a few classes that you can’t get, but at that point it shouldn’t be at all difficult to find classes that at least fill some requirement. Once you get better class standing, you can mostly avoid the issue. You won’t be able to avoid time conflicts though (I’d imagine this is true for pretty much any school). The simple solution is to plan out the classes you need/want and be flexible. You’re not going take the exact 40 classes you planned on, but if you play the game right you’ll get the vast majority of them.</p>
<p>Taking a 5th year is also overblown. Most people do it because they changed majors late, they didn’t want to take full class schedules, or because they wanted an extra summer/fall to prepare to enter the job market. If you’re motivated enough, all of these are easily avoidable. The main problem with UC’s in this regard is that there isn’t much of a stigma attached with staying a 5th year. It’s probably a lot easier to <em>make the choice</em> to stay 5 years without that peer pressure.</p>
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<p>Heard of Blue & Gold Program? That’s a great FA program for low-middle income peeps.</p>
<p>I don’t think they’re worth it to go out of state, no. If you’re in-state, they’re an excellent choice though. Not all of us have such amazing state schools.</p>
<p>And even those of us with good state schools don’t have nearly the FA opportunities that California offers.</p>
<p>Ok. I’m calling ■■■■■. The OP has, at various times, said he/she goes to UC Sacramento (uh???), Davis, went to UC Santa Barbara’s orientation, and never seems to repost in the threads that he/she starts.</p>
<p><a href=“Though,%20statistically%20speaking,%20it%20seems%20that%20only%2015-20%%20of%20entering%20freshman%20need%20more%20than%204%20years%20to%20graduate”>QUOTE</a>
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uhh… 4 year graduation rates have been on an upward trend but your figures are a little off…
[UC</a> Davis News & Information :: UC Davis Facts: Graduation Rates for Incoming Freshmen](<a href=“http://facts.ucdavis.edu/graduation_rates_incoming_freshmen.lasso]UC”>http://facts.ucdavis.edu/graduation_rates_incoming_freshmen.lasso)
they’re closer to the numbers for 6 year graduation in 2004</p>
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My bad, I didn’t express myself very clearly. I was referring to the difference between the 4-year and 6-year graduation rates at UC Irvine. 68% of the 2007-08 entering class graduated in 4 years. Extrapolating from past years, I would expect 85% of them to graduate in 6 years. That’s a difference between 15 and 20%. </p>
<p><a href=“http://www.oir.uci.edu/grad/IIIC01-campus-summary.pdf[/url]”>http://www.oir.uci.edu/grad/IIIC01-campus-summary.pdf</a></p>
<p>Several posters expressed concern about possibly needing additional years to graduate because students get shut out of classes required for their degree. I pointed out that most students who want to graduate in 4 years (measured by the 6 year graduation rate) are able to do it in 4 years, so classes filling up doesn’t appear to be a greater concern than at any other university. </p>
<p>(For the record: I attended a wealthy private college with an 8:1 student:faculty ratio and I got shut out of several classes I wanted to take every semester too. I did however get all of the classes I needed to graduate in 4 years.)</p>
<p>Granted, there’s still a significant gap between the 4- and 6-year graduation rate. However, if we believe ThisCouldBeHeavn, the gap is not due to over-enrollment but choices on the students’ part.</p>
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<p>If your family makes below $80,000 a year, FA will pay for all of your tuition (which doesn’t include room & board.)</p>
<p>It depends on what you’re looking for. If it is just to learn stuff, well you can go to the public library or the Internet and it is FREE! If you want something more you have to realistically look at what your family can afford. Make the list - pros and cons. Then YOU need to decide if it is worth it. A UC education ( from anywhere for that matter) guarantees nothing. What do you realistically think the benefits will be? Have you studied the programs and looked into universities that share your interests and convictions? If its a UC then so be it-- if it’s a private, then that’s the path you should follow.</p>
<p>Is your priority a certain program of finances? It’s important.</p>