<p>My son gets mail from colleges every single day, but none from colleges in California. I realize the competition will be stiff, he wants to stay in California for college. He's interested in computer engineering. He has a GPA of 4.4 and is taking 4 AP classes this year and has about 4 AP classes under his belt. He has taken the SAT with a score of 1910 and is taking the SAT again early November. He took the ACT and got 30 average and 33 in math. We have about $20,000 saved for him. (Lost some a couple years ago with the stock market plunge.) His dad makes about $95 K a year and I make about 10K a year. (part time) We have another son in college and didn't get any help from Fafsa. I wonder if I didn't add to our salary if we would get a better deal? Is there a website that would give me info on some free money for our average white boy?</p>
<p>When my son first applied to college, my husband was the sole wage-earner. The next year I began working again (also part-time). I found that while my additional income did not put us much ahead, it didnāt significantly hurt my sonās financial aid either ā it went down a little, but not much.</p>
<p>His aid mostly comes from his school though (although he receives a partial Pell grant now that we have two in college at the same time). </p>
<p>FAFSA doesnāt offer much grant aid. When we had one in college and an income of around 60K at that time, we did not qualify for any grant aid.</p>
<p>California has some other state programs, there are others here who can speak to that. I donāt know at what level a person would qualify for those, but I would imagine 95K might be too high anyway, even if you didnāt work.</p>
<p>Have you looked at any private colleges in CA where your sonās strong stats would put him in the upper percentile of admitted students? He could be eligible for merit-based aid at some of those schools.</p>
<p>Rentof2 your post actually helps a great deal. My small salary is good for giving the kids some extra money and takes a little stress off the overall load. I guess it would not help a great deal to quit given my husbands salary. He is leaning toward public college since the cost is so much more less than private. I guess we just have no idea where to begin. I look forward to some insight from other California college kids and parents.</p>
<p>He should consider applying to the UCs and CalPoly at least. The UCs have a single app and then one checks boxes for the particlar UC to apply to. If one wants to apply to multiple UCs itās simply a matter of checking more boxes (and paying an app fee for each one). Both of my kids went to UCs and were both CS majors.</p>
<p>Is he interested in a particular area of the state, a particular college, or are there other particular attributes heās looking for?</p>
<p>Although I was born in CA and lived there nearly all my life (we moved out of state about 11 years ago), and I actually went through the CA public univ. system myself, I am not up-to-date on CA state aid programs.</p>
<p>I also donāt know a great deal about privates in CA where you might actually get an even better deal for your son for his high stats. You might want to check out Univ. of Redlands or St. Maryās College or Univ. of the Pacificā¦ and Iām sure there are quite a few others where your sonās stats might put him at the high end of admitted students. Some privates will use offers of merit-aid to entice those high stats kids to come to their college.</p>
<p>Iām sure others here will chime in over the next day or two with other useful ideas and information.</p>
<p>If youāre talking about state schools in Calif, then youāre probably not going to get any free money even with 2 in school and even if you didnāt work.</p>
<p>The UCs and Cal States rely HEAVILY on Pell and Cal Grants to give towards aid. The UCs also have Blue and Gold for families that earn under $70k.</p>
<p>Since your family wouldnāt qualify for any of those programs - even if you have 2 in school and even if you didnāt work, you can pretty much expect to have to pay all costs except for maybe a student loan.</p>
<p>Low income students can get great aid for Calif state schools because of the above-mentioned programs, however, incomes like yours get no free money even though your EFC for each kid will be about $11,000. </p>
<p>Since paying for 2 in college is likely unaffordable for you, you probably do need to look at other choices. </p>
<p>I know that you <em>think</em> going to a state school will be cheaper, but probably not.</p>
<p>**You need to consider schools that will give your son a big merit scholarship for his stats. ** However, his score probably wonāt get much from a Calif state school since those schools donāt have much merit to give.</p>
<p>It sounds like youāre already paying all costs for your older child. Where does he go to college? how much do you spend for his education each year?</p>
<p>Since youāre already paying for son #1, how much can you spend on son #2?</p>
<p>Iām not saying that you shouldnāt apply to any UCs or Cal States. However, since they may not be affordable (except maybe if your son can commute to one), you need to apply to schools that will give big merit.</p>
<p>^^ The OP said the ACT score was 30 - the 33 was in the math portion only, but colleges will pay attention to the composite score the most I think. The score of 30 on the ACT and 1910 on the SAT is good but probably not competetive enough to get a lot of merit based aid but some posters may be able to recommend some privates where heād still get something. </p>
<p>Some options - </p>
<ul>
<li>Find a college thatāll give one with his stats good merit aid - i.e. what youāre inquiring here about.</li>
<li>āPay as you goā his costs but make sure you understand what that is and see if you can afford to.</li>
<li>Parents and student take out loans plus do some pay as you go plus some savings. Make sure you all understand the terms and realities of the loans well - i.e. the payback period and amount.</li>
<li>S could go to a local UC or CSU if there is one, and commute from home. A better option would be to stay on campus the first year even if itās a local school then commute from home if you think you can swing it. Doing this will give him a different feel for the campus and a foray into independence.</li>
<li>Attend a local CC for 2 years then transfer to a UC or CSU. This can lower the costs but keep in mind that for CE or CS thereās a good chance heād still do 3 years at the UC/CSU to get all the required courses in.</li>
<li>S can get a campus job and also work full time in the summer to offset some of the costs.</li>
</ul>
<p>Realize that the cost for campus housing at a UC/CSU is higher than the actual tuition/books - generally higher than it s/b IMO and often higher than staying in an apartment off-campus. If one commutes from home the cost of a UC or CSU is quite affordable. The tuition cost for a UC is quite a bit higher than a CSU and a CSU is higher than a CC. The cost to put him through 4 years of a local CSU he commutes to will be quite low - you already have most of it saved for him.</p>
<p>To the OP, does your son know specifically what he wants to study? CE curricula are quite different among the UCs and the CSUs, so he should spend some time on the departmental websites, looking carefully at the required courses and the emphasis the departments put on software engineering vs hardware engineering. Once heās done that, heāll have a better idea of which UCs or CSUs would be a fit for him. </p>
<p>Cal Polyās CE major is an interdisciplinary major combining Computer Science and Electrical Engineering. </p>
<p>In general, I agree with the above poster who suggested that your son could easily apply to several UCs and CSUs. He might want to consider SJSU.</p>
<p>If your son improves his SAT scores quite a bit (his grades are great), heād have a good shot at Berkeley.</p>
<p>University of Redlands doesnāt have a computer engineering major, just computer science (very software-oriented). Your son would likely get very good merit and need-based aid there. University of the Pacific might not have as strong of a CS/CE program as the UCs and CSUs, but also gives very good merit aid and students are encouraged to get work experience from internships.</p>
<p>I can tell you that higher stats are needed for good merit from Santa Clara. </p>
<p>Niece had an ACT 31 and didnāt get much. </p>
<p>Nephew had an ACT 33 and got half tuitionā¦which still leaves about $30k+ per yearā¦about the same as a UC.</p>
<p>Both had straight Aās from a Catholic high school.</p>
<p>I may be wrong, but if theyāre having to pay for child #1, I donāt think they can pay $30k per year for child #2. </p>
<p>I think child #2 needs to ditch the idea of Calif UCs (unless he commutes) and consider schools that will give BIG merit.</p>
<p>I agree with UCSD/LA DAD that often room, board and books can cost more than tuition. So, that can be shocking when pricing Calif publics! </p>
<p>He certainly should apply to some Cal States and Cal Polys - especially some that he can commute to - but if heās to live on campus, that might be unaffordableā¦depending on how much the family can pay in addition to the $5k per year from the college fund.</p>
<p>Agree with all. Look at the privates where he would be at the top of the heap for merit money. DD is at University of the Pacific and gets some meritā¦still cost to us is about 25,000 per year so that 20,000 saved isnāt going to go far.<br>
You might look at Santa Barbara City College. Students can go there and live in UCSB housing for the first two years then transfer to a UC. Money wise it is a good optionā¦</p>
<p>Not California, but in Texas, when we were looking, the state schools had very little if any FA, perhaps because they feel they are cheap enough as it is. (Perhaps the same in CA?) D received the highest merit aid from a private school, but it still was more than we could afford, but it brought the cost down to the state school level, which was still too much for us to pay without a lot of loans. None of these schools guaranteed to meet 100% of financial need. We found some schools out of state (privates) and she was able to go without owing any money. Thatās what you need to do - look for privates in CA that meet 100% of financial need. With 2 in school, that should offset a lot.</p>
<p>Son #1 went to a CC and transferred to Cal State Northridge and is a senior. (Computer engineering). We have managed to pay for that so far. (About 12K a year including room and board).</p>
<p>Son #2 is applying to UCLA, UCSD and Cal Poly. (So far) Any of those would be about 25K per year with room and board. A commute to UCSD would be around 40 minutes. So that is an option. And a CC is still an option also. I think his first choice is UCSD, second Cal Poly and third UCLA. Heās not sure he can get into UCLA anyway. </p>
<p>I will tell him to look into the actual programs, thatās a good idea and consider some southern schools, although I highly doubt heāll want that. You never know!</p>
<p>Cal Polyās stated cost of attendance for 2010 is $21,864. My sonās total expenses last year were $18,309. Heās living off campus this year and will save about $3000 on room & board. There are ways to save money from the published COAs,</p>
<p>My son was ELC and accepted to UCLA, UCSD, and UCSB. We did not qualify for any need based aid (EFC was 64,000) but he was offered a 2000 Regents scholarship at UCSD and 6000 at UCSB. He was seriously considering UCSD but ended up choosing an out of state private where he was offered generous merit aid. One nice thing about the regents scholarships was that it offered priority enrollment each semester which in these days with all the budget cuts could save on extra time needed to graduate if classes are not available.</p>
<p>Private colleges in California that offer merit aid would be Occidental, University of Redlands, Santa Clara, University of San Diego, University of San Franciscoā¦Iām sure there are others.</p>
<p>I suggest he apply to some additional UCs to increase his odds of being accepted. Maybe add UCI, UCD, UCSB at least and possibly more. At least when my kid applied to UCSD they had a higher ācutā for the school of engineering where the stats required were higher than for the regular admission. I think the same was true of UCLA. If for some reason he can get his ACT/SAT scores up a couple hundred points or more thereās a chance he could be offered Regents at one or more of the UCs which can be quite a bit of $$$.</p>
<p>If he ends up at UCSD consider the idea of him living on campus the first year and then doing the commuting in later years if itās financially possible.</p>
<p>I have one son who is in his 5th year at Cal Poly SLO. Thatās right, 5th. Seems like it takes that long to get an degree in Mech E there. He shares a house with 3 other engineering students and they are all in their 5th year to get their BS degrees. Department head in ME said one time that their 4 year graduation rate was 15%. Their 4 year + 2 quarters was 85%. He has several other friends(not the roomamtes) from high school that are also at SLO and they are all on the 5 year program. When we were looking at UC Davis they were talking about a program to āincourageā more students to graduate in 4 years. Interesting that the problem my son had was getting into the classes he needed, no any desire to stretch out his college years. With the state of the CA economy and the state budget cuts, it can only go one way. The point being that you need to figure out the cost of a CA public college and that may mean an extra year. </p>
<p>My sonās living expenses are significantly more that the tuition, even living off campus (actually way on the south side of SLO, the opposite side of SLO from the school). But, the living expenses are roughly about the same around almost any college town you choose, public or private, CA or non-CA.</p>
<p>My daughter initially wanted to stay in CA for college. However, after talking to my son, she figured out that she would only be seeing her old friends at school breaks anyways. The friends would be busy at their own schools. That opened up, to her way of thinking, the possibility of going to a non-CA school. To make a long story short, she ended up going to WPI, way across the country in Massachusetts. She is a freshman and is loving it there. Much different from CA. She has made a lot of new friends. Stays in touch with her old friends via texting and Skype. From my (ie, old money bags) point of view, WPI is a small but an expensive private school. However, she got a fair amount of merit scholarship money (we, too, get no need based money although WPI asked if my son was going to be a student this year or not before they made the āmeritā scholarship award). Made the cost per year about the same as a CA UC (CalPoly is a little cheaper) but fully expect she will get out in 4, making it cheaper in the long run. I am also impressed with the amount of individual counselling she gets; something my son didnāt, but really could have used at CalPoly (but thatās another story).</p>
<p>So, please consider the private schools, even the non-CA ones. You may be surprised.</p>
</p>