Californians Looking OOS

College Search & Selection
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<p>As the official CFO of DD's college search, I am struggling with how to afford a UC education for her without her having to work 20 hours a week while she's in school. It makes me sad that even for in-state, the UC's are at the very edge of affordability for us. And then there are the stories of how impacted the popular classes are. </p>

<p>She has nice stats, but merit money seems very hard to come by in CA. Is anyone else looking OOS for this reason? </p>

<p>We are planning to visit some OOS schools in the Fall - U of Alabama and some of the other schools that seem generous (possibly Pitt, U of Miami, Tulane). Would love to hear from others who might be in this situation.</p>

2

<p>Is your daughter only considering larger schools? Any particular preferences regarding environment? What can you comfortably afford? What are her stats?</p>

<p>Also, I’ve found that many private schools in California (not the Claremonts, Stanford, or Cal Tech) are relatively generous with merit aid because many students will simply opt to go to a UC or Cal State.</p>

3

<p>Yes, she seems to prefer the larger schools with a more urban feel, though she was also fairly interested in Reed due to it’s non-conformist nature LOL. We had to cross that one off after running the net price calculator - ouch. </p>

<p>She LOVED Berkeley and Stanford. I’d love to send her to one of those if she can get in and we can pay for it - two big “if’s”. We will also check out Pomona & Santa Clara. She was interested in Chapman when she thought she might major in music (she’s a singer), but now wants to major in chemistry so it has dropped off the list. </p>

<p>Stats are 3.8 / 4.2 gpa with 6 APs so far; 1500 / 2150 SAT
Won some awards for singing / All-State honor choir / school musical</p>

<p>We’ve read a lot about U of Alabama -there is quite an enthusiastic group of supporters on CC, so pretty excited to take a look at it. It has the full tuition scholarship, honors college, really nice dorms. Even counting the flying back & forth, it would run us $10-12K less per year than a UC.</p>

4

<p>Would it be correct to assume that you are nowhere close to being able to meet the EFC + ESC with need-based financial aid (unless the school has a very low list price)?</p>

<p>(EFC = expected family contribution, ESC = expected student contribution = Stafford loan + work or work study)</p>

<p>Look here for big merit scholarships:</p>

<p><a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/15895768-post264.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/15895768-post264.html&lt;/a&gt; (safety candidates)
<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/15889078-post29.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/15889078-post29.html&lt;/a&gt; (non-safety candidates)</p>

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<p>UCB - I think I have those threads memorized! Many of the schools on our list to research came directly from there. (Thank you CC’ers!)</p>

<p>And yes, we are in that donut hole where our EFC is about $33K, but we can really only give her about $20K & she will have to manage the rest. She has a younger sister coming right behind her (4 years later). I’d love to see her get out without loans if at all possible since grad school is likely.</p>

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<p>Looks like she needs either a lot of merit scholarships or a list price of under $20,000 + ASC (where ASC is the actual student contribution of loans up to Stafford loan limits + work that she is willing to do – $8,000 to $9,000 is probably the outer limit here, though many students and parents would rather have a lower amount like $3,000 to $5,000 at most).</p>

<p>But do try the net price calculators on some of the “very good financial aid schools” (e.g. Stanford) before dismissing them. Different schools have different EFC calculations (UCs use federal method; others may use their own), and different ESCs.</p>

7

<p>Berkeley has expanded financial aid to middle class:
[UC</a> Berkeley Financial Aid and Scholarships Office: Undergraduates » Types of Aid » Berkeley Middle Class Access Plan (MCAP)](<a href=“http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/undergraduates/types_mcap.htm]UC”>http://students.berkeley.edu/finaid/undergraduates/types_mcap.htm)</p>

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<p>Also, I’ve found that many private schools in California (not the Claremonts, Stanford, or Cal Tech) are relatively generous with merit aid because many students will simply opt to go to a UC or Cal State.</p>

<p>this can be true, but what my Calif siblings have noted is that the merit awards at Calif privates just bring the cost down to about a UC. That’s nice, but not for someone who can’t afford a UC. </p>

<p>*We are planning to visit some OOS schools in the Fall - U of Alabama *</p>

<p>Gertrude, When you visit Bama in the fall, be sure not to pick a home football weekend. Hotels have long been booked, and even if you were to get a room, prices would be very high. The hotel prices for weekends of “away games” are normal.</p>

<p>the campus is gorgeous. As a Calif-native myself, once you get east of the Mississippi River, the beauty of campuses takes a big uptick. </p>

<p>Reserve a campus tour as soon as you can. Try for the early time. Then send an email to Alison Verhine in the Honors College and she will set up the rest of your day. Give her your tour time and date, your D’s stats, major, intended career, etc. Include any special requests, such as touring the new Science and Engineering Complex. She’ll set up meetings with profs, touring honors dorms, etc. Also, include Susan Alley to receive the email. </p>

<p>Honors Recruitment
Allison Verhine
Coordinator
269 Nott Hall
205-348-5534
<a href=“mailto:allison.verhine@ua.edu”>allison.verhine@ua.edu</a></p>

<p>Susan Alley
Assistant Coordinator
270 Nott Hall
205-348-5599
<a href=“mailto:susan.alley@ua.edu”>susan.alley@ua.edu</a></p>

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<p>Yay - thanks M2CK. I’m really excited to take D to see it. We’ll definitely contact the Honors College people & let them set up a great day for us. D would like to see the music facilities as well & maybe visit a choir rehearsal if possible. We’re planning a mid-week visit so hopefully we’ll avoid the mad rush, but I’ll check the football schedule just to be sure we stay well clear of a home game. After Bama, we are going to head to New Orleans / Tulane. Have you done that drive by any chance? I’m guessing it is 5-6 hours.</p>

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<p>Gertrude, we are in the same boat as you, high stats CA kid with an EFC much higher than we can realistically afford. We looked at both Tulane and Alabama over spring break (about a 5 hour drive), and DS really liked both of them. Alabama rolls out the crimson carpet for their honors visitors, and the facilities, dorms, and programs are fantastic. The guaranteed merit scholarships bring the cost of UA down to 1/2 the cost of a UC school. DS would happily attend.</p>

<p>DS also absolutely loved Tulane and New Orleans, but cost of attendance is right there with a UC school if you don’t receive a competitive (Paul Tulane or Dean’s Honors) scholarship. Also, we had a standard tour of Tulane vs. the “special” UA tour, so our impression of Tulane was much more general, although still favorable. Loyola University is right next door to Tulane and seems to be generous with high stats kids, so you may want to check that out as well. </p>

<p>On the same trip, we also checked out Rhodes College in Memphis, another wonderful school with generous merit awards. I loved it, and have recommended it to several friends. My son, however, thought it was too small and ruled it out almost immediately. </p>

<p>Good luck with your search!</p>

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<p>The American Chemical Society evaluates chemistry degree programs, so checking its list may be a good thing to do:
<a href=“American Chemical Society”>American Chemical Society;

<p>If the interest is in chemical engineering, see the ABET list:
[Accredited</a> Program Search](<a href=“http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramSearch.aspx/AccreditationSearch.aspx]Accredited”>http://main.abet.org/aps/AccreditedProgramSearch.aspx/AccreditationSearch.aspx)</p>

<p>Note that chemical engineering appears to have better job and career prospects than chemistry in the <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys-5.html#post15975553[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/internships-careers-employment/1121619-university-graduate-career-surveys-5.html#post15975553&lt;/a&gt; .</p>

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<p>Westcoastmom - thanks for the info, that’s very helpful! Nice to hear more great feedback on U of A. Do you have a HS class of 2014 kid?<br>
I will take a look at Rhodes. Are there any other schools (in or out of state) that you have liked or are planning to look at?</p>

<p>My D will apply to most of the UCs in hopes of getting a Regents scholarship, but I don’t know how easy those are to get.
At Tulane, we would need to get one of the FT awards to make it do-able, but we will give it a shot. D likes the thought of living in New Orleans. We have just discovered that Temple University will give full tuition + $4000 research stipend for 3 summers to their highest stat applicants (not guaranteed) so I think we will visit there as well. DH and I lived in Philly for several years & really loved it. We are also looking at Pitt and U of Miami, but I’m not sure if we’ll be able to visit prior to applying. It seems like a good investment, though, to spend a few thousand dollars visiting places that may save us upwards of $50K.</p>

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<p>Yes, S is class of 2014. Alabama left such a favorable impression and makes so much sense on paper that it would be easy to just apply there and be done with our search, but I want S to keep his options open. Northeastern and Fordham are both on our interest list, as well as Miami University in Ohio. Since your D is interested in music, note that Fordham has two campuses in NYC, with their arts campus right at Lincoln Center! All three schools seem to have fairly generous merit aid, but we haven’t been able to visit yet. </p>

<p>There are so many terrific schools out there if you do a little digging. I’ve become a bit obsessive :). Our plan is for S to ultimately apply to 8 or so financial safety schools and 2-4 “reach” schools that offer competitive merit scholarships, and let the chips fall where they may.</p>

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<p>UMInn would be much better than Bama or the like. Top notch chem and chem E.</p>

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<p>LOL - I’ve become a bit obsessive too. It is fun to learn about all these terrific schools. Makes me want to go back to college - almost!</p>

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<p>Maybe look at schools like Colorado state or UofO because they will offer the WUE discount which can make them cheaper than a UC and those schools offer more merit scholarships.</p>

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<p>Regents is heavily based on GPA from my experience so that should be noted. I’m still shocked I didn’t get it at Davis with a 4.23 W/ 3.85 UW and a 35 ACT. I was just bummed that a few B’s made Davis virtually unaffordable for me</p>

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<p>Hi PAGRok - I agree, the Regents seems far from a sure thing. </p>

<p>Also, I just took a look at the U of O site & found this: “Western Undergraduate Exchange scholarships will not be offered to new students entering after the fall of 2012.” That’s a bummer.</p>

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<p>After Bama, we are going to head to New Orleans / Tulane. Have you done that drive by any chance? I’m guessing it is 5-6 hours.</p>

<p>Yes, I’ve done that drive many times. It’s about 4.5 hours. It’s not a bad drive. I think that Tulane would give your child a $25k per year merit award. That brings the cost down to about the cost of a UC. </p>

<p>Yes, UOregon no longer is part of WUE.</p>

<p>Also, at most/all WUE schools, if you get the 150% instate rate, then you don’t get merit scholarships.</p>

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<p>Regents is heavily based on GPA from my experience so that should be noted. I’m still shocked I didn’t get it at Davis with a 4.23 W/ 3.85 UW and a 35 ACT. I was just bummed that a few B’s made Davis virtually unaffordable for me</p>

<p>I think it’s based on both; first a pool of candidates is made from the high scorers (ACT 35/36 or SAT equivalent). Then it uses GPA (and maybe leadership??) for downselecting to determine the recipients of the awards. I wouldn’t say it’s based on GPA, since someone with a top GPA but an “ok” test score isn’t going to get Regents.</p>

<p>We’re planning a mid-week visit so hopefully we’ll avoid the mad rush, but I’ll check the football schedule just to be sure we stay well clear of a home game.</p>

<p>As long as you stay clear of the Friday/Saturday nights of a home game weekend, you should be fine. Mid-week rates should be quite good! Sunday nights are good, too.</p>