Community to University Questions

My daughter decided to go to community since the universities are to expensive. After two years she wants to transfer to either NYU, PRATT, Parsons, and a few other schools. We are in CA. Once she gets her associates degree how do you go about going to these schools. Obviously she files FAFSA, applies, etc. but will all the classes she look at the community college transfer over? Does she just take two years of specific classes at a university? We are doing the 2+2 method but we don’t want her to pay to take a same class twice. I read that each college determines what they’ll accept. Does this mean she will have to pay to take credits she has already earned and paid for? I don’t understand how this works I would appreciate a break down.

Also are scholarships commenly given to people who apply from community colleges? We can cover her communtiy college costs. We cannot afford her junior and senior year at any of the schools listed above. We hope to get grants/scholrships from outside source but I am curious if the schools are generous to transfer students not just freshman?

I’d appreciate a simple break down,it’s very confusing when you did not go or take out loans. I don’t even know how she can take out loans after community. Any help is great help!

Why transferring to out-of-state schools? There are plenty of good public universities in CA that are less expensive. Planning her community college courses will also be much easier.

No. Those schools do not meet need of applicants and are unlikely to offer much to transfer students.

Then your daughter’s plans are unrealistic.

UC Davis has a design major. Many of the CSU’s also have design programs. So those would be good, affordable targets.

What is her intended major? Art, art history, design, or???

Look at the websites for UC’s and CSU’s, in detail, for the programs your daughter might want.

Does CA have a public art school? (MA has MA College of Art)

NYU is very expensive- well-known. The others are art schools and I assume they are expensive too.

Does Ca have an automatic admit program to 4 year programs from community college?

Has your daughter done mainly gen eds at community college or classes in her intended 4 year major?

Once you have identified schools in-state that have appropriate programs for her, then you/she can meet with admissions about transfer credits (and aid for transfers).

Avoid loans if you possibly can!!!

Good luck!

My eldest did duel enrollment high school so a little different but she did complete the IGETC which was an agreed upon course of community classes that would garuntee that any UC or CSU she went to would accept that her Lower division courses as a totally done package… even if they didn’t have similar classes or their requirements were a little different. She could have graduated in 2 years but in the end she opted for a private LAC that only accepted 7 courses and this was more that most colleges she was accepted at would take from a freshman… enough to give her flexibility and the chance to study abroad but not enough to shorten her stay.

My advice, really research transfers and what will transfer at each individual university. Obviously, the CSU’s or UC’s will be her best bet. Assist.org can be super helpful for any California public and private schools she’s interested in. I know other states have similar sites but it won’t be as easy to look up out of state community colleges. Might give you an idea at least. You don’t want her to transfer and be surprised that she only knocked a year off!

Good gosh why would you not transfer to one of your excellent affordable in-state schools? If she wants to move to the east coast have her do that for grad school or when she gets a job.

The following suggest that Pratt and The New School tend to be expensive even for high-need students. You can always run the net price calculators, but do not expect good news from them.

https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=pratt&id=194578#netprc
https://nces.ed.gov/collegenavigator/?q=parsons&id=193654#netprc

If she is starting at community college for cost reasons, it is unlikely that the schools named in post #0 will be affordable.

No dedicated art school, but art majors are widely available at UCs and CSUs.

There are TAG programs to some UCs, contingent on earning a high enough GPA. Many CSUs are not difficult to get into.

Her community college has a Transfer Advisor who she should meet with to tlak about her goals. That person can help her identify good transfer targets, and canhelp her plan her program of studies for her first two years.

“We cannot afford her junior and senior year at any of the schools listed above. We hope to get grants/scholrships from outside source but I am curious if the schools are generous to transfer students not just freshman?”

Colleges are NOT generous with Merit $$ to transfer students. So as Calmom said, she needs to transfer to a UC or Cal State U. , of which there are many.

Hello everyone thank you for responses. The issue is we move a lot so looking at in-state schools will be difficult. We moved to CA a year ago and plan on moving to TX in 6 months. We plan to cover her out of state fees for community. She’s screwed no matter what for transferring because me move so much. Yes I know many great CA schools yet it isn’t applicable due to the moving. I am more curious about how the transferring of credits work? When a school says it accepts XYZ credits, how do I know which classes those credits belong to?

Also, if we cover her first two years she will be debt free at that point. Can’t she take out loans for the last two years? Many people who can’t afford to go to these schools somehow go. How do they take out enough loans to go? When we looked at it we could not possibly take out enough private loans? Just curious how that occurs.

Many schools/states have agreements with CCs about transferring credits. Sometimes you’d find a list of what transfers as what on their websites. One thing to be aware of though, is that some states have specific requirements. IL for example requires a freshman writing class for everyone, regardless of CC or UofC. If she has a small list of where to transfer, check out their gen. ed. requirements before she registers for CC classes. Most gen. ed. classes should transfer assuming that the school accepts transfer credits one-for-one. Compare course descriptions too. She should keep a file of syllabi just in case the registrar at the transfer school wants to see them.

In your situation, it might be a good idea to look at schools that don’t charge out-of-state tuition rates.

How student loans work is after you file FAFSA and get your estimated contribution, she’ll be contacted about federal loans. If she can make it with just federal, that’s the way to go. There are also “parent plus” loans, but with those repayment starts immediately. Avoid private loans if you can. There are few consumer protections and high interest rates with private loans.

In your other thread so we touched on this at least a couple times. Your daughter can only borrow $5500 as a freshman, $6500 as a sophomore, and $7500/year as a junior and senior. Anything over that amount is something you’d have to borrow for her.

Most other people can’t afford schools in that price range, and it’s not true that many who can’t afford them somehow figure out a way to go. Most students don’t go to pricey schools or attend residential colleges. The ones who can’t afford it but go anyway are the ones whose parents take on enormous debt. If you can’t/won’t take on $100k+ of debt you really need to tell her those schools are unaffordable for your family. Have you told her yet that her college fund got used to pay bills or that you won’t qualify for a PLUS loan because of your credit history? It’s not helpful to let her believe you can send her to her dream schools when the cost is more than you can pay.

Since you move so much, your daughter may have to commute from wherever you are. Is there any way you could stay put somewhere so she can finish college in one state?

she should look at the public universities that do not have different costs for out of stat students. Two that I know of are University of Minnesota at Morris, and Bemidji State University in Minnesota. A bit of research will find the others.

If you can pay her full costs for two years, she can borrow those student loans and put that money in the bank to use in the future.

Most families cannot pay the costs of the places on her current transfer list. Our kids ended up at our home state Us.

It would be a kindness if you could find a way to stay put while she is in college. Is that at all possible, or are you stuck with the moving because of someone’s specific career?

What is her major area of interest? Based on the combination of NYU / Pratt / Parsons I guessed design – I know that FIT (Fashion Institute of Techology) in NYC is public – and while it does charge OOS tuition, the overalll fees are still much less than similar private college. For example, estimated COA for a full time OOS student in a dorm at FIT is $43K compared to $70K for Parsons or $65K for Pratt.

However, keep in mind that the maximum a transfer student can take in direct federal loans would be $7500 per year – still not enough without a substantial parental assistance.

The answer to your question to " How do they take out enough loans to go?"–it’s generally parent PLUS loans being used when parents don’t have other assets or resources to draw upon. And if you are not going to be in a position to fund your daughter’s aspirations… you may need to give her a reality check right now. Merit money is hard to come by as a transfer, but some colleges do meet need for transfers to the same extent as entering freshmen – so if your EFC would qualify your family for a lot of need-based aid, that may be the best path for her.

Otherwise, she may have to cast a wider net – there are more affordable options out there, but it may be that she’d have to go for less well known opitions when the time comes. (Of course, it’s quite posible that she will change focus and goals during CC and by the time she’s ready to transfer be considering a different type of school or major entirely).

Unfortunately, because of your constant moves, she may not qualify for instate tuition anywhere.

This is what is causing her not to be able to afford any universities (unless she goes to school in Montana).

Plus, the transfer advisor doesn’t know what to advise as far as courses, because she has no idea where your daughter will end up next. Each school and state has different course requirements.

NYU is not going to happen because you ** just don’t have the money**. You can’t borrow $72K because no one will loan you that kind of money.

Most people who go to college have to use the BANK of Mom and Dad. These are not wealthy people.
Parents start saving early and forgo luxuries by working overtime, making their own home repairs, driving 17 year old cars, using coupons and discounted items at the dollar stores.

People who don’t have the money sometimes stop going to school.

Or they take one class at a time and work.

There is no free money anymore, especially for transfers.

@flowersinurhair

You aren’t going to like this answer.

Maybe it’s time to find a job that does not require moving around. You have to years to establish residency someplace so your kid can get instate tuition at a public university.

I can’t imagine moving around as much as you are unless the job was very lucrative. But that doesn’t sound like the case here. You have defaulted on a loan yourself, so think twice before putting your kid or yourself in a situation with more loans.

Perhaps your employer will understand. Perhaps there is a job you can do that is in ONE place, until your kid graduates from undergrad school.

Many parents have to make this type of decision. My one husband was offered many good jobs that required a lot of travel when our kids were not yet in college. He declined them all because he put his kid’s needs first.

I know that sounds harsh, but you can’t have it both ways. Your current jobs can’t fund NYU or Parsons or the like anyway. But maybe, just maybe…you could get instate tuition someplace and your kid would be able to afford her last two years of college.

I agree with @thumper1^. Why would you move so much?

New York is very expensive. NYU is $72K per year. There is no way your family could afford that since most families can’t.

California’s minimum wage is probably a lot more than Texas’s.

Also, there are areas of California where the cost of living is not as high as in the cities. (Talking rural or Central California). These areas will allow you to build up your nest egg. If you don’t have an education, it will be REALLY hard for you to find a job that isn’t hard, disgusting, or at best, minimum wage. Moving from place to place, eeking out a living, isn’t beneficial to either you or your child. Give her a chance to succeed and get an education, so that she doesn’t have to struggle so much.

You could live in California and allow your daughter to become a resident for some of the best schools in California using CalGrants. If you move to Texas your daughter has to restart her education for residency.

We make sacrifices for our children because we are parents.

If you’re moving to different states and she isn’t sure which 4 year colleges she might apply to, it’s very risky to take community college courses and just assume the 4 year college will accept all those credits. There definitely are states (CA sounds like an example) where all the 4 year state colleges accept all the CA community college credits, but that’s not even true for all states. And once you look at trying to use one state’s community college credits at another state’s 4 year college or a private 4 year college, all bets are off.

There is a large risk that your daughter could spend 2 years taking classes at the community college only to find out that the 4 year college she wants to attend will accept very few of those credits. This is not something to go blindly forward hoping for the best; it’s a risky, bad plan.

Utah is one state where the student can establish residency on their own, after a year of living there. It wouldn’t matter where the parents are living, or that they are providing support. The student needs to be there before July 1, 2018 and not leave for more than 28 days in the following 12 months, in order to qualify for in state tuition in fall 2019.