<p>I have family in California and I've been planning and preparing to apply at a CC there, but after reading about the $800 million+ in budget cuts over the past few years, I'm really concerned about my education there.</p>
<p>Apparently, 47% of CC students in California were unable to enroll in a class they needed. This seems incredibly unfair given the fact that most UC's want you to graduate in a "reasonable amount of time" (2 years or under). Yeah, I see nothing 'reasonable' about being denied access to a class that you need...</p>
<p>I understand proposition 30 is helping to fix the problem, but I hear things could still get worse. Has anyone felt prop 30's impact this semester?</p>
<p>Any California CC students out there? How do you get by? Any 2 year graduates have any advice? I really want to go to CC in California so I can transfer to a UC, but the best option for me at this point might be to go to a CC here in the midwest.</p>
<p>It is extremely tough to get into class and once you do good luck changing if you have a schedule conflict or something. There is limited classes and every single one is full. Many of my friends have been here 3 or 4 years because they are unable to get all the classes they need to transfer. I highly reccomend avoiding california community college system. Just my personal experience.</p>
<p>You’re better off doing your first 2 years in the Midwest. If you want to go to a UC, it’s going to be expensive, as any out of state school is. Quite simply, CA is having enough problems educating its own students right now that the only out of state students they’re taking are the ones who can either pay full tuition ($60,000 per year) or who will take out the loans to cover that (insane). You’re expecting that you can qualify for in-state residency, which likely won’t happen. Even if you do qualify at the CC level, the UCs almost never grant in-state tuition unless you are 24+ years old and have been self-supporting (really) as in working a REAL full-time job (not part-time at McDonald’s or a local mall). The other option is the military.</p>
<p>I went to USC in no small part because with financial aid it was significantly cheaper than either Berkeley or UCLA out of state, as while those schools have lower sticker prices, they generally don’t give aid to out of state students. As I said before, CA has enough problems educating its own students so they’re not exactly going to bend over backwards for out of state students. CA is not North Dakota or Iowa, meaning that they’re not exactly begging for an influx of students.</p>
<p>BTW the top CA privates (Stanford, Caltech, USC, Claremont Colleges, Pepperdine, Occidental, etc.) are generally very good with aid as well, so don’t rule them out on sticker price alone. Apply to the schools you like, apply for aid, and then make a good business decision about which school has the right program for you at the right price. A lot of schools also have internal scholarships for continuing students as well.</p>
<p>I’m in my last semester of CC(3rd year) and I’ve actually had quite the opposite experience. I have never had trouble enrolling except for one class. Math 16A. It’s partly because it’s not the most popular calculus sequence transfer-wise (Math1A/30+ is) so it’s only offered Fall and Spring and there are only 1 or 2 classes. </p>
<p>I went from having low priority registration to high in my 3rd year and it’s been the same. I also want to note I attend one of the largest CCs in northern CA.</p>
<p>Prop 30 doesn’t do anything except stop the bleeding. It stops budget cuts so there will be no more classes cut or teachers laid off. My only negative experience is that tuition has risen drastically since I first enrolled. That being said, it’s still decent compared to CCs outside of CA. </p>
<p>As far as transferring to a UC, california CC students have first priority so transferring OOS from a CC will put you had a major disadvantage. CCC->UC is the best way.</p>
<p>As far as tuition goes for UC. My sibling attends UCSB and pays 4600/quarter and lives in the dorm. All in all it comes out to 15-16k/Yr with financial aide. Far lower than the 27k UCSB says. Like I said he does have financial aide + scholarships. No job. </p>
<p>I have been accepted to Davis and will commute pending results from other UCs. My total cost is expected to be around 15k in school expenses not counting gas/commuting/general expenses. This also doesn’t count any scholarships or financial aide as I will not know what that is until March/April. My gut feeling is I will be paying around 9k-11k/Yr. I also have money saved up from working since freshman year (which cost me an extra year at CC) but I’ll be graduating with very little, if no debt pending any future summer jobs. </p>
<p>The UC/CC crisis IMO is severely blown out of proportion.</p>
<p>The cc crisis is blown out of proportion huh? That’s why CCSF is on the verge of closing right? Don’t take California’s extreme budget issues lightly it is a mess here.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info guys. I’ve also heard a lot of people taking a class or two at other CC’s for the courses they need (how hard is this?), and that many students “under-utilize” taking summer courses (do the UC’s care if you take a class or two the summer before your first fall semester?)</p>
<p>@emprex, what CCC are you going to? I’m going to be touring DVC, De Anza, and Ohlone here soon in the bay area. I’ve heard from some students at DVC and De Anza that getting the classes you need can be rough (these two schools are in the ~20k students range) while I haven’t heard much of anything from Ohlone (which has about 10k students).</p>
<p>From what I understand, the transferable general ed reqs are the hardest to get into. That would be 2 english courses, a math/quantitative reasoning course, and 4 courses total from two of the fields: arts and humanities, social and behavioral sciences, the physical and biological sciences. I do have 4 of the above that I believe I can transfer from here so that should help?</p>
<p>I’m just about to board my flight for San Jose and I noticed an article from about 3 weeks ago stating that California has balanced its budget. Also:</p>
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<p>From what I gather, the college system is among the very top priorities for law makers right now. With prop 30 passing and possibly even more money going into the education system later this year, is it possible that students have already seen the worst (or things can only get better)?</p>
<p>This definitely alleviates some worry. Any thoughts?</p>