<p>^would your parents be okay paying for room&board if you choose Long Beach?
This would enhance your experience - more opportunities to grow as a young adult (something that’s harder to do at home), to get involved in study groups and clubs, that lead to better grades and a better experience as demonstrated by an actual study of thousands of college students.
LB is a good CSU, too.</p>
<p>But if you wanted to attend UCSC, let’s look at costs and loans.
If you stick with MechE, the loans would be doable - remember that part of cost of attendance isnt paid directly to the university, but personal expenses; you can cut costs by buying used textbooks (don’t rent for textbooks that represent the foundation of your major or for textbooks you use over 2 semesters, it ends up costing more!), by limiting travel and personal purchases, etc.
So, UCSC may be possible if you can be frugal. It’ll require more juggling and more work on your part though.</p>
<p>What you pay the college directly is $28,000. You got $22,000 in grants/scholarships. That leaves $6,000 - with $5,500 in federal loans + $900 in Perkins loans, you have everything covered with $400 left aside for emergency funds. (So, in reality, you’d be taking on $5,500 in loans, the federal limit, plus a little bit of Perkins which is okay.)
Check into the Parent Loans, if they’re PLUS loans, don’t take them. Anyway I don’t think you need to take on these loans.
Then, you have $2,200 in UC SHIP - student health insurance. There are exceptions if you’re already covered but that’s a tricky one because they may decrease some part of your financial aid if you don’t take it. If you’re covered by your parents’ health insurance, you want to ask ahead of time what part of your financial aid it’ll affect -if it’s the parents loan, well, no problem, but if it’s a grant, :s. (You may want to ask this question on the UCSC forum and on the financial aid forum, as there ought to be people who know.) Also, by how much: if they cut $500 from your financial aid and you save $1,700, it’s still a good deal. If they cut $2,200 it’s not.
This is the hardest point because if you’re not exempt you need to pay and it’s not covered without loans.</p>
<p>Everything else is expenses you don’t pay the college and therefore can be altered (ie, you don’t HAVE TO spend that much money if you are frugal.)</p>
<p>First: Ask if they can increase your work-study to $3,000 - you’ll have to start as soon as you step on campus and take the best-paying job you can get OR choose a “paid to study” job (ie., library desk, residence hall desk - you help people but when no one’s there, you’re on the clock and paid but doing your homework. 
) if they don’t, see if there are job opportunities around campus. 10h/week is doable.</p>
<p>This amount of money would have to pay for your expenses and be saved to pay for your second semester’s books. For first semester books, you’d need to work over the summer.</p>
<p>Books: the official COA indicates that on average students spend $720 per semester on their books and supplies. Do you need to buy all-new pens, goggles, calculator, etc? The stuff you had from high school that still works is fine. All you need to buy is notebooks, on average, and those you can buy for cheap (hunt for bargains - buy in bulk for yourself and siblings, for instance). If you want to splurge, buy ONE UCSC notebook for your favorite (or least favorite = boost) subject. Those emblazoned notebooks often cost three or four times more than the regular ones but of course if you didn’t shop ahead of time, you buy notebooks on campus and pay the premium. Then, books: register for your classes early. Email the professor and ask what textbook will be used. Then, equipped with that piece of information, hunt for the cheapest version of the books. Use the college’s online list serv or FB and ask upperclass students - many will be trying to sell their books; when you walk past a used books bookstore, step in and ask. And of course there’s online. If you do that in June-July, you’ll find lots of bargains. If you find a very cheap “10/e” and the professor asked for 11th or 12th edition, email the professor and ask whether you can buy the 10th edition as long as you read the complements off the reserve’s textbook (check that the textbook is on reserve for the course.) Same thing for novels or non-textbooks you may be reading for a course: ask whether the book is on reserve for the course and read it in the library for free. If you need your own copy, buy the cheapest one (often for 1 cent online) and since the pages are different, write it down at the front of the paperback. Sure you’ll have a book with yellow pages rather than crisp but if anyone gives you grief for it (which I doubt) you can just say it’s an old favorite of yours that you’ve had for 5 years. 
</p>
<p>Next item: $573 for transportation. Are you really going to spend that much on gas and driving from and to your house plus driving around? Expect to go just for the breaks and consciously limit the uses of your car to necessities. Walk or ride your bike for everything else.</p>
<p>Next item: $1,800 for personal expenses. This is pocket money: pizza, ice cream, toothbrush, beer, tylenol, condoms, etc. Make a budget. How frugal can you be? Eat your fill in the cafeteria. Have a budget for “going out with friends” and don’t be ashamed of it. Don’t buy beer. Bring Tylenol and other basic health items from home (I bet your mom will be glad to pack you a little ziplock bag with essentials so that you don’t cough/throw up/etc and ruining your grades and health.) Don’t buy the “dorm package” - ask for the bed’s size and bring your sheets and pillow cases. They don’t need to be brand new for college. This is where you can cut the most.</p>
<p>And that’s it. So if you wanted to try and got an answer wrt UC SHIP, it’d be doable. Not as easy as CSU LB but possible. So you really have a choice.</p>