<p>Since financial aid is based on COA and EFC, can I expect the COA (after financial aid) for all the expensive OOS publics and private schools to be roughly the same? </p>
<p>No, no, no. You seem to be under the wrong assumption that these schools meet need. Need is based on COA and EFC as defined by each individual school. FAFSA EFC is only for Pell Grant determination. Most OOS publics will not meet need. Not for OOS and often not even for instate students. And many private schools do not meet need or practice preferential packaging. Even colleges that claim to meet need will calculate your need differently and your family contribution differently and it can be significant depending.</p>
<p>Also some financial aid is awarded on Merit, you left that one out.</p>
<p>NO!!!</p>
<p>Most schools do NOT meet need. So, you could have an EFC of $7000 and a school could cost $50,000…and yet all you may be given is a $5,500 loan. Ugh! You would be paying all the $50,000. </p>
<p>Most schools do NOT have much need-based aid to give away. Many schools have little/no need-based aid to give away other than the small amounts of federal aid (which isn’t much…and is for low income students).</p>
<p>And nearly all OOS publics do not give much/any need-based aid. Why would they? They charge high OOS rates for a reason…your parents don’t pay taxes there!</p>
<p>Why would publics bother to charge high OOS rates if they were then going to have to dig into their small FA budgets and hand over big bucks to OOS students whose parents don’t pay taxes there??? </p>
<p>However, some publics will give merit scholarships to high stats OOS students. </p>
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<p>???</p>
<p>Have you not been reading the responses to your previous questions in other threads??? You were told a month ago that you wouldn’t get the aid you want. And, you were told that as a transfer student you would have a harder time at nearly all schools except your instate UCs.</p>
<p>Those OOS publics you have listed will not be affordable…and you were told that last month.</p>
<p>And UCI has VERY GOOD engineering!</p>
<p>That was for merit aid. I thought financial aid would be a little different. Apparently not… =/</p>
<p>You need to stick with your Calif UCs if you need and qualify for aid. </p>
<p>If you can’t afford your UCs, then apply to CSUs…UCB and UCI are not your only options. There are CSUs that would also work.</p>
<p>Schools try to attract the best frosh class they can with merit and/or FA. Transfers don’t “help” the school ratings-wise so there is little incentive to give them aid. However, the UCs give good aid to instate students who qualify. </p>
<p>Ah, so I should expect to pay full COA to any OOS public or private as a transfer student, right?</p>
<p>You want a “better engineering program”? </p>
<p>If the college is ABET accredited it doesn’t matter if it’s instate or out of state. </p>
<p>@StaticRoar </p>
<p>There are some top privates that will give full aid to transfers who qualify for aid. Cornell and USC for example. </p>
<p>What are your stats? (have you only completed one year at a CC?) </p>
<p>If you plan on applying to any of the OOS publics on your list, expect to pay full price.</p>
<p>How much will your family pay each year? That answer will determine where you should apply. </p>
<p>You have excellent instate publics with CivilE. Look at the Cal Polys. If your family qualifies for aid at UCs, go there…</p>
<p><<<
I am currently a California community college student working towards a degree in civil engineering. If I want to transfer within two years, my only options are UC Berkeley and UC Irvine due to prerequisites. </p>
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<p>The above is very strange. What prereqs exist at the other Calif publics? And why can’t you complete those prereqs at your CC? I doubt that all the civilE students at Calif CCs can only transfer to two Calif publics. </p>
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<p>I have a 4.0 GPA after one year at CC, but my ECs are pretty weak so I wouldn’t expect to get full aid at USC or Cornell, even if I maintain the straight A’s. And besides full aid at USC or Cornell, COA at other privates would most likely be more than $40,000-$45,000, right?</p>
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<p>They’re willing to pay full COA, but ideally I would want to make it cheaper for them. Irvine has a high COA for an in-state public school so some OOS publics only cost ~$10,000 more per year.</p>
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<p>I really wish I could apply to UC Davis, UCLA, or Cal Poly San Luis-Obsipo, but they all require an extra physics course (and one or two other courses depending on the school), which I can’t complete this year. And since none of those schools allow spring transfers, I would have to stay in CC for an additional year, which is not beneficial for me.</p>
<p>If your parents will pay full COA, why do you think that you would qualify for aid?? </p>
<p>Your statement about Cornell makes no sense. Aid is based on need, not based on ECs. Your lack of ECs may keep you from being admitted, but it wouldn’t keep you from getting full aid if admitted (and you have need). </p>
<p>Yes, there are some OOS publics that may only cost about $10k per year more than UCI, but would they be worth the extra $20k plus travel for two years? And are they better than UCI? </p>
<p>BTW…why didn’t you go directly to a univ right out of high school?</p>
<p>IF a college ‘meets need’ for transfers, it is based on your ‘need’ not on your ECs. they will give full aid up to ‘need’ if you get in. It is the ‘getting in’ part where the ECs help. Some colleges like to see that you will be contributing to the community as well as being a great student.</p>
<p>You will be entering as a Jr after only one year at CC? </p>
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<p>No.</p>
<p>Use the net price calculator on each school’s web site to see what that school give you for a net price.</p>
<p>If you really want to get out-of-state, the South Dakota and New Mexico public universities have very low out-of-state list prices. Minnesota, North Carolina State, SUNYs like Stony Brook, Iowa State, and Virginia Tech may also be within range at list price, depending on whether “$25,000 tuition” means $25,000 total or $40,000 total (including room, board, books, etc.).</p>
<p>^^^
Many of the NPCs do not ask if the student is a transfer. That is necessary info since the best aid is given to transfers.</p>
<p>I don’t know why the student is so concerned about UCI. UCI is excellent. And, if he wants to later work in Calif, it is best to do CivilE in Calif.</p>
<p>If he still wants to go OOS, he can look at the New Mexico schools UNM and NM Tech and the ones that UCB mentions, but really, it’s not worth it. He can also look at Miss State and LSU. I think Alabama would be too expensive. </p>
<p>I think the student needs to visit the UCI CivilE dept and learn what is going on there. </p>
<p>The OP should run the NPCs and look at them as the best case scenario. The comment that his family can afford the UCs to me is an indicator, that he may not even qualify for aid, maybe even none, even from schools that do treat transfers equally in fin aid. OOS publics do not tend to meet full need for even their own students, even as nouveau freshmen, so a transfer is not likely to do well in that department. A student can ask the fin aid office what their poicies are, but bottom line, if EFC and NPC indicators are showing a high payment expected from the student and family, it is doubtful any aid will be forth coming. The schools define the need. It’s doubtful in such cases that a student can beat his own state schools’ prices.</p>
<p>There is nothing wrong with the UCI engineering program. </p>
<p>One more thing…it sounds like this student is transferring for the spring term. IF (and I mean IF) the student happened to qualify for need based or merit aid, it is more unlikely that this student would receive aid as a SPRING transfer.</p>
<p>So…my free advice…stay at the CC and get that additional course, and any other that will transfer to a CA public. You need to work with the transfer advisor on this. Getting the additional course will open the door for applications to UCs other than Irvine…which you don’t seem to like for some odd reason.</p>
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Most schools don’t care all that much about EC’s for Junior Transfers. Not that this helps your situation, really.</p>
<p>Best aid given to transfers? I thought best aid was given to freshmen</p>
<p>I believe “freshmen” is what @mom2collegekids meant…</p>