<p>Five</a> States Where College Tuition Is Soaring - WSJ.com</p>
<p>California still offers by far the best quality for the price.</p>
<p>I’m not sure about that UCBChemEGrad. UNC-CH’s in-state tuition and fees are just over half of that of your alma mater. While I’m not denying that Berkeley provides a great education, it is no longer the best bargain.</p>
<p>^ Depends on your perspective I guess. UNC surely is a fantastic bargain, but it doesn’t offer the academic breadth and depth of Berkeley.</p>
<p>And California offers a lot of great academic choices…from UCs to CSUs to quality community colleges like Pasadena City College and Santa Monica College. Other states don’t offer the breadth of quality for a bargain price.</p>
<p>Are you looking at straight tuition increases or the full COA. Californias is nuts. Tuition doubled and so did room and board in the last 10 years. It’s really out of hand, and most likely be another crazy increase with this upcoming election since a tax hike isn’t looking that how at this time.</p>
<p>I agree with UCBChemGrad. The number of quality public schools in California is pretty high compared to other states.</p>
<p>Also, California’s UC system tuition was always lower than most of it’s public peer competition. Really it had nowhere to go but up, and I mean way up!</p>
<p>@UCBChemGrad not at all true. Many CSUs are VERY impacted, and you could be spending 6-7 years getting a bachelor’s degree, which if you’re paying for room and board adds up to more than you would pay at a private school. There are also plenty of states where their out-of-state tuition & fees are less than UCs (Minnesota and New York come to mind)</p>
<p>In addition, with budget cuts, adequate financial aid is very rare for in-state applicants. I’m a CA resident, and I applied to all private schools; i applied to 10, got into 9, and of those 9, 7 schools gave me a package where I would pay less than a UC. In fact, at the school I chose (which is very prestigious and probably on par in difficulty of admission with UC San Diego) I am paying less than half of what I would at a CSU. Had I gone to a UC, based on what I can afford, I would come out of undergrad with over $45k in loans. Not worth it.</p>
<p>That being said, they’re still inarguably the most prestigious university system as a whole in the United States. All I’m saying is that it’s ludicrous to call them bargains. It’s just a shame what the current state budget is doing to the system.</p>
<p>*** their out of state tuition is less than in state at UCs</p>
<p>Across the gamut of undergraduate, graduate, and professional education, California rather clearly offers the best total quality. “Quality for the price” really gets down to individual program choices. For undergraduate education, the Mid-Atlantic states offer a pretty good selection (at least at the high end). Virginia, Maryland, and NC (which together have about 2/3 the population of California) have 4 of the top 10 schools on Kiplinger’s “Best Value in Public Colleges” list. Both their in-state and OOS prices are significantly lower than the California schools’.</p>
<p>We have cousins at Berkely. It’s $13K for tuition alone there. Wow. It used to be that CA tuition was very low. From what I understand room and board are also high, and living in student digs in Oakland is expensive. I don’t know what the other UCs charge in tuition, but I am surprised that Berkely is that high.</p>
<p>most UC’s charge similar room and boards. If you’ve ever visit Berkeley you’d be surprised at what your paying for. Your paying around $16k for room and board on campus but the campus is surround by a bad neighborhood. The park across the street from my brother inlaws dorm was notorious of drugs, homeless, and muggings. As a whole $14k tuition is a bargain, but when room and board bring it closer to $28k-32k its not cheap at all, unless you come from the area.</p>
<p>Tuition increases in the UNC system, including Chapel Hill, are solely the fault of the General Assembly and their stupidity. This is the same stupidity that outright eliminated the Teaching Fellows program.</p>
<p>Chancellor Thorp at UNC, and all of the Chancellors in the system, have been digging as deep as they can to find ways to avoid tuition increases. It apparently worked since we managed to stay off this list…</p>
<p>Kylebelieves, you only applied to private schools. How do you know what your financial aid reward would have been at a UC?<br>
You didn’t even apply and submit a Fafsa…sounds like just idle speculation on your part.</p>