<p>It’s a myth that Berkeley is affordable. For starter, you have to carry $9-10K loans and workstudy even if your family has zero income. And once your family income exceeds $85K, your “financial aid” becomes zilch. I put financial aid in quotes becasue of its abusive use by UC officials. They consider finding a lender to give you a 9% parent loan a form of financial aid. As a result, they can make misleading claims such as xx% of our students receive financial aid.
There are no smart poor students in Berkeley, just as there are no smart black students in Berkeley.(I’m talking about the best of the best here.)
I guess you have never heard of out of state student fees.
To summarize, Berkeley is affordable to those Californians who save $25K by not spending $50K at private schools. For the rest, it’s not affordable when you take into account their family income and the cost of living in many California cities.
That Berkeley gives you a better deal(net cost) compared to private schools doesn’t make it affordable.</p>