Help! OOS California Colleges Low Income??

College Search & Selection
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Hello everyone, I am about to be a senior in high school during the 2017-2018 school year, and I would love to attend a college in California (preferably closer to LA). However, this dream seems to be next to impossible if I want to find a balance between affordability, quality of education, and actually being able to get into the college.

My stats are: ACT 29, UW GPA 3.35, W GPA 3.75? I took college classes at a local CC full time junior year and part time sophomore year. My school only will weigh the classes they offer at my high school at the AP level, so only like 5 total! CC GPA 3.3.

Intended Major: Engineering? pretty undecided atm

Grades at CC:
Sophomore year: A,B,D the D was English comp 1 and I got an A English comp 2 junior year so that teacher basically sucked.

Junior year: A,A,A,C,A,A,A,C.

Income: Aprrox. $60k between mom and dad after taxes.

Ethnicity: White male, I have first cousins that are NA but I don’t think putting down NA on applications would be very ethical.

So my dilemma has been trying to find a college in CA that I could actually get into, since Stanford is obviously not a possibility and USC would be a reach of all reaches, I am not really even close to the average accepted student. UC schools offer almost no financial aid for OOS and there would be no point in taking out that much debt even tho UCLA would be awesome. Other private schools like the Claremont colleges are also sadly out of reach imo that offer good financial aid. I also would not want to go to Cali if I wouldn’t be getting a good education, as I feel my stats are good enough for decent colleges. In conclusion I would really appreciate recommendations to CA colleges taking into consideration cost, quality, and admissions chances. Thanks so much!

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EC’s: lacking, i didnt take it seriously freshman and sophomore and i was very busy junior year with my colleges classes and my younger brother being in the hospital for 4 months, but I would have baseball 4 years, Varsity, shooting for captain senior year, Summer baseball team captain. not good enough to play in college imo.

3

I think you have answered your own questions, you know there is no FA, you know where your stats put you. What is your home state?

4

ohio, i know i may have answered my own questions just trying to be reasonable. So i made the thread struggling to find a college that would match up well in CA. however its been difficult, so i was looking for suggestions.

5

Have you looked at LMU, Occidental, Redlands or Chapman?
They are all higher-priced privates, but may meet your need.

Also, what state are you in?
If it’s one of the participating WUE states, then have a look at some of the CSU’s.

6

I also suggest looking at Whittier College, University of La Verne, Concordia-Irvine and Azusa Pacific.

7

Loyola Marymount? Soka?

You don’t say exactly what the budget is, guessing it’s not a lot with 60k income unless there are savings or big assets. So does that mean $10k/yr? $30?

Is this a “dream” related to the entertainment industry or beaches or warm weather? Those things exist in other places too so if you can elaborate we might come up with more options.

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Run the Net Price calculators on all these schools. I do not see your Stats getting substantial merit aid and need-based aid may be available, but based on the costs of these private schools, you are still looking at a fairly high cost to attend.

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Are you admissible to engineering at Ohio state with your stats or is that why you are looking elsewhere?

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Miami should be good as well! Still don’t understand why are you looking at CA schools?

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@Sybylla I believe I have a decent shot at engineering at osu. just a super large school, dont think I would like the atmosphere @artloversplus Miami of Ohio or Miami University? @OHMomof2 I wanted it to be in CA closer to LA mostly for the experience and oppurtunities, weather would be a bonus but not a huge factor. not really a beach guy, and 30k sounds pretty good if it was loans and not out of pocket @hop Ohio

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@Gumbymom thanks for the recommendations! will try running the net prices also

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$30K a year, who is borrowing that though? 120K borrowed on your parents 60K a yr?
You can only borrow 27.5K total over 4 yrs. Hopefully you have some solid applications lined up for affordable in state options that you are well qualified for, stats wise. If you are convinced you would be admitted to OS engineering,OOS schools you would be admitted to otherwise will be inferior on your budget and stats. That is for engineering though, where the stakes are always higher. How do the local unis look at your GPA? What other instate options are there that might be less competitive than OS eng?

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@Sybylla no $30k total, yeah i am pretty qualified for quite a few. Since Ohio schools drop off imo after ohio state and miami OH imo. Ohio still has respectable schools, just relatively not too amazing.In state i can transfer with my 3.3 gpa at CC and could possible get it to 3.5 when I get my 2 yr degree, which will allow me to transfer to any public school in ohio. California I just think would be amazing and LA even better, but I would not be too heartbroken staying in Ohio

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Most of the California publics will run you at $40K to 60K per year. The privates are about $60K to about $72K per year. I don’t think your parents can afford those costs and I believe they wouldn’t qualify for loans for $240K+ to fund your 4 years.


The California publics do not use affirmative action, so even if you were Native American, it would be against the law for the publics to use that for admission.

You can get the same opportunities after you graduate. The experience is NOT what you think or see on TV.

AS for the privates, which I believe are your only options, your current GPA and ACT are not competitive for the CS major, so you need to have something else.

You are not eligible for WUE because you do not reside in any of the Western states that are part of WUE: http://wiche.edu/wue/students.

The State of California is an extremely popular destination for students from other areas of the country. So, naturally, it’s going to cost some bucks.

16

Get your degree and travel then. If you are realistic about engineering you will be way too busy to be admiring your surroundings between school and a job. Look for internships in the summer that take you to interesting places. Look at what engineering areas interest you though.

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@“aunt bea” thanks for the advice! @Sybylla will definitely consider that, thank you.

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What do you think about Ohio Univ? It’s smaller than Ohio State, and you can probably get merit and financial aid. Maybe you can go to school in Ohio, but get a summer internship in CA or spend a semester in CA at some kind of exchange program. You would need to look into that.

19

I meant Miami of Ohio



If you do well in UG you can come to ca for grad school, or find a job here

20

Might have a shot at San Diego State. After the the first year you can declare California residency and pay tuition at the in state rate.