<p>so i've been accepted to both UW and UCSD and i've decided that i really want to go to UCSD. But, the problem is that I am out of state for both. UW will cost about $35000 a year and UCSD will cost about $45000 per year. My parents have basically told me that they won't pay the extra money for me to go to UCSD. Is there any way to reduce the cost of going to UCSD? How can I come up with the extra $10,000 per year? Will calling the financial aid office of ucsd and asking for more aid help me? or should i just give up and accept that i can't go to ucsd....</p>
<p>just declare CA residency after your first year, then you'll be paying the regular tuition (it's what now, $15K?) after that.</p>
<p>is that really possible? i think under the old rules it was, but the rules have changed. u have to prove financial independence for like two years and i think it makes it pretty much impossible to change your residency as a college student. ..</p>
<p>where does it say that?</p>
<p>Here's the official website:</p>
<p>UC</a> Berkeley Registrar : Establishing Legal Residence</p>
<p>It ain't easy to meet for most kids, especially the part about financial independence.</p>
<p>It can be cheap though. Just find a person in the same situation, of the opposite gender, and drive to vegas for a pre-nup and marriage. Voila!</p>
<p>astrina: Regular in-state tuition is closer to 25k nowadays...</p>
<p>Easy ways to make it cheaper:
-buy all of your books online, used, or from friends (Don't buy from the bookstore.)
-don't eat out so much other than dining plan which is included in housing
-don't go home so much and don't bring a car
-if you have health insurance, get the school's health insurance waived</p>
<p>Of the some $20k cost last year that they estimated, I only spent $16k. I imagine your $45k cost can be cut down to $38-40k just from those tips....</p>
<p>The University's estimates are grossly exaggerated. They say in-state residents need to spend 22K a year. What a joke. Like i_lose says, its only about 16-18k.
The reason they estimate so high is because SOME people will run up the bill with expenses and if their expenses are higher than the "estimate," UCSD would be blamed for wrong information, bad advising, etc. Also if it makes us feel any worse, the kids getting a free ride (full fin aid), they get about 4-5K of free money every year because of this..... Makes me sick.</p>
<p>wow are you guys serious about getting the cost down to 16k???? that would seriously give me another very good reason to attend ucsd.....</p>
<p>the cost isn't that hard to calculate. tuition and room/board rates are already up for next year. then factor in what you think you'll pay for random expenses: groceries, bedding, miscellany. it's really not that much. when i lived on campus, the only things i'd pay for were the occasional grocery items (when i got sick of dining hall food), movie tickets, maybe shopping. that's it.</p>
<p>one tip: don't EVER buy your textbooks from the bookstore. just check the booklists or email your profs ahead of time and buy them off amazon.com, or former students. geisel maintains a collection of all the textbooks so you can check them out for 2-hr time slots (or overnight if you're the last one for the day). even when it comes to readers (the flimsy workbook-like textbooks that are collections of random readings, arranged by the prof), chances are one of your friends works at a company where xeroxes are free and unsupervised. just have him/her xerox the entire thing for you. </p>
<p>i don't i bought a textbook from the bookstore after sophomore year. total ripoffs, them.</p>
<p>Doesn't UCSD have any off campus bookstores?</p>
<p>there was one alternative [on-campus] bookstore, maybe a student co-op of sorts, that had some old textbooks. but their selection didn't even come close to stocking all the necessary books.</p>
<p>there aren't any off-campus unfortunately. i think amazon is still the best bet.</p>
<p>if you know way in advance what books you need, buy them off half or amazon. guaranteed 20-40% even cheaper. and by advance, i mean, buying textbooks in july/early aug for fall classes...this is when the market is saturated with textbooks and everyone wants to sell theirs, not realizing that if they waited until aug/sept, they could get a significantly better price.</p>
<p>for example, i scored the chem6 series bundle for $70-80. and math20 series book + solutions manual for $70. Bookstore charged like $150-200 for each set, can't remember. :)</p>
<p>i flew home for the breaks when the dorms were closed but bought tickets way in advance = ~$300 on transportation. but i live in norcal, so going home to the east coast will be more expensive...</p>
<p>ate out very little, maybe eating out 1-2 times a month at an ok place (chipotle, bj's...), and $30-40 groceries per month when i got sick of dining hall food.</p>
<p>you'll manage. whatever the cost is, unless you join a frat/sorority or do something that is going to really drain your bank account, it's going to be less than what they publish.</p>