<p>I got admitted to San Jose State, my dream school. This school defines who I wanted to be, a software engineer in Silicon Valley.. But currently my parents cannot afford the costs.. What am I supposed to do?</p>
<p>For the 2014-15 year I got
Direct Stafford Sub, $3500
Direct Stafford UnSub, $2000
Direct PLUS, $15,000
Cal Grant A $5400
EFC $8500</p>
<p>My only option is to go to CSUN or a Community. I have worked hard the past few years with over 20 credits from APs, I just do see how it is fair for me to downgrade my dream and go to CSUN. I wanted to be in Silicon Valley...</p>
<p>So you will commute from home and afford CSUN? You are lucky. Because if you do well in your classes, supplement with internships and working on open source projects online, you can get a silicon valley or whatever location job too. Remember cost of living is very high there and will eat up your salary. If you had got into a UC maybe more costs would be covered so you still have the option to go the cc to uc route. Spending money on things you can’t afford isn’t a matter of fairness. </p>
<p>Is the cost of attendance of the amounts you listed above…</p>
<p>3500+2000+15000+5400+8500= $28900</p>
<p>OR</p>
<p>3500+2000+1500+ 5400 = $13900</p>
<p>Or, have you been gapped in addition to this? Meaning is the cost more than $28900?
Regardless… you have been awarded $5400 in grant aid aka “free money” everything else you have listed is a direct loan, parent loan, and/ or money you and your family will have to find a way to front. The school has listed the Direct PLUS, which is something that you parents must apply and qualify to take on.</p>
<p>How much can you and your family afford?</p>
<p>It looks like the COA for SJS = $26,290 for a student living on campus
The COA for CSUN = $22,176 for a student living on campus</p>
<p>CSUN’s commuter cost of attendance is about $15,572, but that includes $1,494 in transportation, and $4,518 in room and board, so if your parents willingly subsidize your food and utilities at home, and you walk (no transportation costs), the price falls to about $9,560, of which $6,520 is tuition and fees, $1,788 is books, $1,338 is misc., and $94 is loan fees. Frugal choices may reduce the books and misc. costs significantly to the point that your Cal Grant may cover most of your costs with only minimal need for student loans or work earnings.</p>
<p>Note that CSU financial aid (much of it through Cal Grants) tends to make them relatively low cost for commuter students, but is not increased for students living at the school (unlike UC financial aid, which usually ends up producing a higher net price for commuters but a lower net price for students living at the school, compared to CSU financial aid).</p>
<p>The cal grant pays your tuition. A part time job can pay the rest. The book estimate is outrageous. you should be able to get your books for half the cost if you buy online, rent or buy used.</p>
<p>If you go to csun, you wont need any loans.</p>
<p>as for unfair…who is being unfair to you? your parents? who? </p>
<p>BTW…tons of students work hard for their grades and ap credits…and they still have to commute from home. downgrading dreams will happen all thru life…get used to it. lol</p>
<p>I don’t know if the overall downgrading of opportunities for recent generations is something to LOL about. A generation ago, students in the situation of having parents who disqualified them from financial aid but won’t pay (and do not have the stats to get huge merit scholarships) had more options, since they were more likely to be able to support themselves on their own with work while paying trivial state university tuition (i.e. they were not as dependent on parents letting them live at home for free to attend a limited number of commutable schools like they are now).</p>
<p>I am so sorry for your disappointment, but try to remember that you are going to be less than 5 hours away from the Silicon Valley, and the time to come will be when you actually have your degree and can start working as a software engineer there (and have the salary to afford the housing.) Once you have your degree, you will have the advantage of having lower school loan debt, which will help you when you move up there. Sure, living in the Silicon Valley is exciting, and the Santa Clara Valley, especially, is quite beautiful (lived there for 15 years myself), but engineers come from all over and, if you excel in your degree, and make sure you get some hands-on experience via internships and senior projects, you will get your opportunity to move there, if you still want it. There are a lot of other exciting technology hubs around the country, and you may be surprised to find that you get offers for jobs in locations you never considered, with the benefit of competitive salaries along with lower taxes and lower costs of living. Keep your mind open. Work hard at CSUN. Four years is going to pass by so quickly, and you may find yourself in the Silicon valley before you know it - and actually be able to enjoy that expected high salary because you will be able to pay off those federal loans quickly. Now, buying a house will be a different story, but nothing to worry about now, for sure. Best of luck!</p>
<p>UCB…this student has to pay LESS than “trivial tuition” because a Cal Grant is covering all of it. </p>
<p>my point is that life is full of disappointments (missed promotions, etc) even after working hard, so the
“it isn’t fair” attitude is not one to embrace because it will just lead to a depressing outlook. </p>
<p>The student needs to have a “make lemons out of lemonade.”</p>
<p>and a generation ago, just like now, most students did NOT (and could not afford to) go away to college.</p>
<p>"“my dad cannot afford the Direct PLUS payments [from borrowing $15k per year - $60k total].”</p>
<p>It is understandable that the dad can’t afford to borrow that much, most parents can’t. However, that doesnt mean that the parents are refusing to pay anything. They do have a $8k EFC, so maybe they can pay some of that.</p>