<p>I'm currently in the process of selecting schools I would like to apply for transfer to as I'm getting close to graduating from community college. I have a short list of schools, but I'm still lost in a pretty daunting process.</p>
<p>I'm a non-trad student that would really like to transfer to a school in California, coming from a CC in Virginia that's not going to be easy. I'd rather not stay in state (personal reasons) even if it may make the most sense academically. I currently have College GPA of 3.79 with 54 credit hours. I'm majoring in Information Technology, but I've managed to take a few lower division CS classes that would be required for a CS major which is what I do want to major in at my next school. Anyway here is my list so far.</p>
<ol>
<li>Cal-Berkeley</li>
<li>University of Southern Cal</li>
<li>UCLA</li>
<li>Occidental College</li>
<li>Pepperdine</li>
<li>UC-Irvine</li>
<li>University of San Diego</li>
<li>San Diego State</li>
</ol>
<p>The only factor that really is a deal breaker at this point is financial aid (being an OSS). I was wondering if I have a decent chance of being admitted with the colleges I listed and also I'm having trouble finding schools outside of Virginia that would be realistic but also suit my needs. Any comments or suggestions are welcome.</p>
<p>Sorry this is so long. Thank you.</p>
<p>All of the public colleges in California will be full fee for you since California does not fund OOS residents. </p>
<p>Even if your stats are high, the majority of merit and need based aid goes to the children of California taxpayers. </p>
<p>So full fees at the UCs will be $55k-60k. Full fees at the Cal states will be $34k+. If you believe that you are an exception and qualify for more, then you might get a book scholarship of $300. </p>
<p>The point is that the State of California is out of money and it has thousands of college applicants from around the world who are willing to pay top dollar to go to the California universities. The end result is that the State does not feel the need to attract top applicants with scholarships, since it has so many qualified OOS students willing to pay the full fees. </p>
<p>(If you think you can eventually reduce your fees to instate, that’s not gonna happen. It is very tough to establish residency for California given the fact that you’re applying to universities with a clear intent to be admitted to state-funded universities along with the residency requirement of employment, since jobs are hard to find and cost of living is extreme.)</p>
<p>The California privates do have better options for scholarships, so that might be a better route for you, however, these schools are uber competitive. If they are unfamiliar with your CC, they may not admit you.</p>
<p>Forgot to mention that the public universities have a “differential” of $23k for OOS students that cannot be paid through scholarships or grants. In other words, you pay $23k cash just for being from OOS.</p>
<p>
How much can your family afford? UVA will meet need if you make it in there. There are some less expensive OOS public schools which might work.</p>
<p>USC does have some transfer scholarships, but they don’t come close to covering everything and aren’t easy to get.</p>
<p>@ Erin’s Dad</p>
<p>My EFC on my FAFSA is 0. Which OOS public schools were you thinking of?</p>
<p>@PurpleTitan Thank you. I wasn’t aware their transfer scholarships didn’t cover a whole lot.</p>
<p>Take a look at Santa Clara for a private with access to Silicon Valley and a good reputation in CS. San Jose State sends a lot of CS grads to SV as well.</p>
<p>@MrMom62 Thank you! I will take a look at both schools.</p>
<p>Most of the very low cost colleges are in the cold belt - Bemidji U, South Dakota, etc. In some cases there is no difference between OOS and IS rates. Go to the FA forum and look at the pinned threads.</p>
<p>San Jose State will be $36K since it is a Cal State; your best bet, if you want California, is looking at the privates-Santa Clara, Pepperdine, Chapman, Loyola, USC, who have private scholarship monies. </p>
<p>UCs do offer OOS financial aid, but not against the $23,000 out-of-state additional tuition. If your FAFSA EFC = $0, then the likely net prices at UCs will be a presumably-unaffordable $31,000 to $33,000 after adding the expected student contribution to the out-of-state additional tuition. CSUs will only pass through Pell grants to OOS students, so your net price at CSUs will likely be list price minus Pell grant (probably $25,000 to $30,000), presumably unaffordable. Check the net price calculators if you want to get estimates from the schools.</p>
<p>USC, a private school in California, does admit decent numbers of transfer students; check its net price calculator for a financial aid estimate.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus Oh wow, I didn’t realize it was that unaffordable. I’ll take a look at the private schools. Thank you!</p>
<p>@auntbea Out of the schools you listed I’m going to assume USC and Santa Clara have the best CS programs?</p>
<p>USC has a very good program as it has everything good, but it is expensive and competitive. I’m unfamiliar with Santa Clara’s program, but it is in the Bay/Silicon Valley area and is familiar to those dot.com start-ups. Santa Clara is becoming more known for it’s access to financial aid help.</p>
<p>@auntbea Is USC known for financial aid at all? Sorry for all of the questions, by the way.</p>
<p>If your stats are really competitive, USC has money. They offered my son ½ tuition which didn’t really make a dent in the total costs. It didn’t include room and board so he selected another school that was more expensive but who offered a lot more money. The costs to live in LA are exorbitantly expensive. USC is in a very harsh neighborhood. </p>
<p>Look into Chapman University (in Orange County), </p>
<p>University of San Diego (my old stomping grounds),</p>
<p>Loyola Marymount has a college of engineering, check it out (<a href=“http://admission.lmu.edu/academics/majors/”>http://admission.lmu.edu/academics/majors/</a>)</p>
<p>CSULB offers some money to really competitive students but it is a state school. They are fortunate to have Boeing onsite (on-campus!!) and employ interns from CSULB’s engineering department. Their costs will be expensive but if you are competitive, they might make offers. </p>
<p>In other words, apply to the privates and compare their aid packages.</p>
<p>For USC, run the net price calculator on its web site to see a financial aid estimate. They also offer half and full tuition merit scholarships, although they seem to be getting more competitive over the years.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus The only problem with some of the net price calculators, is that they aren’t intended for transfer students. I will be applying as a transfer.</p>
<p>@"aunt bea" Was your son a transfer or freshman applicant? </p>
<p>I feel my stats will/should be competitive enough to get into a good number of good schools it’s a matter of if they give enough aid to where I can attend.</p>
<p>I will look into those as well. I checked out University of San Diego. I haven’t found anything about transfer aid or scholarships when I looked a bit ago, I can look again.</p>