USC’s EA program is new this year. Maybe other colleges will add it to their exception list as time goes on.
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HYPS are probably not worried so much about multiple EA to schools other than each other, while Caltech’s REA policy is probably mostly about avoiding multiple EA with MIT; all of them are probably not too concerned about USC. But they probably do not want to name specific other schools explicitly in their REA policies.
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It’s true that room and board is crazy expensive at Cal, which drives up the listed COA. But it’s only $44K if you are paying for the $4000 student health insurance plan (which can be waived if your child is covered on your insurance).
True. But I cannot name a single CA student who has applied to or attended Merced. They could not have picked a worse location for student life. But it’s in-state and if that’s where you can get in what you can afford, the education and programs are good.
We’re full pay at every school. Even when we had two kids in college at the same time, we didn’t qualify for a single penny of financial aide. I actually get irritated when schools post whet “most students” pay. No, we will pay 40k. California publics are stingy with merit, so we wouldn’t expect that here either.
Yes, the health insurance cost we could waive. But in state public even at 40k is significant.
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Correct that is why I mentioned Stanford and ND.
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I personally know 3 CA students (my son included) that applied to UC Merced and 1 of these 3 that attended, excelled and graduated in Engineering.
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obviously students do apply and attend. I just don’t know anyone personally even though nearly everyone we know is applying to multiple UCs.
I have heard great things about the academics. But the location is not a selling point unless you’re commuting from the CV somewhere nearby.
But can the Californians educate the rest of us- how much does it cost a kid from Sacramento to go back and forth to UC San Diego a few times a year? Not talking every month- but reasonable travel costs?
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Completely agree. I get mailers about it. Throw them straight in the bin. $40k-$80k sticker for 3 kids in college at once. Glad we saved.
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When the decision for the Merced site was made in 1995, it was apparently chosen over another site closer to Fresno due to water supply.
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driving or flying? 3 round trips per school year-- I guess $500 per round trip all in if flying. Obviously lots of variation for flight costs. So $1500.
My D on the east coast and her travel costs to CA are only slightly more. She only comes home for Christmas and Summer though.
Depending on when you want to go, you can fly back and forth 3-4 times per year for under $600. Total annual cost.
Thanksgiving and Spring Break can throw a wrench in that, but still under $1000 for the year. That can even include some ubers from the airport to campus.
It wouldn’t cost much. You can drive it in a long day, straight shot down I-5 (I’m guessing 8 hours? I’ve driven Sac - LA, which is like 5-6 hours). You can get direct flights, which are cheap in-state. If you watch out for sales and collect points on Southwest, you can probably get flights for less than $100 round trip (with a few free flights here and there if you build up enough points).
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The main choices are:
- Car: about 500 miles or 8 hours
- Train / transit: about 12-15 hours
- Airplane: 1:20 non-stop plus time at airports and local transportation
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Sorry, I’m lost. How are these driving/flying options related to high stat students applying EA?
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Is it more appropriate for a college to only list sticker price, even if most students do not pay sticker? I’d expect typical students have a good idea about the sticker price, so repeating what they already know about the sticker price that doesn’t provide much benefit. However, posting about the price most students actually pay and how most students are able to substantially reduce cost via FA grants and/or scholarships may provide more benefit, getting students to do more research about opportunities to make the college more affordable or check out estimated cost in NPC.
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Disagree. You could get there by looking at common data but as many have budgets - if your budget is $30k and most pay $50k, you don’t align so it helps.
Now one could say if most pay $50k then why is sticker $80k?
That’s a fair question.
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I haven’t seen the referenced documents, but it’s not appropriate to say “most pay $50k.” Instead FA creates a sliding scale of costs. Some might pay $0, some might pay $10k, some might pay $40k, and some might pay the maximum sticker of $80k. There is no reason to expect that most people pay the maximum on that sliding scale.
It is more appropriate to list something like below, which is copied from Yale’s website. It allows students to make a rough estimation of their net cost, which can be more accurately estimated using NPC. It’s not “most pay 50k.” It’s more, a middle class family making $100k might have a net cost of approximately $10k, while a wealthy family making $200k might have a net cost of $30-$40k.
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I’ve seen schools say what was mentioned but most I’ve seen or maybe all say most pay less. I was just referencing the statement.
Some info is better than no info. But yea every situation is different.
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