Is UC Blue & Gold promise in any jeopardy?

Transfer Students UC Transfers
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<p>I posted this under Financial Aid as well.</p>

<p>Does anyone know if this program is in any danger of being discontinued with all the budgetary problems in the UC system?</p>

<p>My DD is a Chemistry transfer student who will have most of her lower division and GE done by Fall 2013. She will probably only apply to Berkeley and UCLA that year and if she doesn't get in, finish everything up at CC and reapply to more campuses the following year. </p>

<p>However, if the Promise is in any jeopardy it would make sense to try harder to transfer earlier.</p>

<p>Any thoughts?</p>

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<p>The key to getting into Berkeley and LA is to have all of the prereqs (required classes) finished. Anything that is said to be required on assist… finished, finito, done, zilch :)</p>

<p>If assist doesn’t say anything about completing GEs or IGETC, then she should focus on getting her required classes done first and foremost. That’s what will get you in. :)</p>

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<p>She will be short one semester of Physics plus a few GE. I don’t think the GE will be a problem, but the Physics may be??? I know that Berkeley and LA are the hardest to get into. Berkeley is the top choice. Will they NOT accept you with one semester of a prereq unfinished?</p>

<p>We were thinking it was worth applying and if she doesn’t get in just wait until the following year (Fall 2014) and apply to more UC campuses, with all prereqs and all GE done. But, if Blue & Gold Promise were to disappear, it would disastrous for our family. So maybe she should try and get into some of the other UC’s for Fall 2013 and take advantage of B&G now, in case it disappears in the future???</p>

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<p>I don’t see the Blue and Gold Plan disappearing. The real problem with the public university model of tuition is that, traditionally, it was the same for everyone—famously, at UC, it was once free. The problem with that is that there are more costs, both financial and otherwise, than tuition (e.g., living expenses, family obligations, etc). So the “free” tuition policy disproportionately benefited the wealthy—they could afford to pay rent and buy food while attending class full-time, but poorer students couldn’t, even with zero tuition.</p>

<p>Remember that the UC Regents aren’t a bunch of evil conservatives who like raising tuition on poor people. At the same time, they need a way to increase revenue. How do they do it? Raise the sticker price of tuition, and drastically increase financial aid for poorer students.</p>

<p>Blue and Gold (and MCAP at Berkeley) is a key part of UC’s plan going forward. The whole point is to get the wealthy to pay more than in the past (but still less than a private university) while maintaining accessibility for poorer students. It’s a good idea.</p>

<p>Frankly, my guess is that if it were impossible to maintain the policy (say, if hell froze over, Republicans took over Sacramento, and somehow passed a law destroying all financial aid programs and requiring UC to charge the exact same tuition to every student, regardless of income), then UC would drop tuition dramatically to compensate, even if it meant lowering enrollment, increasing class sizes, etc. UC is committed to affordability for lower-income students.</p>

<p>Of course, the students who get nailed are those from wealthy (on paper) families whose parents can’t or won’t help. While my family’s modest income gets me a generous financial aid package, my girlfriend’s parents are highly educated and earn a significant income. Of course, they also have huge student loans (graduate and medical school), a considerable house payment, and 7 children, meaning they can’t afford to drop $25,000+ per year on tuition and living expenses. She’s in a much worse financial position than me.</p>

<p>Anyway, bottom-line, if you qualify for Blue and Gold now, I wouldn’t worry about it going anywhere.</p>

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<p>well said :)</p>

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<p>Thanks, Nick. Your explanation makes good sense and is reassuring.</p>