<p>As the title suggests, is what college you attend important to deciding where you will work, how much you earn, etc.. This is assuming you attend a 4-5 year course with a 2 year Business Admin. Many others share the same feeling/concern with me at school. I am speaking on behalf of them too. They seem to have similar problems as I do, with slightly different situations for them. </p>
<p>I live in CA and despite my devotion to my ECs, test scores, etc... my parents told me they do not have the money to pay for college. Sure, we earn more than the "average" salary, but a majority of the families in this nation "live on the edge" (breaking even). <- Considering you are a parent, I think you know what that means. We do not qualify for financial aid. I have looked into it, and my parents "net income" is nearly $100 a month due to loans and other issues. Don't waste time pitying me. Money doesn't pity anyone. They might have really professional careers (different than job, I don't want to reveal anything more about them.) and can do the payment with slight struggle, but they do not want to. After calculation the logistics, they showed me the amount of loan I will amass and how miserable my life will end up in the first few years after college.</p>
<p>Furthermore, they said private colleges are not worth it because they are mere hype and the UC system is itself fine. They do not believe private colleges [all ivys except for Stanford are not worth paying]. This includes Darthmouth, Stevens IT, Santa Clara University, Caltech, MIT, Carnegie, NYU... My parents were not born here and attended college aboard in a government-funded institute, which was really "backward" and unclean back then. The real deal is that they think its a rip off and these colleges just want money. I talked to my counselor and she did say I have good chances for Dartmouth, U Chicago, and Stevens IT and I should apply. My friends keep asking my why am I putting so much effort and wasting my time if I am not going into a private university. </p>
<p>What is the DIFFERENCE between UCs and Privates?</p>
<p>I did not post this on "college admissions" because I want another parent's perspective of the overall question.</p>
<p>On the other hand, NYU has a reputation of poor need-based financial aid, although a few students get big merit scholarships that can make it affordable.</p>
<p>However, you should apply to a range of UCs as a baseline (and many of the UCs are excellent schools for many students, including students who have a chance at the super-selective schools). If UCs are a stretch financially, consider the better CSUs (especially Cal Poly SLO), since they cost less. Even cheaper would be to do your freshman and sophomore years at community college, then transfer to a UC or CSU; use [Welcome</a> to ASSIST](<a href=“http://www.assist.org%5DWelcome”>http://www.assist.org) to plan courses for your target major and campus if you do this (yes, some [very</a> successful students](<a href=“Berkeley News | Berkeley”>Berkeley News | Berkeley) started at community college).</p>
<p>It sounds as though your family can afford to pay for any school in your state system but not for a private college.</p>
<p>Consider yourself fortunate to live in California. The top colleges in the UC system are excellent. You will not be compromising your future opportunities by attending one of them.</p>
<p>For the many nervous families out there: applications go in from October to mid January but families don’t know the ticket price for their particular student until late March/early April when the acceptance packets arrive. </p>
<p>Applying to a broad spectrum of colleges is a wise (but exhausting) approach. Sometimes private colleges do offer generous aid. You just don’t know until you apply and are accepted.</p>
<p>Okay, if you go to a UC it’s going to cost $30,000 a year, and that number is rising yearly. Are your parents willing to pay for that? Or are they saying you have to pay for any college expenses accrued? </p>
<p>The ivys, Stanford, etc. meet 100% of financial need, and it is likely that it would cost you less than it would to go to a UC. You say your parents make a good income, but you would probably receive some type of aid. Use their online calculators to find your family’s EFC. </p>
<p>Also, apply to school’s known for giving excellent merit aid. Boston University, UPitt, Northeastern, etc. There are lots of threads about this so search them. </p>
<p>You should apply to a variety of schools: the UCs, Cal Poly SLO, a few reaches, and some schools where you would be a candidate for a full ride/free tuition. In the Spring you will find out where you get aid, how much, and what’s the best option out of the schools you were accepted to.</p>
<p>They meet 100% of what they consider your financial need, which may not be the same as what your parents consider to be your financial need. In fact, the college’s number is often much lower.</p>
<p>Also, some of these schools meet some portion of need through loans. Policies differ from one school to another. Some, for example, do not include loans in the financial aid packages of students with family incomes below a certain level. You need to check the schools’ Web sites or contact their financial aid offices individually to find out about their policies with regard to loans.</p>
<p>^Marian you’re right, which is why I directed OP to a financial calculator. But in most cases it is cheaper (even in the middle class) to go to an ivy (of course you would have to get in first). It is rare that an ivy will cost more than the 30,000 a year a UCs. If OPs parents want him/her to go to a UC, are they going to fund it? If they are, that means they are prepared to pay 30k+ yearly. Unlike public colleges in other states, there is little merit and financialy aid for UCs. They all sound seriously misinformed to me. Yes some schools do meet this through loans, but I know Princeton does not. I’m not sure about the rest of HYPSM but that would be something to investigate.</p>
Not really true. Using Yale as an example [Common</a> Data Set (CDS) | Office of Institutional Research](<a href=“http://oir.yale.edu/common-data-set]Common”>Common Data Set | Office of Institutional Research) section H, the average price for students who receive FA is $20K, but that only covers just over 1/2 of students. The average price is ~$37K for all students.</p>
<p>To answer your question, it depends on you. I’m watching the Golden Globes, and remembered that Steven Spielburg went to Long Beach State.</p>
<p>I don’t get the impression that your parents are planning to pay for your schooling, and you may have to foot the bill. Do your best not to take on debt. Your dad is right- you don’t want to be saddled with it after you graduate.</p>
<p>If you are a top California student, there is merit aid available for some of the non-flagship schools. If you would be interested in Santa Barbara or Santa Cruz, you might be offered tuition waivers if you’re one of their top applicants. My son was not valedictorian,or even close, but he was offered full tuition at UCSB. I know others who were also given this opportunity. If you have the grades and other credentials to be accepted to one of the super-selective privates or flagship UCs, you might be surprised what might be offered by some of the less selective UCs, and less selective privates, as well.<br>
Apply widely, have a few schools on the list you can afford and would be happy to attend, and just see what happens.</p>
<p>Just wait until you get you acceptences and financial aid packages. If your family can’t afford the private colleges tha accept you with the FA offers, go to a UC. There are plenty of good ones. In the long run, you will have more of an impact on your future that the name of the college to attend.</p>
<p>An undergraduate business degree is only so valuable. You really need an MBA because why would a company hire someone with only a BA when there are so many MBAs around. So that being said, your undergraduate degree will matter less than your graduate one so if you want to save money, do so with your 4 year degree.</p>
<p>The UC system is going through a real crisis right now due to money issues so all those ranking are based on previous years. The UC classes are huge, you will likely get waitlisted and may not graduate in 4 years which in the end will cost more money.</p>
<p>Privates are not funded by the state, but by tuition, alumni networks and investments. They often can offer a very competitive package to the UCs because they may give more merit money if you stats are good so apply to the privates and compare the packages you get before you make a final decision. </p>
<p>And as ucbalumnus pointed out, you can start somewhere cheaper then transfer for the final 2 years. Your diploma only says the name of the school you graduated from.</p>
<p>People keep writing this, but I have yet to see people complaining that they cannot graduate on time due to not getting courses required for their major in the Berkeley forum (popular out of major electives may be a different story, though, since they give majors first shot at the courses they need).</p>
<p>However, I have seen complaints about this at some CSUs and community colleges.</p>
<p>@ucbalumnus: I live in Berkeley and have a lot of friends that go there. I can speak from experience that a lot of them complain about this. I don’t think any of them expects to graduate on four years. </p>
<p>However, it’s still an awesome school and shouldn’t be ruled out only because of that. Its just a factor</p>
<p>My girlfriend’s daughter majored in Biology at UCLA. She had a least one undergrad class with 600 kids in them. It may be cheaper to go to school at a UC but what private school has a class that large? You still are paying thousands of dollars to be there.</p>
<p>I went to a UC 30 years ago, I had a class of 300. I think the UCs may be worth considering in another 5 years when they get their money issues more sorted out.</p>
<p>Biology is one of the most popular majors, so their courses tend to be large, especially the introductory biology and chemistry courses.</p>
<p>As far as private schools go, USC had, for fall 2011, three freshman general chemistry (CHEM 105aLg) lectures of capacity 240+220+310 = 770, with actual enrollment of 177+128+231 = 536. The labs shared by the three lectures had capacity of 35 to 130, with actual enrollment of 24 to 111. General biology (BISC 120Lg) had three lectures of capacity 310+250+300 = 860, with actual enrollment 248+133+254 = 635, although all of the associated labs were limited to 20.</p>
<p>I am talking about a single class of 600 students with one professor. I don’t see how you got those stats from your link but this is all silly. It is really a matter of figuring out how to save money while getting the best education. </p>
<p>I don’t believe at this current time that is what you get from the UC and CSU system. I went to both, super cheap 30 years ago. Calif students tend to go to school in Calif but there is a whole big country out there with decent offerings if one is willing to do the research.</p>
<p>How big a difference does a class of 128 versus 600 really make, as opposed to either in comparison to a class of 30 for those looking for greater interaction in class or other real or perceived advantages of smaller classes?</p>
<p>Based on my family history, the best is to choose a free UG. All of us went to state UG. We paid only one tuition out of 4. Both my H. and I went on employer’s dime, D. was on full tuition Merit award. We do not make millions, but we live very comfortably and D. is attending Med. School of her choice.</p>
<p>How big a difference does it feel to go to any event of 128 versus 600? It feels REALLY different. I’m not even going to go further with this one ucbalumnus this is becoming really silly.</p>
<p>The OP wanted to know about to convince his parents that going to a pjrivate versus was worthwhile. They definitely are not the same. My husband and son recently finished visiting 3 publics and 5 privates. Unless the OP goes with his parents to hear the schools talk about their programs neither will really know.</p>