<p>30 minutes to get from CSUN to the beach? Maybe in the middle of the night. </p>
<p>OP, you don’t mention where in California your friends live, but driving eats up a lot of time and traffic is legion. Northridge does have dorms, but it is primarily a commuter school. Coming from out of state to attend a school where most of the student body leaves on weekends isn’t a wise choice. You might be planning to spend your weekends with your other friends, but it’s important to have community at your own school. Paying $26k just for tuition, room and board for this kind of experience isn’t a good use of your money.</p>
<p>We live about 45 minutes from CSUN, and my son graduated from there in engineering. He got a great education there at a relatively inexpensive cost, and was hired straight out of school by a large firm. That being said, I can’t imagine taking on the amount of debt you are talking about as an OOS student. It is very difficult to establish residency in Calif. as a student - you need to look at the specifics. As someone has already said, you will not be able to take out loans on your own without a co-signer. Are either of your parents willing or qualified to co-sign loans to attend OOS? Have you taken into consideration transportation costs to fly back and forth? There is a bus system in the San Fernando Valley as well as Amtrak and Metrolink trains, but in general, public transportation is not great and it is difficult to get around without a car- also it is expensive. If you do have a car, don’t forget to plug in money for parking, gas, etc. It is difficult to get classes in some majors right now due to severe budget cuts, so you might have to throw in an extra year of attendance. Also, CSUN is very much a commuter school, and is not in anything like a college town. The campus is very pretty, but the immediate surrounding area has seen better times. I myself am a fan of much of the SFV, but that particular area is not great. You need to sit down and estimate how much CSUN would cost you including all transportation, food, school health insurance, books, lab fees, etc. You would be so much better off to attend an in-state school and move here for the summer to try it out.</p>
Another thing I’ve noticed about your posts is you seem to be setting up a lot of conditions and expectations, and you don’t seem to have a lot of patience to work things out – you seem dead-set on starting a 4-year college this fall no matter the cost. But admission is harder down the road, but maybe its not. And there’s always the community-college with guaranteed admission route. I know lots of other kids have it better, parents happy to fund 4-years anywhere they want, but life isn’t always fair. </p>
<p>I understand this is a lot to decide, in not a lot of time. And from what you’ve posted you haven’t been dealt a good hand family-wise, although to be sure some others have it worse. The point is that you can get your degree in Penn. and then move to CA and spend the next decades of your life here. Or if you want to come out sooner, there’s no reason to make the options “I start a 4-year Sept. 2011 or bust”. You’re writing rules that don’t have to be there. It would be perfectly reasonable to move out to CA and live with those friends while you find a job and start living independent of your parents. Then share in living expenses, or get an apartment with other roomates. Live and work for a year while you save up and then you can get the in-state rates at CSUN. </p>
<p>Starting a year or two older than the other freshman isn’t that big of a deal, especially at a commuter school like CSUN where you’re not going to be seeing most people outside of class much anyway. Even today in HS you could start getting experience as a waitress; that will earn you money for the move, and friends tell me that when they were young they were happy to have that experience because it let them move anywhere they wanted pretty much and know they could find a job relatively quickly. And once living in the LA area, you can keep working as a waitress or start looking for a better job.</p>
<p>Best of luck to you in finding the right path!</p>
<p>The thing is my mother is dead set on me starting a four year right away. She told me they tell everyone that it is not a good idea to take a break. I know this is true because what happens if I don’t have motivation to go back to school. I already hate it as it is but I know I will have to push myself through college and I do not want to wait any longer than I have to. </p>
<p>My father makes big money but he is not considered a provider since he lives out of state. Really not depending on him. He doesn’t list me as a dependent ect. I have never asked him to pay for my college because it’s something I really do not want to do. It as if he will laugh in my face and say oh you do need me then. Again another long story but I do have an aunt who would sign for my loans and has the credit to do so. I believe my mom will even do so and I’m pretty sure her credit is fine to do so.</p>
<p>For the first year I’m living on campus so I do not have to worry about finding an apartment blah blah blah. After that I plan to live on my own no matter what because I found living off campus with roommates would be cheaper than on campus. I did my research and I’ve seen a lot of people offering a place to live at. </p>
<p>Also I will be spending time with my friends. The point of me moving out to california was not to go to a campus that will be so filled with college pride ect. whatever you want to put it as. I know CSUN is a commuter campus but again it’s just a stepping stone for me getting out to So-Cal. Really I would move to California period and not go to university at all if I could but that’s not going to happen. Also these friends I’ve known for awhile. One of my friends who use to live with me in another state (not pennsylvania) lives in the area and we’ve known each other since we were little kids. Also other friends who I’ve know since I was 12 and 13. These are really close people to me. Some live with their parents still and other’s live on their own.</p>
<p>Again I want to state I’m just getting all the information I can before making a decision. If I have to bust my ass through a lot of jobs then I will do so. I mean even to go instate it probably won’t be that much difference in what I have to do. I’ve been accepted to Penn State and that school isn’t that cheap for instate either.</p>
<p>I don’t know maybe it was just a mistake on their part but I will check into it because when I signed into myportal for csun it said accept admission by march 1st but I will look into it.</p>
<p>I actually checked into it and it says May 2nd on the site but I’ll probably call. I asked my other friends who been accepted and it says May 2nd for them. I will still need to decide soon but I’m going to wait for my financial package to come first.</p>
<p>I think going to CSUN for a year and then transferring to a private school is a good idea if you really, really, REALLY want to be in So Cal.</p>
<p>However, keep in mind that transferring to a private school is not guaranteed. In CA, the privates, UC’s, and CSU’s reserve 90% of their transfer space to Community College students.</p>
<p>Personally… I don’t think it’s worth it. Maybe you should go to school in Penn and try to save money… then when you can go to CA for grad school.</p>
<p>I don’t know man… the financial problem seems pretty compelling to me. What you’re doing is hedging a bet. You’re betting that your quality of life in California will be so good that it will “balance” the tens of thousands of dollars of debt. Now, I do not speak from experience, because I am also a senior who hasn’t done college yet. But I do hear horror stories from many of my older coworkers who complain about having to join the military just to pay their college loans. They wish they had been able to pay for college without loans. Sure, they reminisce fondly about their wild nights, the friends made, and the good times, but their reality when that is over is the debt. Do you want that to be your reality? People say that sometimes you should “take a leap of faith.” With the myriad of other great colleges available in state, and the friends still to be made (I know you have sc friends, but existing friends should not be your reason for going to college) I think that such a leap would be foolish. I could be totally wrong here, but that would be my rationale. It can be hard to shake a dream, but prudence sometimes demands it.</p>
<p>I’ve made another thread after this one and I’ve decided what I will be doing. I’m sending in my FAFSA it’s not due for my instate school until around april for maximum financial aid and other’s around may but I will be finishing it by this week. I will see how much money I would be awarded and then out of that I will decide my option for college. Also I’ve been looking into Santa Monica College and I would probably go there before CSUN. So it’s between CSUN, an instate school and possibly going to Santa Monica which would be the cost of an instate school basically and then I would be paying out of state costs for say a CSU or private school.</p>
<p>I’m a high school senior and i really want to go to Penn state… I got accepted to Penn State Altoona but after visiting it I changed my mind. Its about 7 hours away and i thought that it would be much closer. Is there a way that i can re enroll for another campus which is closer such as Abington???</p>