<p>I'm going to be applying to a bunch of Uni's in California because after I graduate HS my family is moving down there. My older sister already lives there in San Francisco. I realize, however, that I will be applying as an OOS student as I currently live in Washington.</p>
<p>I need help finding Universities suited for me that provide good FinAid.</p>
<p>My grades/Stats/EC's:
1560 PSAT (Soph. Year, retook Junior and expecting at least 1650)
3.90 Accumulative GPA
Taking courses at my local CC: English 101, U.S. Hist 146, Comp Sci. 121
(My CommCollege counselor told me these courses would transfer OOS since they are above level 100)
Senior year I will be taking AP Calculus (currently University of Wa. Pre-Calc)</p>
<p>EC's:
Have played rec basketball for the past 4 years
over 120 hours volunteering at my local library, senior living center, and live video production club, and tutoring.</p>
<p>Clubs:
Black Student Union
Live Video Production Club
National Honors Society</p>
<p>My household income is about $40,000 and we have very little assets.</p>
<p>Are there any good Universities with Computer Science or Engineering undergrad programs that provide sufficient financial aid?</p>
<p>To help paint a better picture of what I was looking for, here are the schools I am currently considering:</p>
<p>USC (As a reach ofc, don't plan on getting in, unless I score high on SAT's)
Loyola Marymount University
Santa Clara University
University of San Diego
San Diego State University</p>
<p>Again, any other possible choices would be appreciated. I thank you so much for your time!</p>
<p>Look at Chapman University. It is a small private, but has your major and gives great scholarships and aid. You really need to take the SAT or ACT and look to score >2100 and >31, respectively.</p>
<p>Does your family already have jobs & housing lined up? For a family whose income is below regional average, they may find it even more difficult to get by in California.</p>
<p>If I was you, I would inquire about retaining instate status for UW.</p>
<p>do not apply as an OOS’er to the California publics if you are low income. (The state wants full payors from OOS.)</p>
<p>If you can’t stay and perhaps attend a local college like U-Dub, you might consider moving to California first and waiting a year to apply to a local Cal State (as a resident).</p>
<p>First off, I wanted to say thank you to everyone who replied!</p>
<p>@MrsDrz
I’ve looked in to Chapman and I am currently considering it, although it’s not my preferred choice.
The GPA I gave was unweighted, sorry for not mentioning that earlier!</p>
<p>@emeraldkity4
My family does not. My sister who lives in San Fran already is working, however. My parents understand the difficulties of moving to a more expensive state, but my father plans on opening a business when we move there (We’ve owned small businesses my whole life, but when the recession hit we had to sell and he’s been unemployed since.) </p>
<p>My family and I have already agreed on me going to California for college because it was what we all wanted, and my parents want to stay close to us (my sisters and I)</p>
<p>@bluebayou
Yes, I probably wont apply to SDSU but I just thought I should keep it on the list for some reason. I would like to start college right after high school, instead of taking a year off. I have some big plans for the future and I wouldn’t like to wait so long to get my education.</p>
<p>And to everyone else, I understand that I probably will have to take out loans in some form or another. I know it’s inevitable. But I would prefer to keep them at a reasonable amount. </p>
<p>If anyone else has any suggestions, please reply!</p>
<p>what blue is trying to tell you that right now you will not receive financial aid or instate tuition until your family has lived there a year. So, how are you going to pay OOS tuition that is more than what your family makes. No one is going to loan you 40K</p>
<p>I agree, sit out a year, apply to cal state when you can be considered in-state.</p>
<p>Most of the schools on my list are privates, exactly for the reason you mentioned. I know I am OOS which is why SDSU was my only State. U that I had down, even though I don’t really plan on applying there.</p>
<p>unfortunately, Seattle, I don’t know of any financial safeties in California with your numbers. The colleges that meet full need, such as USC, require much higher test scores.</p>
<p>The Univ of San Diego, for example, only meets 70% of need, and since it costs $55k per year, you cannot afford it, after their financial aid package. LMU is about the same. Santa Clara meets 75% of need.</p>
<p>You can check a college’s Common Data Set for financial aid.</p>
<p>How about if I got loans in order? I talked with my mom last night and said that we should be able to get loans in order (not sure how, but I know she wouldn’t lie about that).</p>
<p>As for my test scores, I do plan on raising them. I plan on taking the SAT in January so that I can take it multiple times to keep improving. I am already studying vocab words for it, which I always have the hardest time with. I do think it is possible for me to score high, I just need to study, which I never did for both of my PSAT’s.</p>
<p>Your financial aid package will consist of a pell grant, we are not even talking about full Pell so it will be less than $5550 (the full pell amount)
A stafford loan of $5500</p>
<p>Again, who is going to give your parents a loan for more than their income (which is what you will need to make the UCs or the California privates happen). </p>
<p>How many more times can we say this to you financially, your plan is not going to work. You need to have some FINANCIAL safeties, that your family can AFFORD</p>
<p>if staying in Washington state is not an option, your Plan B could be to move to California and take classes at a local juco. On first blush, you would be charged OOS fees, but you could appeal to the local juco counselor, and they might waive the OOS portion. But there are no guarantees, since such waivers are approved on a case-by-case basis. Then, you could apply to transfer to a Cal State, or UC campus at instate rates.</p>
<p>Think about the tortoise and the hare. Slow and steady wins the race. Getting yourself set up so that you can go to the college that will help you get the education you want. Waiting a year (during which you can earn money towards living away from home or buy a car) is part of working your way towards those big plans. </p>
<p>Where in the state is your family planning on living? This is important in terms of being admitted to a Cal State, since each campus gives higher priority to admitting students living nearby. For example, SDSU is a very difficult campus to be admitted to if you live out of the area. Given your family’s income, I’m guessing that you are going to be living at home and commuting, which makes it an even better idea to save up money in the meantime.</p>
<p>@sybbie719
How about aid from the school as well? I would expect something from them. And honestly speaking, we can’t afford anything right now. One of my older sisters is currently attending UW for pre-med and has both years she’s been there paid for by the school and some federal grants. There simply are no financial safeties for me because we make enough to get by, and not much else.</p>
<p>@bluebayou
I would definitely be doing that if I didn’t receive any good financial aid from the schools I apply to. Thanks for your input, you’ve definitely given me another option to greatly consider.</p>
<p>@SlitheyTove
If I didn’t get in to any good universities with decent fin aid in California, I would probably go to a local CC or something of the sort and eventually transfer. My family plans on moving around San Francisco within the next 4 years. Again, financial aid is going to be one of my biggest deciding factors when I’m choosing which university to go to. </p>
<p>Thanks for all your responses guys. I appreciate all the information I can get.</p>
<p>That IS my point, Seattle. The likelihood of you receiving “decent fin aid” from California colleges is close to nil. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>What part of plain English don’t you understand? The California private colleges which may admit you do NOT meet full financial need. Thus, you will NOT be able to afford them.</p>
<p>You seem like a nice and earnest student. But you have some fantasy ideas about how financial aid works in California.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>This is still a problem–because you would still be considered OOS when you transfer and would STILL be charged the OOS cost for the CSU or UCs (UCs are about 50K a year for tuition and room/board for OOS students!). You MUST spend a year here in California not taking any school to become considered “in state” and start getting in state tuition. Even with in-state tuition, you may not get enough extra aid from the school itself to make it affordable.</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>You will need to be IN STATE to get any extra financial aid from a CSU or UC. However, your biggest problem is that you won’t ever qualify for CalGrant or Blue&Gold grants (which require you are a Cali HS grad), which are the biggest source of extra financial aid that comes from the state/school itself (vs. federal based loans or grants). Plus, you need to realize that the CSU and UC systems are very strapped right now so money is not flush…</p>
<p>As for privates, with a family income of only 40K there could be some good institutional aid, but I have often seen/heard that the packages are often still full of tons of loans (such as Parent loans) and still a cash-gap of 10K+ per year on top of it. By all means try a few private colleges and see if you get a great package, but expect a LOT to be expected of you and your parents in terms of taking out loans. The downside: your parents might not qualify each year to take out the Parent Loans if their credit is poor.</p>
<p>Is your sister going to continue to attend UW as an instate student?
Is she less than 24 and considered a dependent according to the FAFSA definition?</p>