<p>This may seem like a no brainer to some, with the obvious choice being UC Davis. However, prices of tuition worry me greatly and I know that I want to go onto graduate school so that I don't have to teach high school as a career. I am a math major with high grades and recently got accepted into both CSU Sacramento and UC Davis. I wanted to stay in that area as my mother lives near there and is very sick.</p>
<p>Anyways, I am having trouble deciding between the low prices of Sacramento (I could probably pay for it entirely out of my own pocket) or the prestige of UC Davis. As a math major, I know that having a PHD or a Masters is extremely important. I also have researched and from the information I've compiled, I've gathered that your past research opportunities will count heavily towards your acceptance at a good grad school. I've already won the opportunity to conduct research in Microgravity via a NASA Community College program. However, I've been told that research opportunities aren't very ample in the state school system.</p>
<p>Basically, I'm just asking for advice on what the rest route might be.</p>
<p>How big is the difference in net cost after non-loan financial aid?</p>
<p>Note that if you major in math, you should have plenty of schedule space to take both the “pure math” (aimed at graduate school in math) and “applied” courses (in statistics, economics, computer science, etc.) that will improve employability at the bachelor’s degree level (e.g. finance, actuarial, computer software).</p>
<p>Is your primary concern money for graduate school? If so, keep in mind that many of the better graduate programs offer teaching/paid research opportunities which can subsidize your grad school expenses.</p>
<p>But in order to get into one of these better programs you may need the prestige, the connections and the research UCD offers. I recommend UCD.</p>
<p>I am not sure how big of a difference the tuition costs are. I’ve researched the costs but I don’t know if the information I got is correct or not. I am worried that I will accrue too much debt by the time I get to grad school. I know more about math than I do about the way the university system works.</p>
<p>Cost is not just tuition and fees (which you can find out by digging around the schools’ web sites). Would there be any significant differences in living expenses at each school? Also, do you have different amounts of non-loan need and merit based financial aid at each school?</p>
<p>You cannot really make a good decision based at least partly on costs without having a good estimate of what your costs (net cost after non-loan financial aid) would be at each school.</p>
<p>As far as non-loan financial aid goes, I have not received my financial aid award from either school yet. Out of all the schools I applied to, only UC Irvine has released my award and I don’t want to go there. The deadline for CSUs is on May 1st so I don’t really have much time to wait.</p>
<p>My living situation will be the same since Davis and Sac are so close together. I found a room for only 285 a month in sacramento.</p>
<p>If the cost is too high for UC Davis then go to CSU but other than that reason this is a a no brainer. DAVIS.</p>