<p>Berkeley can suk it, (I got rejected). I’m going to Brown haha.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t assume private schools and out-of-state are cheaper than a UC. It wasn’t true for us. For my D, UC’s tuition (which was about $10,000 when she started in 2009, and is about $13000 now) was…and is still MUCH cheaper than any other offer she got. We don’t qualify for need-based aid, and none of the private schools that accepted her, such as USC, offered us much in merit aid (expect Tulane, but as I have seen on other forums, sometimes that goes away after freshman year). Even if she had gotten into one of the Ivys, we would still have been full pay. And she had very good stats and ECs, good enough to get into UCLA. As far as taking five years to graduate, mine can graduate early, after 3 1/2 years, due to the AP credits she was given, saving us more tuition. I figure her total tuition will add up to around $45000. That’s about ONE year’s tuition at USC. The housing costs seem to be more or less the same about everywhere, at least in big cities. </p>
<p>I wouldn’t give up on the UCs yet. The CSUs are a different matter- the budget impact has been much worse on them.</p>
<p>^The estimated average total costs for UC’s on the UC website is $30,000. People will most likely be paying more than just the tuition, so total cost for 4 years is $120,000. But it is true that most private schools will be more expensive than that $120,000 if no need-based aid is received or large merit scholarships granted.</p>
<p>Why don’t all of these families with 150k incomes just you know, save up for their children’s education? A modest 10% a year yields 270k in 18 years, enough to pay for 2 children full pay at a state school. Where exactly is the problem?</p>
<p>You’re assuming that the family has always earned $150K per year and has never had any outstanding debts they needed to take care of first. If a married couple starts out making $40K a year and has to build up…and maybe one of them leaves the workforce for a few years while the kids are young…maybe they have student loan debt…there’s a lot of factors.</p>
<p>But yeah, if you have the means you should be saving up. As soon as kids happen for me I’m opening an account for their college savings.</p>
<p>We did save up. We have been doing full pay at a UC, and by paying about half of her expenses out of pocket, there is still some college money left over. Call me naive, but I never imagined back in 1991 that 4 years of college were going to cost over $100,000. I also didn’t predict that the stock market would crash, wiping out half her 529. Fortunately we got that back, but that investment broke even at best. Her fixed rate CDs didn’t do so hot, either. At least we didn’t lose any of it, but that was just timing.
Try to imagine what college will cost 18 years from now. I’m guessing 4 years at public universities will be over $200,000, and private over $400,000. I know someone who spent half a million dollars to get her daughter through undergrad and then vet school. I am guessing undergrad plus medical school or law school can cost that, too, probably more. And soon these will seem like the good old days, when you could still get a degree for under $100,000.
Yes, start saving up. And don’t get sick or lose your job!</p>
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<p>Great point. UC is much more generous with AP credit than most of the private schools. Many kids practically start out as sophomores. Conversely, many UC kids also start out with no AP credit and in need of introductory math and English courses- prolonging the whole college experience.</p>
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<p>Without receiving a need-based offer from an Ivy, how can you be so sure? One item that the Ivies and Stanford discount is home equity, or rather they cap it, unlike other, lower-ranked private colleges, which use full equity in their calculation of need.</p>
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<p>But yes, a 529 is an asset for EFC calculations. </p>
<p>Not trying to pick nits with you tptshorty, but pointing out that lot of families with $120k in income can receive need-based aid at the top privates. </p>
<p>The COA at Cal is $33k. A grant of even $20k at a private…</p>
<p>im a california senior and applied to 4 UC’s and was convinced I would stay in California…sadly the UC’s I applied to rejected me and I wish I would’ve applied out of state :(</p>
<p>I know we would have been full pay because of our income. Our EFC was over $70,000. Trust me, we don’t have an extra $70,000 a year to pay for college. Yes, we were lucky, with two good incomes, but then I got sick, really sick. Never predicted that. Fortunately college is almost over for us. Just saying, you don’t know what will happen. You may think you have enough saved up, and then s*&! happens.</p>
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<p>No - most private schools offer merit money, but a few do not.</p>
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<p>And in Missouri, Truman State University, under $21,000 OOS, tuition+fees+room+board. Higher middle 50% ACT (25-30) range than most of the UCs.</p>
<p>With merit aid + financial aid, DD will be attending an OOS LAC for approximately the cost of a CSU. Her academic stats aren’t all that wonderful and her test scores were dismal. Yes, she excels in ECs! No way would we be able to afford a UC, esp. at the rate that they are raising tuition and fees, so I discouraged her from applying since we are not Cal Grant eligible.</p>
<p>My daughter was accepted to UCLA, unfortunately rejected but Cal ( my alma mater and which was her top CA choice). We knew that was a possibility and she always wanted to go to the east coast. I had her apply to UCLA because we live in LA and in case she did to get enough scholarships or aid from other schools she could live at home if we couldn’t swing the room & board. She received $000 from UCLA and assume would have been the case for Cal.
As it turns out she received FA from Colgate, Wesleyan, Boston, Villanova and just got off the wait list from Georgetown with comparable FA. ( I was surprised about that). Presidential Scholarship at USD but no other aid. Full merit scholarship at U of A. we made her apply 'cause of the scholarship but it was just not her school. She had decided on Wesleyan (but now maybe Geogetown) because the cost for her to attend would be about the same as UCLA. Colgate was even better aid, but the location made it a little tricky. We hope she doesn’t regret it.
This year at least we had the income that shut us out of any aid from the state school. We will be taking out loans, but that would not be any different for us whether in state or out of state. My husband’s income fluctuates every year so who knows what will happen next year. If it goes up and we can’t swing the parent contribution, my D knows she needs to either take on more $$ or change schools. She was willing to take the chance.</p>
<p>recent study on this issue (click on the link in the article):</p>
<p>[Californians</a>’ Enrollment in State Universities Drops | Inside Higher Ed](<a href=“http://www.insidehighered.com/quicktakes/2012/05/10/californians-enrollment-state-universities-drops]Californians”>Californians' Enrollment in State Universities Drops)</p>
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<p>Yet overall enrollment numbers at UC’s have not declined, suggesting that the shift in numbers is due to an exchange of UC high school graduates for OOS highly qualified high school graduates. The loss of top students to other states is disappointing, and in fact it was the theme of my letter to legislators to preserve funding for higher ed. But realistically, the top UC’s are still attracting record numbers of high school graduates, many of whom will choose to stay in the golden state after graduation. Whether the California kids who choose to attend college in the east and midwest ever return is an interesting question.</p>
<p>Other states won’t mind taking in the bright students that can’t afford/were rejected from the best UCs. One state’s dysfunction is another state’s opportunity!</p>
<p>Currently, the out-of-state tuition at the better Florida public schools (UF/FSU) is not much more than the in-state-tuition at the UCs. The cost of living is less as well. They might not be Berkeley/UCLA, but they beat most of the CSUs.</p>
<p>Currently, the out-of-state tuition at the better Florida public schools (UF/FSU) is not much more than the in-state-tuition at the UCs</p>
<p>Well, not really.</p>
<p>The tuition for an instate UC is about $12,700</p>
<p>The OOS tuition for UF is $28,000</p>
<p>The OOS tuition for FSU is $21,000</p>
<p>Bama’s numbers from California have been growing each year. A merit scholarship can make it cheaper than instate.</p>
<p>Wow.</p>
<p>I didn’t realize that there was such a dramatic difference in the OOS tuition between UF and FSU. Well, in FSU’s case, at least, the cheaper cost of living in Tallahassee would probably make it close to a wash.</p>
<p>[California</a> High-School Graduates Increasingly Reject State’s Public Colleges - The Ticker - The Chronicle of Higher Education](<a href=“http://chronicle.com/blogs/ticker/california-high-school-graduates-increasingly-reject-states-public-colleges/43163]California”>The Ticker: California High-School Graduates Increasingly Reject State’s Public Colleges)</p>
<p>My son would have been a third generation UC student, where over 1/2 dozen of our family have attended. Although he was accepted at one of his top choices and he loved the university, he ultimately chose to walk away fro the UCs for several reasons: </p>
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<li>Outrageous cost and zero FA</li>
<li>Impacted majors</li>
<li>Utterly overcrowded classes–if you are lucky enough to get into the one you need</li>
<li>Acceptance at more highly ranked East Coast universities WITH generous or full tuition/fees FA</li>
</ol>
<p>So, given all of these facts, why on earth would my son have stayed and suffered in the UCs? Just for legacy status? I am angry and disappointed my University of California. I am proud of my son. He voted on the quality of the UCs by walking away. Sad, sad, sad.</p>