<p>Majoreco makes the same assumption as the universities: if you make “that much money” you should have been saving all of those years." What this line of thinking neglects to consider is the most drastic economy since the Great Depression where people lost ALL of their savings (including college funds, retirement, etc.) and their homes (and obviously, the equity), but may still have their jobs at a time of record loss of those, too, but blessedly, they are not on the streets because they do have a pay check. It also assumes the family was making $$$ BEFORE they submitted the FAFSA and the CSS. What this means is that when universities do not factor in historical patterns of earning, along with present debt and losses, and only factor is “present” ability to pay, it is not a truly need based decision and it is fraught with fallacious reasoning. You only have to go through this with a couple of FA offices to find out that EACH decides what need means, even with its mumbo-jumbo metrics purported to be based on need. You start drilling down these people and it comes to this: Yes, University X offered you $$$ based on the same metrics, but we, University Y, have the RIGHT to decide what you need. One essentially told me, “We are Hertz. We don’t have to try harder.” Herein is the problem with parents trying to ascertain costs of college attendance BEFORE their child attends: a lot of the factors that play into the FA offer are as opaque as what got your child accepted in the first place. The entire process is not meant to favor your child or you in the least and meant solely to favor them: get the best students at the cheapest price. Come on, ladies and gentlemen, at the end of the day even a university is a business.</p>
<p>With regards to U of Alabama. I can attest to that being the case at kids top level h.s. They’ve been sending more kids out of state that several of those colleges are hosting their counselors to come visit.
YEAH UAlabama was one of them; with 4-5 kids each of past 2 years now at UA. This year saw well over 30 applications sent to UA and last I heard 13 maybe up to 16 have committed to UA for fall. Have been hearing the same for other area high schools. Can’t blame the enthusiasm, counselors have noted those now at Bama are extremely happy with their choices. And parent are happy that their kids aren’t impacted out of most of their classes something others with kids in UC schools are disgruntled by.</p>
<p>Roll Tide - thank you UA for the great opportunities. OH YEAH fabulous merit aid … and affordable OOS option.</p>
<p>My D (HS class of '09) applied to a UC. The aid offer was hilarious: Stafford loans + work study (when we figured it out, she would have had to work 20+ hours per week) + Parent Plus + a $500 grant based on, as I recall, the fact that she has an ancestor who was in the American Revolution. </p>
<p>In contrast, the LAC she now attends offered a generous merit scholarship, an even more generous grant, the Stafford loans, and work study which entails 8 hours per week. We’re paying about half of what we would have paid if she’d attended the UC.</p>
<p>Just as important, there are no waitlists, no overcrowded standing-room-only classrooms. It never has to cross her mind that she might get turned away from a class she needs or for that matter, a class she simply wants. </p>
<p>She also doesn’t have to participate in the semi-annual rite of strategic registration. At the appointed time, thousands of returning UC students gather around their computers awaiting the opening bell for next semester’s registration. The smart ones make a game plan beforehand, because certain general-ed classes and pre-requisite classes can fill up within seconds. BTW, this also happens at the CSUs and community colleges.</p>
<p>I’m one of those california students applying out of state! Because it was so expensive for me, my twin sister and my older brother to attend college here in California, we all ended up doing a 2 year transfer route at the local community college. I would say most of the people that went to my highschool were forced to do this route as well because of the tuition cost as well as acceptance rates here in Southern California. My suggestion to fellow California students applying out of state is to do your own research DO NOT DEPEND ON YOUR COUSELOR! When I was in highschool, I was faced with the reply of “Why do you want to go out of state?” followed with a “Well heres a list of UC’s and CSU’s”. Even now at the community college I get the same answer, they are just not prepared to provide information about out of state schools. Your best bet is to contact the school directly, you get exactly what you need right from the source. I would also suggest for those that are looking out of state to even look abroad. I looked at schools in northern Ireland and Scotland just for fun and found that it’s cheaper to attend there than here in the US. Generally, undergrad studies take 3 years instead of 4 or 5 as it does here and the prices there have all matched or been lower than out of state (and surprisingly enough in-state at times). California needs to get its stuff together or it’s gonna face an exodus of college students :(</p>
<p>i applied to 5 uc’s, but an important deciding factor is the outrageous tuition( and how it spikes every year). A lot of oos schools have frozen tuition( usually mid western ones),
so i probably will end up going out of southern california to a possibly freezing or hot area of the us for college( im hoping for the u of a honors college scholarship). i really did find this thread interesting to read from which most posters are parents(im a student btw).</p>
Is it also true that more people in general are moving out of CA, because it’s too expensive to live here?
Yes, nobody lives here anymore.
There has been a large increase in Californians at schools in the Boston area: Northeastern, BU and BC in particular.
If you are from the Bay Area, Boston can seem quite inexpensive!
I reported all the grades in my application. After, doing so I have noticed that my counselor did not include my Art grade, which is the art class I have taken for the a-g requirement. What should I do. It has now been included on the transcript, but I cannot update the application. I applied to every UC.
If you are an excellent student with financial need, you really should consider Tier One universities out of state. With financial aid, you can go for less than UC.
Agree. A girl from my school was accepted by UC Berkeley and UVA last year. She was OOS. Berkeley gapped her $38,000 (she was expected to raise this in student and parental loans). Conversely, UVA met her full need with just $3500 in subsidized loans.
It’s mostly because the good UCs are so hard to get into now.
The vast majority of California students can’t get into a decent UC. Fro what I’ve seen, many of them and their parents feel it’s less embarrassing to go to Oregon or arizona (both with 70+% accept rates) than Cal state northridge or any other similar school they could get into in California.
Those out of state schools are what the UCSBs and Cal state long beaches were 15-20 years ago.
@Brexit99 That’s because UVA and UNC are the only two public schools that guarantee to meet full need for all students including OOS.
Same with the northeastern, BU, level schools. The kids from California who are going there now are the ones who would have gone to UCLA/ucb 20 years ago, but now can’t get in.
BU has more perceived status than UC Riverside or Santa Cruz, so off they go.
Same for the Univ. of Washington in Seattle. UW is perceived to be one of the best public colleges in the country. UW piggybacks off of its high ranked graduated programs.
I’m just curious why more people don’t consider the CC then TAG/transfer route to attend a UC? Just addressing the comment that UC’s are too hard to get into/and or too expensive. I believe around 50% of those going this route are accepted at a UC and this is much cheaper than shipping them off to say UB or Washington. Is the 4 year “college experience” more of a priority? Status i.e. is a CC beneath them? The CC route isn’t for everyone but does address the “too expensive” and “too hard to get into” complaints about the UC’s.
@wecandothis
Because cost and ease of transfer are only two of many considerations in deciding alternative strategies. The factor of Campus Life is significant for some students, who want to establish that as a freshman. Housing is another consideration. From the student’s perspective, commuting to college from home can seem anticlimactic. (Not really making a personal transition – a milestone anticipated yet not reached.)
The cc to UC plan can work well. But there are legit pros and cons.
Not having a 4 year experience is a big con. 2 years at a cc isn’t the same as doing them at a 4 year.
And when you get to the 4 year you’re an outsider starting over socially. It takes a year to really form bonds, and by then you’re a senior.
And statistically you run the risk of, for whatever reason (boredom, disinterest etc) of not getting the transfer to your target school accomplished. That happens to many.
A bright, motivated and focused student can follow that path and save a LOT of money. TAG is a good program and serves thousands of students every year. The stats show that many of them took more than 2 years to make the jump. The course list and GPA threshold can change year to year. Also, some majors at some campuses are excluded - Business at UCI was crossed off the list a couple of years ago. These changes aren’t always telegraphed and can leave some students stuck. Many underestimate how hard college level work is - and struggle to maintain the 3.2- 3.4 required to to TAG to most schools. Also, you need to decide on your target school and major early and stick with it. Many majors require a series of 3 or 4 courses to be complete before transfer, you only have 4 semesters. Also, many of CAs CCs are very crowded, making getting the required courses a challenge.
It is a great program but, not without friction or risk.
California overall just has such a competitive high school system that even the brightest student has a hard time getting into top UCs due to sheer competition. However, I do believe that the UC system is aware of this issue and hence they completely changed the UC application essays completely this year – first time in ten years!
This year, students have to write a total of 1400 words (as opposed to 1000) and there are 4 short answer Qs instead of two relatively long answers. I do believe this gives UC Admissions to look at residents from a more holistic perspective, which has the opportunity to allow talented high school Cali residents to showcase more of who they really are to admissions. In previous years, it was so evident that people would reuse a Common Application essay for the UCs so it was less friction to apply to the UCs; now, students have to dive a little deeper, in a more self-reflective way. I’m interested to see if there would be a shift in the mix of students applying to the UCs with this new application system.
If anyone is interested in learning more about how to answer these new UC Personal Insight Questions, check out this link: https://winningivyprep.com/2016-17-uc-personal-insight-essays-guide/