Yeah I was thinking similar things from impressions of the website, not really knowing anything. ASU’s honors college seems way more seriously implemented, while AU seems more like a high tier research university, even if it isn’t quite.
They are both large state flagships. ASU Barrett isn’t brutal to get into like a UGA or FSU but it and South Carolina are deemed strongest. Honestly, few employers care - it’s more is it good for you - a small group feel, etc. ASU has multiple campuses - so that could become an issue.
U of A is also the state flagship - and it’s in Tucson - so a bit smaller town, a bit cooler (still hot) and a wonderful school. We just visited. The Honors dorm is unread with dining hall at the bottom and a gym and counseling center 50 feet away.
I forget or don’t see your major - both will be fine. U of A will cost you less.
Both are strong options for you. I wouldn’t nit pick on repugation or otherwise. They are 100 minutes apart. I’d visit if you have interest and you can - and find the best fit. To me, and just me, U of A is a bit more traditional.
1 Like
Commuting to CSUSac or UCD should make them less expensive than other CSUs and UCs. Starting at a community college before transferring would shave some more dollars off.
Other than that, look for large merit scholarships, usually found at much less selective schools (regardless of whether they use FAFSA and/or CSS Profile for their need-based aid). The Arizona and New Mexico public schools, as mentioned previously, would be examples.
1 Like
“I think a good cc course at the lower level is better than a 500 lecture hall UC lower level course, at least more than half the time.”
You could definitely satisfy most of your Gen Ed requirements at a c/c, there may be a couple of courses you may have to take at the UC or CSU. I know a few people in the bay area that are at SDSU and they really like it there, it could be worth considering, especially if you get any help on the housing costs, as that’s the biggest expense.
Anyway you don’t have to make the c/c decision until you find out what happens with admissions, financial aid for you and your twin. You may also get more clarity on the new FAFSA changes, especially if colleges are not required to and won’t follow the sibling rule, as some have suggested.
1 Like
Sorry - when I type these, i have to check the phone spelling more often.
Meant to say the Honors Dorm at U of A is unreal. I did not visit ASU.
And I said, don’t nit pick on reputation - no one cares if you went to UCD, Arizona, Nebraska, or Sac State.
What’s your major?
Pre-med is the goal, but I’m open to any major. I think reputation matters a little for med school, but it’s not the biggest consideration of mine. Sac state vs. UC matters for med schools. What reputation represents sometimes-- a great intellectual experience in college and association with people that are like you-- that matters to me a lot. Being in an environment dominated by people who are focused on studying and learning, or meaningful extra curricular activities, and not on partying is very important to me. Still, all that is not more important than money in the sense that you can’t always get what you want.
I’m actually alright with a not top tier school, within reason and hopefully including some of the things I said were important to me, and don’t necessarily think it’s in my long term interest to have top tier competitive science courses where I might get a B.
It’s just that it’s the competitive schools that seem to have the most aid and I will be applying to some of them against people with 7 APs and 4 yrs of FL. I don’t even have the 4 years of math required almost everywhere because I maxed out in calculus junior year and there is no more math at my school to take (I’m assuming that’s fine though).
That of course is not my only strategy, and so far U of A and ASU do look like good leads, and a few others I got on this thread.
While your EFC will double, the cost of UCs will not.
Your efc is 16k, tuition and fees=14k.
You may get some financial aid to help with room&board your 1st 2 years, but you were never going to get any aid for tuition.
It means things aren’t as desperate as they seem!
If you get Regents at UCD and commute, you can cover everything without any debt (just with Regents and parent contribution). Without Regents, you take the federal loans (5.5k, guaranteed), work part time during the year and over the summer to complete the amount.
UCR= apply to the special program open in July + special premed programs. Apply to all the scholarships and special programs, hoping to get enough funding to cover tuition, fees room&board for your 1st year alongside family contribution, your work earnings, and the federal loans. Not a sure thing obviously but not less likely than merit at CSS schools.
Same thing at UCM.
Both UCs happen to be in less expensive areas (ie., rents will not be sky high and apparently around UCMerced they’re even cheap.) Meaning year 2-4 would be cheaper than your first year.
Students who get the 5.5k loan for freshman year can “bank” it for later year - in your case, if commuting to UCD were impossible for freshman year, attending CC and saving the loans for year 3&4 could be a solution.
Obviously the optimal solution would be a full tuition scholarship at a 4-year residential university but those could be worthy backups.
1 Like
I want to go to college for 4 years so I’ll need help past 1st and 2nd year.
My efc would be 16k my first year, then 32k (or whatever, if they add in a year delay, then it would be my 3rd year and right when I made a cc to uc switch if I go that route). For my family thats 32k and 64k. We definitely don’t have 32k.
If we had 32k or 64k then you are right, things aren’t as desperate as they seem. But just because FAFSA says we can do it doesn’t mean we can. We can’t.
I did not know that I can borrow 5.5k that I don’t need while I go to community college. Anyone regardless of income can do that, guaranteed? I can put that into cryptocurrency and maybe take care of the problem that way.
(just kidding)
I do agree that there is a scenario where I go to cc and then get into UC Davis and never leave my dad’s house. I don’t think transfer students have to live on campus (not sure). A lot of stars have to align though since UC admissions is very fickle especially when it comes to choosing your exact campus.
And, I’m still interested in getting something out of my straight As in high school and seeing if I can parlay that into something other than living with my parents, and maybe something exciting like living on a campus.
Any student can borrow the Student Federal loans which are $5500 Freshman year, $6500 Sophomore year and $7500 Junior and Senior year. Personally I have heard and seen of successful Medical school admissions from SDSU, Cal Poly Pomona, Cal Poly SLO and even Humboldt.
Again, it is more about taking advantage of the opportunities you are given vs school prestige.
Regarding your lack of some academic courses: You will be evaluated in the context of what your HS offers so you cannot take classes that are not available. If you are able to possibly enroll in some CC courses for Senior year, then it would definitely help and show initiative.
2 Likes
That’s very anecdotal. It’s better to base life decisions like that on data.
And just a reminder, the main thrust of this thread was about how to be competitive for merit aid, so while I appreciate the reminders that I can go to Sac State, I kind of mentioned enough times that this is not really something that I desire or need any advice about accomplishing. I’m pretty sure I’m a lock for that.
1 Like
One of my 18 year olds had all A’s except one B+ freshman year in honors English, 7 AP’s, five years of Spanish, five years of math (including AP stat, AB and BC calculus), 33 ACT. She applied to mostly east coast colleges, her best offer was $20,000 a year total from Saint Joseph’s, the rest of the OOS colleges came in over $30,000, some over $40,000. Folks here are giving you good advice, my daughter didn’t want Arizona or Alabama, liked Elon and JMU but they didn’t give her enough. Her twin is going to our flagship (which is also $30,000+, his stats were a little lower than hers). ETA, she was 11th in her class of 300, 95% of graduates plan on attending college.
I’m totally ok with OOS colleges. I’m following the leads I get here.
I’m just bucking the go to Sac State or community college thing because it’s not what I want and not anything I need any advice about. I know how to do that. Of course I’m applying to a cal state.
Thanks for your post and more ideas along these lines are most welcome!
Also I appreciate your cooling the idea of getting a good package from private colleges, which is where my GC and Principle were leading me. It’s in fact the concern that sparked this thread, my doubt that I’m competitive for that. I don’t compare to your daughter (favorably) so this is an appreciated example.
It doesn’t matter that your efc becomes 32k(*2) for UCs. They don’t care what your EFC is (that’swhat need blind is, although it’s a bit more complicated.)
Their tuition is 14k, regardless of EFC.
Then, either you quify for Cal Grant’s or you don’t.(check, guessing you dont).
And although UCs don’t offer TE for faculty nor any special scholarship, you DO benefit from something when it comes to admissions. You surely have heard of special categories such as legacies, athletes, development, right? Well, there’s another one - the name isn’t nice but it is what it is: faculty brat. In other words, you’ll get into UCD if you apply and do a decent job with your application. (Even the faculty brat pile won’t save a kid with a 3.0 and badly written essays, but all other things being equal, a 4.0 with decent essays is an “easy admit”).
Based on the Financials you shared, you can afford 4 years at UCD if you commute, either with Regents or with the federal loans+work earnings.
I do think you should also apply to the special premed programs at UCR.
Seconding UAz, Mount Holyoke, Agnes Scott, UNM, Truman State.
What about UMN Morris?
2 Likes
I don’t know why you are talking about need-blind with respect to UCs. Need-blind is relevant to admissions only. I don’t question my ability to get into UCs (other than UCLA and Berkeley, and other than transferring from cc, where you don’t get to just pick)
I’m not sure where you are getting this faculty brat admissions information, not that admissions is my problem anyway. It sounds like you are just making it up. Do you have any sources for this faculty brat program?
You don’t seem to understand the EFC problem, so probably that’s enough on that.
Thank you for the suggestions to look into. Who knows, maybe one of them completely changes my life. It’s theoretically possible, so thanks for that.
Have your parents told you how much (total for all of your and your sibling’s undergraduate) they can contribute?
If it is less than $32k total for both of you for all of undergraduate, then that is only $4k each for each year, which is a very limiting cost constraint.
1 Like
I can assure you that many of us here understand college admissions and financial aid in great detail. You are getting good feedback, but in some instances seem unwilling to hear it. Regardless, highly experienced posters are taking time out of their days and trying to help you.
What myos is saying is that UC in-state tuition is around $14K, and that will be your tuition whether your EFC is $16K or $32K…does that make sense? Then add room and board, books, etc. Often, but not always, you can live off campus less expensively after the required first year on campus.
Do you qualify for Cal Grant?
What is your budget (what your parents can/will pay each year)?
1 Like
it’s per year, which I believe is the convention for speaking about this.
So the new FAFSA is 64k per year, the old 32k per year for two children in each case.
I don’t have an exact figure but we’ve been clear that we can afford neither 32k per year nor 64.
I don’t think everyone here, and only some here, are getting the nuances of what I’m saying.
Yes I know that the cost of tuition remains the same regardless of aid package. How could we even be talking about anything here at all if I didn’t understand that?
I can say it again another way, 14k at UC (which btw raises tuition almost every year except for pandemic year) with 16k EFC means a family contribution of 16k since the cost of living is surely at least 2k if I live in a cardboard box. In fact I know for a fact that the 2k will be eaten up by other things related to the education. When 16k FAFSA becomes 32k FAFSA, then at UC I am paying full ride whatever that comes to. Times 2 for my family. According to UC Davis, living off campus comes to 32k (coincidentally) and living at home 30k. If so, I qualify then for 0 aid.
In the case of private colleges meeting full need 16k will also be 16k, and 32k FAFSA will be 32k. Times two.
None of these scenarios is something my family can do.
Hence the perhaps misplaced hope that I can somehow merit aid my way into something, perhaps with CSS schools and perhaps with OOS where I can be a bigger fish in a smaller pond (although I know I’m not that big of a fish)
I will of course apply to UC and to Cal State. How could I not? I don’t see how it’s helpful to push me in that direction, which I don’t need any help doing. Everyone around here is making these applications, and it’s easy. I wouldn’t post on this forum about “How do I apply to UC?”
I don’t see what’s so hard to understand about what I’m saying.
1 Like
Unless you qualify for Cal Grant (do you?) or get a Regents scholarship, you will be full pay at the UCs, regardless of your FAFSA EFC.
We can only help you find merit opportunities if we know what your parents can/will pay, what is that? That plus the Direct Student Loan (if you choose to take it) will be your budget.
Just room and board and books (not to mention travel) at any school will be $10K plus…it’s important we know if you need merit to the level of full tuition merit or more (to cut into the room/board etc.).
I encourage you to spend significant time on the UC PIQs, so that you can submit a high quality application.
You can make better informed decisions if you know the limit with greater precision than “somewhere between $0 and $32k per year” or “somewhere between $0 and $128k total” for both you and your sibling.
If the actual parental contribution is $0, you need to look for full ride merit scholarships like University Scholarships - Financial Aid .