<p>Perhaps the word "most" was too nuanced? :) IMO, the biggest "cause" of the low UC four year grad rate is the high proportion of low income kids and poor finaid.</p>
<p>There is nothing in my post that said that "all" UC students are low income. Indeed, you could never find that in any of my post for the xx years I've been on cc. But, if you search my posts you'll see that I frequently post the correct number: ~33% of each campus is comprised of Pell Grantees -- the highest of any major public Uni - twice that of UMich, and 3-4 times that of UVa. While a Pell may cover a Cal State, it ain't close to covering the CoA of a UC. Even the current Chancellor at Cal recognizes that a family with a ZERO efc has to pay $9k per year.....</p>
<p>sakky's posts notwithstanding -- yes, Engineering is brutal at Cal -- it ain't hard to graduate from a UC in four years for most kids bcos "most" kids have family money. But, I think sakky is correct in that Cal (and UCLA) accept a lot of marginal kids who might be better off at a lower UC; not only do some of these kids take 6 years to graduate, some also flunk out and have a graduation rate of zero.</p>
<p>Back to the OP...</p>
<p>twilight_girl09, please don't forget that your room/board will be somewhere between $11,000-$16,000, depending on which UC and what is available (the cheapest housing goes first), your books will be about $1,000, and misc expenses of about $2,000 will indeed bring your total cost to the $24,000/year range.</p>
<p>I think I recall that you also applied to some CSUs. The system-wide fees there (if you haven't OMG-discovered it yet) are about $4,000/year with the same associated costs, so the total cost of atendance for those is about $18,000-$20,000/year.</p>
<p>If you live near enough to a UC or CSU to commute from your parent's home, you can significantly lower the cost of attending. Good luck!</p>
<p>Finally, someone went back to my original question! All you other people just ramble on about each other. What the heck...</p>
<p>This is like when you go somewhere and they tell you certain services are "free to all students".</p>
<p>No, students do not get these things for free. The correct word is, "included".</p>
<p>twilight_girl, these numbers are correct and have been correct-- there was no drop in price you were just looking at total costs versus tuition costs. It's not that these schools are cheaper for you, it's that they're included-- in the price you pay for your state taxes. Luckily, California has an excellent system. Other states have not been so successful in establishing so many strong schools.</p>
<p>twilight girl, several of us addressed your post yesterday. Today, we are just having fun. :D</p>
<p>
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There is nothing in my post that said that "all" UC students are low income. Indeed, you could never find that in any of my post for the xx years I've been on cc.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Uh, nor in mine. I said that that UC families are lower income is the biggest canard of all.</p>
<p>Now, that UC families are penurious being a canard is based on perhaps</a> selective and dated piece, about UCLA families having higher income than USC. </p>
<p>UC students do get more income based Federal Grants. UC Berkeley has 30% receiving</a> Federal grants, Pomona 12%. So maybe income levels are different between UC's and comparable privates.</p>
<p>But I doubt that family income is much of a independent factor in explaining retention and graduation rates, if you hold constant academic qualifications and institutional factors. If there was evidence for family income being that much of a role, we'd probably have heard of it.</p>
<p>Sry, but not sure where the tangent about 'SC comes from. As an aside, 'SC has one of the highest Pell rates of top privates -- good for them. UCLA also has ~33% Pell Grantees. </p>
<p>While not causal, there is a high correlation between the graduation rates (and test scores) or colleges comprised of rich kids (~50% of practically every Ivy, including Pomona, are full pay), than colleges with a bunch of poorer kids. [Note, full pay at Pomona or an Ivy typically means an income level of $175k+.]</p>
<p>But, I disagree that "we would have heard" about this issue bcos that would be blaming the victim. The Office of President and Regents know full well that poor kids have a much lower graduation rates (and test scores) than rich kids, but UC has enacted policies to continue to provide opportunities to the poorer kids to attend the state flagships. While a great public policy in my opinion, it also has negative ramifications, (which could be addressed, but that opens a whole new can of worms).</p>