Hi - D24 is 100% dual enrollment at a WA CC (quarter system). She will finish an AAS by the time she graduates HS. She would really love to attend a UC, but we know it’s expensive for OOS and really hard to get in. Setting aside the cost, is it easier to get in as an OOS transfer or direct out of HS? Most likely major is Psych.
Thanks.
What UC’s would she be targeting as a Freshman applicant vs. a Transfer applicant? Or would they be the same campuses?
OOS admit rates vary by UC campus and major for both type of applicants.
OOS applicants have the lowest transfer priority for the UC’s and as a Transfer, meeting the UC requirements can make it more difficult for an OOS applicant due to course articulation. The hierarchy is as follows: California CC Transfers, then UC to UC Transfers, Cal State to UC Transfers, Private CA University Transfers and finally OOS Transfers.
No guarantee all her AA courses would be accepted by the UC’s so she may need more than 2 years as a Transfer to complete her degree.
So if she does not apply as a Freshman to the UC’s, there are plenty of other schools especially in-state WA schools where she could get a great education and at reasonable cost especially if she is going in with AA degree. Why the UC’s?
As a Psych major, you also need to consider graduate school.
More admit data for the UC’s below.
2022 Admit Rates for Freshman applicants:
| Campus | CA RESIDENT | OUT OF STATE | INTERNATIONAL |
|---|---|---|---|
| Berkeley | 14.5% | 8.6% | 5.5% |
| Davis | 32.3% | 59.8% | 43% |
| Irvine | 18.2% | 36.6% | 21% |
| Los Angeles | 9.2% | 8.8% | 5.8% |
| Merced | 100% | 78.6% | 81.7% |
| Riverside | 66% | 88.1% | 68.% |
| San Diego | 23.8% | 31.5% | 15.5% |
| Santa Barbara | 26.7% | 28.8% | 19.7% |
| Santa Cruz | 43.2% | 70.7% | 55.4% |
2022 OOS Admit Rates for Transfer applicants:
UCB: 7.0%
UCD: 13.6%
UCI: 11.8%
UCLA: 6.8%
UCM: 35.2%
UCR: 35.8%
UCSB: 32.0%
UCSC: 19.3%
UCSD: 33.7%
Thanks for taking the time to reply. I did some forum reading and discovered my question was pretty naive. She would be interested in UCSB and others. She does not want to go to university in WA state. I would love the in-state tuition, but she is adamant about wanting in a sunnier, warmer area after living in the rain her whole life. She wants a large public university as well - she specifically said no catholic private universities…
Question: could she start at a CCC, then apply to transfer to a UC, or is that path only a priority for California residents?
Thanks so much.
She could attend a California CC for 1 year (minimum 30 units) such as Santa Barbara City College and then get priority for Transfer. She would however be paying OOS fees at the CC and OOS tuition at the UC’s unless she establishes California residency which is extremely difficult if she is under 24 and parents are not living in California. Also very few California CC’s offer housing so she would need to find her own housing and transportation to the CC.
If she has an AAS degree at time of HS graduation, she may be able to finish her Undergrad degree in-state within 2 years. She could then apply for Graduate school in California instead.
Plenty of other colleges besides the UC’s where she could get merit $$ and they make take many of her DE courses for credit that could be more affordable than the UC’s plus reduce her time in the Undergrad program.
I am assuming she is a Junior? There is time to start looking for colleges to apply as a Freshman that would meet her expectations. Large public with good weather sounds like San Diego State which is about $20-25K less expensive than the UC’s. California publics are still pricey for OOS students.
Arizona State and University of Arizona would be good options and with merit substantially less expensive than the UC’s.
Before she considers the Transfer route have her explore other options as a Freshman applicant. What is your college budget? Most OOS public universities will be expensive and many do not offer much merit or need based FA for OOS students.
If she has her associated degree, I can’t see how she’d have enough classes to take at a California community college. She’d be better served applying as a freshman, but out of state will get expensive.
Agree with @socalmom007 that having an AAS degree, there will not be many classes to take at a California CC. It may depend upon how many of the AAS degree classes are UC transferable.
That’s great that she’s getting the Associate’s degree by the end of 12th grade. It’s going to be difficult for her to get accepted to a UC, and it will be much more expensive than if she were to go to U Washington or another in state public college. Is money really no object? I can understand her wanting to go to school where it’s sunny, but the price differential is pretty darn steep.
Is she a stellar student? Maybe Arizona (U or ASU) as an alternative? Maybe she’d get some merit money there?
Otherwise, I agree, it just makes so much more sense to finish up at a public college in Washington State, and then do grad school in CA.
If CA is the goal, then I vote to at least consider a try for it. Apply as a freshman, if you don’t get in, go to Cuesta Community college, live in a private student dorm right next to Cal Poly (like https://www.theacademychorro.com/). Apply the following year to Cal Poly, UCSB, Arizona and others. There won’t be as much hand holding as a traditional path and success probably depends on the classes she has taken already.
That’s kind of what we’re thinking. She’s interested in Cal Poly too. I just don’t think she can get admitted to CP or UCs right out of HS. It’s so competitive. She’s weak on ECs as she wasn’t really motivated to do clubs, etc, during and after the pandemic lockdowns. She did work as a lifeguard and swim instructor last summer though, so maybe that helps. Her gpa is very good but not perfect. We have to figure out how to count up the dual enrollment classes, etc.
In any case, SBCC (or similar) is a nice idea to have as a backup for her to possibly transfer to UCSB/ other UCs or Cal Poly. She likes the low-key vibe of community college anyway, and she knows a bunch of students who have started their journey to 4year university at CC, so it seems completely reasonable to her.
I think it will be challenging to arrange and gain credit if she doesn’t have enough classes, at the CCC.
She needs to know the prices of SBCC= ~$34K per year/ UCSanta Barbara $67K per year.
Rents are expensive for a college student in Santa Barbara. She needs to visit.
We’ve had two months of extremely rainy and cold weather with floods. It’s not always warm. The ocean water temps near SB are cold. So Cal is not what you would call “tropical”. (I was in La Jolla this morning and it was 39 degrees F.) It’s sunny but it does get chilly. If she’s okay with that, then she needs to figure out how she’s going to pay her OOS fees.
You do not state what is your college budget?
SBCC’s Cost of attendance is $25,212 which includes room and board. For OOS students you need to add another $8978 for a grand total for $34,190. Very pricey for a CC for 2 semesters worth of classes to qualify for priority as a CC transfer. Then you will be paying $67K/year for her to attend a UC?
I do not understand the logic in coming to CA to attend a CC and then Transfer. If she is a competitive student, then there will many 4 year university options with merit as a Freshman applicant which may be less expensive then 1 year at a CA CC and 2 years at a UC.
Yes, you guys are right! That is A LOT of money for CC. I knew the UCs were $$$, but I didn’t realize it would cost that much for CC. We’re just trying to figure out the options.
We do know that it’s not always warm in California - we visited San Diego in AUGUST a couple of years ago and froze our buns off. LOL.
She just wants to get out of WA, which I can understand. She’s not that into AZ (has friends with bad experiences at ASU). I suggested UNM since we can get WUE. Or U of Hawaii. We will do some visits this spring.
Absolutely agree. I don’t understand the need. Don’t forget transportation back and forth. It adds up and affects the home budget. Flights are easy to come by, but she will be limited by what she can bring on the airlines and costs. Southwest has cheap flights but their on-time and consistency are now questionable. Ground transportation? SoCal relies a lot on cars. Our public transportation is not good. Hopefully, she can get to where she needs to go using the school shuttles. If she has a bike, she should be okay, but the weather, or longer commutes will affect her.
She wont qualify for any State funding while at any California universities.
California residents qualify for available grants sponsored by the State. Merit scholarships run $2K to $5K per year (a drop in the bucket for fees) and the preference and priority are usually given to instate students.
There is a cap on the numbers of non-residents, so her priority for transfer may be affected. What if she doesn’t get into a UC? What then?
Where will she be more motivated to learn and grow? In Santa Barbara taking community college classes or as a Freshman at ASU with much larger class sizes.
I don’t want to sound like I am advocating for a community college path, but I have seen it work for so many of S21’s friends. After one year, they are now at UCLA, UCLA and Davis after turning down Berkeley and Santa Barbara. If you are aren’t eligible for financial aid, the cost of living is deceiving. Yes, it costs 22K a year to live in Santa Barbara, but it costs that no matter if you are in college or not. Yes, community college at 10K a year sounds expensive, that’s the cost of freshman year many places if you aren’t eligible for financial aid. Where will the student thrive?
She may do well at a CCC; I’m not knocking it, but I am assuming that your son’s friends are all California state residents, given the schools listed, and that their expenses were for instate students?
This child’s expenditures will be $34K + $67K + $67K =$168K with no scholarships, for the primary reason of seeing the sun. Costs can go up yearly.
Even if eligible for federal financial aid, because she’s a non-resident, her options for the funding from the California state budget are non-existent.
Most of it is living expenses, plus some for out-of-state tuition. CCs in California are inexpensive to residents (about $1.5k for tuition and fees), and most CC students live where they lived before attending (not free, but typically living with parents costs a lot less than living on one’s own).
An AAS at a Washington CC may or may not include the requires courses for UC transfer admission and major preparation. For major preparation, see https://www.assist.org/ , although the exact course equivalencies are provided only for California CCs.
Transfers by major | University of California can help determine which UCs would be realistic for her based on college GPA.
As others have mentioned, out-of-state costs are expensive, and getting California residency for tuition purposes is very difficult for someone from out-of-state attending immediately after high school.
If she’s tired of the rain, she can go to the eastern side of the state and attend Washington State. In-state tuition, much lower cost. Save the money for grad school.