@educationfan I would ask a generic question on the FA forum. I don’t want to state with certainty that this is correct, but my understanding is the UC schools do not provide aid to OOS students. ???
There’s a small number of merit scholarships that OOS might have gotten, but that is over. OF course there’s the usual Pell Grants and such, but it doesn’t sound like you would qualify for those.
Generally speaking middle class OOS students are out of luck at California state schools.
I am a 2016 parent who had two OOS kids apply to UCs, Berkeley, UCLA and UCSC. We filed FAFSA and got nothing more than a few thousand in merit aid. The rest were loans to make up our EFC. We are definitely an in the bad donut family.
@mominthemiddle Sounds like a fun trip! good like deciding and how nice to stop in on your son too!
@madredos Did your kids end up going to UC? if so, which one? Do you feel that landing merit scholarships can be easier being a UC student vs. incoming Freshman? Also, I have heard that some OOS students manage to qualify for IS tuition after completing their Sophomore year… is it even realistic? Do your kids live on campus? We were told even Freshman are not required to live on campus…I hope you don’t mind me asking all these questions… Thank you
@educationfan you won’t get financial aid as an OOS student at a UC. They do give merit scholarships which were already awarded, but they’re small, like 3-6k annually.
So a dark horse school has popped up in D17’s decision making process. I hadn’t realized she was seriously considering Seattle University. A little concerned as we’ve never visited the school, but I do love Seattle. I’ve been on the phone with friends who’ve toured getting their impressions. Photos of the campus look very nice. She was awarded a decent merit package there, but not as much as some schools. And PNWers care to chime in?
@socalmom007, I know little about Seattle University, other than seeing the signs on my way to UW, where my daughter is a soon-to-graduate senior. I will say though that Seattle’s public transportation is great for college students, and allows for a number of adventures while in school there 
As with any large city, there are many options for internships and that sort of thing. It’s a somewhat expensive part of the country, but if you are from So Cal, you will probably not find that to be terribly shocking
@educationfan they will not qualify for instate after one year.
@GoodGrief16 No, cost of living won’t be a shock to us, lol. My husband is freaking out about crime rate and safety… um, we were going to let her go to New York? The few times I’ve been in Seattle I found it very safe. Obviously it’s a big city, but I don’t think it’s particularly unsafe. No decisions yet, still weighing options. We hadn’t realized Seattle was in the running.
@educationfan I seriously doubt that merit scholarships are easy to get as a sophomore at a UC. Merit aid at Berkeley is small ($2500/year unless you have financial need) and was announced in February.
Financial aid to UCs is available to CA residents, but not to OOS residents (unless you are Pell Grant eligible, in which case you can’t afford the balance). So, it is correct that the NPC came up with 100% loans.
Qualifying for IS tuition at a UC is nearly impossible and would have involved you moving to CA at least a year prior to this along with some other steps.
For Berkeley, freshmen are not guaranteed that they will get on-campus housing any longer, even with many forced triples. It is a problem. But, if your kid wants to navigate living off campus as a frosh, Berkeley would be OK with that. Apartments are quite expensive, so they will likely need several roommates to bring the cost down.
Congratulations @CaucAsianDad! But I must say, I’ll miss your previous icon. It was one of my favorites along with that doped-out looking Methlab(rador?) one and @mtrosemom’s empty nesters. There’s a couple more but I always really liked seeing yours!
I have a question for those of you who were and are embedded in the UC application process—I’m looking ahead to D19, but I figure this is probably a better place to ask at this point than the class of 2019 board:
My D19 is interested in fields that are widely offered by California’s public universities. I’ve heard it mentioned several times that the UCs don’t give merit aid to OOS students, aside maybe from a few superstars. Just to verify, is this true? Also, what about the CSUs? And the whole Cal Poly thing confuses me, since there’s Cal Poly SLO, but there’s also Cal Poly Pomona, but it seems like if someone just says “Cal Poly” they mean the former—what’s up with that? And is OOS merit aid available for those? (And the Cal Polys are part of the CSU system? But different? I’m utterly confused.)
(The whole concept of navigating a public system as your in-state where there’s multiple completely separate groups running the show blows my mind, and I’m amazed at anyone who can keep track of it all.)
@Fishnlines29 “Speaking of prom, yes or no to letting daughter go with a few friends by themselves down the shore for one night? I was in the no camp up until last week, but now I’m finding it a bit silly. This particular group is one I don’t worry about at all. (A different group, I might be concerned.)”
I don’t come on this site every day so excuse my lateness, but, going down to the shore (Jersey shore, like, Asbury Park area) is exactly what I did with my high school boyfriend and our group of friends back in the mid 80s! And I can say that all of us had a great time and flash forward, we are all by and large successful adults with happy lives. It’s a fond memory.Let her go, IMO!
Yes, someone please address @dfbdfb 's questions. The whole CA school thing baffles me. You CA people have a bazillion schools, and maybe more rules regarding those schools. I can’t keep up. Have a 2019er who might like to look into CA schools. but no idea where to start.
Cal Poly SLO is older and more selective, so generally if someone just says Cal Poly they mean SLO. But both are good schools.
There’s only 2 apps. One for the Cal State/Cal Poly system, it is very simple, no essays, no EC’s. One for UC’s.
Cal Poly seems to give most OOS students a small merit scholarship (1000K). UC’s give very little merit or aid to OOS.
You cannot establish residency, with few exceptions. Make no mistake, the state system here views OOS students as a source of revenue.
- The only merit aid I’m aware of for OOS students at UCs is the Regents scholarship which is $2K-2.5K at most campuses and $6K and $7.5K at UCSB and UCD, respectively.
- I’ve read that Cal Poly gives out some merit aid to OOS students on the order of $3K or less.
- Yes, Cal Poly generally refers to SLO. For instance, calpoly.edu is SLO’s website.
- Both Cal Polys are part of the CSU system. Oddly, their official names vary the order of words. SLO is California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and the other is California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
- SLO is pretty commonly considered comparable to the mid-tier UCs these days in selectivity, prestige, etc.
- SLO is a very numbers based admission process, no essays currently. OOS tuition is really not too bad. Much smaller class sizes than UCs.
- SLO is definitely not a commuter campus like many of the CSUs.
- The original idea, way back when, was the UCs would take about the top 10% of CA students and CSUs were something like the top 3rd. They’ve had different missions from the start. A few of the CSUs, such as Cal Poly and SDSU, now have lower acceptance rates than a few of the UCs. Actually, SLO is lower than many of them.
@dfbdfb When people say Cal Poly and mean the SLO one, it’s somewhat akin to people saying New York and meaning the city not the state. Cal Poly SLO is the best and best known one. And @VickiSoCal is right, of course; until recently the UCs gave OOS kids FA but no more – and as a Californian I say thank you whoever decided that, because those are my taxes paying for someone else’s kid taking mine’s spot.
There are lots of universities here but proportionally, compared to the northeast, only very few “top” competitive liberal arts schools (like, the Claremont-McKenna consortium, and…and…and…) so kids here that are better suited for LACs and have the wherewithal, usually end up out of state. Six of one, half dozen of the other. My D17 will be in for the shock of her life next winter when she experiences her first real deep freeze at Colorado College.
@STEM2017…I see that you are looking at V Tech…well my D committed to Stony Brook so there’s a spot open at Bing Watson for your son if he still wants it…don’t know if I should call Bing and the other colleges that my D is not going anymore
@thshadow …oh and here’s my joke of the day:
A Father is asked by his friend, “Has your son decided what he wants to be when he grows up?”
“Yes, he wants to be a garbage collector,” he replies.
To this his friend responds “Strange ambition to have for a career.”
“Well, he thinks that garbage collectors only work on Tuesdays!”
@educationfan - My kids did not chose the CA schools. Our deal was that for any out of state school other than the Ivies or Stanford, they had to come up with the tuition. We would pay room and board anywhere. And tuition at Ivies or Stanford. That may be controversial but it is what it is. So they took full rides at public universities, one in state and one out. But the public CA schools for OOS kids are the price equivalent of Stanford or Brown. And that didn’t make sense to us. CA folks are lucky folks!!
@borgdoctor Congratulations to your D! Yes, my S is on the wait list for Bing Watson, and because of that he’s really not interested in attending, but we’ll wait and see.