<p>" If you are an out of state student don’t bother applying to public schools in Cali. Budget cuts are hitting the UCs and Cal States hard and its difficult to get classes. Don’t put yourself through that if you can avoid it."</p>
<p>Keep in mind since the UCs and CSUs are underfunded, the in-state students along with the out of state students will encounter the same issues. Which means extra large class sizes to squeeze the students in, and not enough classes to meet the graduation requirements. I’ve heard enough students telling stories about how they are bumped out of their classes. Not good.</p>
<p>So the question for the OP is do you want to pay for 4 years of college or 5-6 years of college plus additional housing costs, etc.?</p>
<p>There are many top private colleges in CA to consider if you qualify, such as Stanford, Caltech, Chapman, USC, Santa Clara, LMU, Claremont Colleges, just to name a few.</p>
<p>asap in and out of college. My teacher said something about the nov election affecting public ca colleges, but i agree public ca schools aregetting underfunded and overpacked with overqualified students.</p>
<p>But my giant question is how good/cost effective are the privates ca schools EXCEPT stanford.</p>
<p>ex: chapman claremont are cheap BUT are they on similar playing field as uc davis ucla etc. the big name schools</p>
<p>Sry if i seem to be greedy/ungrateful looking for a cheap college that has high rankings and prestige. also, my parents are like apply to ucs and the only private school you are gonna apply to is stanford. It sounds good, my son goes to ucla/uc davis…</p>
<p>standard parenting, but seriously i want a priv (b/c publics going downhill) ca school that has some prestige</p>
<p>As far as private colleges in California go, the most selective ones (25th percentile SAT CR and SAT M each at least 600) are:</p>
<p>Caltech
Stanford
USC
the Claremont colleges</p>
<p>Lowering the 25th percentiles to 500 adds the following:</p>
<p>Biola
California Lutheran
Chapman
Loyola Marymount
Mills
Pepperdine
Point Loma Nazarene
Saint Mary’s
Thomas Aquinas
University of the Redlands
University of San Diego
University of San Francisco
University of the Pacific
Westmont
Santa Clara</p>
<p>Have you visited these private schools? They all have some prestige. As an example, many of the students who are attending Chapman have also been accepted to these fine schools, such as UCD, UCI, UCSB, UCSD, UCLA, USC, NYU, just to name a few. Therefore, they are of the same caliber. I, too, have sent my own kid to Chapman instead of the UCs for the same reason. Sorry, not fond of large class sizes. Especially with a great merit-aid from such a great school as Chapman, it’d be a shame not to take it.</p>
<p>Depends. If you get a good chunk of merit money at Chapman, the cost will be comparable with the in-state cost of attending a UC. If you get into one of the Claremonts and get substantial need-based aid then the schools can be affordable and much less expensive than a UC. But “cheap”? Hardly.</p>
<p>You need to calculate your UC GPA (using the so-called a-g requirements: google on this for more info) instead of just using your overall GPA. UC GPA is what’s used for admission, and it can be substantially higher OR lower than your overall GPA.</p>
<p>A private school education is not cheap unless you qualify for a merit-scholarship. There’s only one way to find out whether you can afford a private school is by applying. When you get accepted, then you have the option to compare the cost. Keep in mind your FAFSA will determine your grant money at Chapman. Their merit-scholarship is need-blind. You can do some research by going to the school’s website and look up on their Net Cost Calculator. Here’s the link to the Chapman’s Net Cost Calculator. Best of luck!
[Net</a> Cost Calculator for Freshmen | Chapman University](<a href=“http://www.chapman.edu/students/tuition-and-aid/financial-aid/net-cost-calculator/net-cost-calculator-freshmen.aspx]Net”>Page Not Found | Chapman University)</p>
<p>Here’s a list of California schools ordered by 75th percentile SAT scores (CR+M):
[College</a> Rankings - Top Ranked Universities in California - Highest SAT 75th Percentile Scores<a href=“The%20first%20row,%20for%20Biola,%20appears%20to%20be%20an%20error.”>/url</a></p>
<p>my understanding was that schools like chapman were cheaper than ucla stanford etc.</p>
<p>i though higher caliber meant can justify charging students more…</p>
<p>i did not meant any offense to the education provided by any schools.</p>
<p>tk: thanks for the resources but i suspect they are not entirely ranking the right things.</p>
<p>" we rank the schools on a combination of factors including student retention, faculty salary, and student / faculty ratio."</p>
<p>biola is rarely known for topping caltech and stanford. using the 75percentile of their sat scores we can assume that 25% of their population of 5,942 is …so almost 1500 people at biola are perfect scores in reading math. i dont beleive it. i’m not downplaying the school but it does seem strange that a college that i never heard of has 1500 people with perfect scores and a 81% admission success rate…</p>
<p>^ Yes, as I wrote above, the first row in the list I cited (for Biola) must be an error. The indicated 2010 75th percentile score (1250) seems to be about right. USNWR lists Biola’s CR average as 561 and their M average as 554. That isn’t the first wild error I’ve seen on the stateuniversity site.</p>
<p>Errors aside, whether stateuniversity.com uses appropriate criteria or not in its rankings is a matter of opinion. I thought that list was convenient because it isolates California schools and orders them by scores you can compare to your own.</p>
<p>.
UCLA and Berkeley are public UCs…they are rather cheap for Calif students. Their tuition is around $14k per year. Their COAs are around $30k per year.</p>
<p>Chapman and Stanford are PRIVATE…their tuition is over $40k per year. Their COAs are $58k+ per year. </p>
<p>Biola, like many Christian schools, do charge a bit less than other PRIVATES. Biola’s tuition is around $31k and has a COA of about $42k…which is still more than UCLA or Berkeley.</p>
<p>“i though higher caliber meant can justify charging students more…”</p>
<p>Keep in mind that every school is different in terms of opportunities. As an example, majority of the students at Chapman graduate with either a major and a minor or a double major. Some of them even take a major with a double minor, etc. (therefore, it can take a little longer to graduate for those people). Compare to the public schools, they don’t have the funds to allow you to have that kind of options. You’ll be lucky to get into the classes that you need with just a single major. In a sense, you get what you paid for. The private schools charge more because they have the resources to allow it and able to keep the class size smaller. Keep in mind that even the private schools may differ in opportunities. Unfortunately they don’t include that information in the rankings. That’s why you can’t always rely on rankings for everything.</p>
<p>so what do you do your research to find the right colleges?
my one reach school im applying is an ivy then i just want a decent edu in ca if dont make ivy, most likely i wont, dont have any specials or perfect grades</p>
<p>Are you planning to retake your SAT’s? It is low compared to your gpa. If you can do some self study and practice and bring it up, that will give you much better opportunity to get into a higher tier college or get merit aid from good to great lower profile colleges. You migh like to look into Pitzer College (part of the Claremont colleges)-- it is supposed to be about the easiest to get into and you might have a shot at aid. Plus you can take courses at all of the 5 campuses in walking distance of each other.</p>
<p>You really should go about this a little more informed about finances. Have you looked into your family EFC? or expected contribution? If you have a low income, you can get need-based aid at some schools. But even then, for the UC’s extremely low income may still have to pay $5000+ per year in a package that includes grants and LOANS. You have to pay that money up front each semester, tuition plus student fees, plus housing and meal plan. You have to account for COA which means housing and food, and account for personal extra expenses. It is a very real outcome that you may not be able to go anywhere you apply unless you understand where you stand and apply to schools that are affordable in your situation (whatever that is.)</p>
<p>I think you need to pay more attention to the financial end of this. Getting admitted to match/reach privates is only going to frustrate you when you can’t afford it. Take the time to do the FAFSA forecaster and do each college’s net price calculator, some are better than others, but it should give you an idea. I think the one for California state schools you enter data once for all schools. State University data is suspect in my book, college navigator is boring but consistent. College Confidential and College Board are also pretty reliable and consistent for data.</p>
<p>As others said: work on the financial part first, which means first you work out how much you can afford (contribution from your parents, how much you can reasonably expect to earn working during the school year and summer, and if absolutely necessary a Stafford loan on top of that). Then look for some schools that you know for sure you can afford even if you get absolutely no aid. Only then should you be looking for schools that you might be able to afford if you get enough aid. </p>
<p>Would you be able to commute from home? What UCs/CSUs are within commuting distance of your home?</p>
<p>In the Common Data Set file for each college that reports one, item H2(i) is: On average, the percentage of need that was met of students who were awarded any need-based aid.</p>
<p>For many other schools, the number is less than 100%. At UCSD, it was 89% for freshmen entering in 2011-12. At Santa Clara it was less than 75% for freshmen in 2010-11. These are averages.</p>
<p>*Quote:
Do colleges meet the same percetage of need for everyone attending?
or some more percentage than others
*</p>
<p>No.</p>
<p>Look at it this way…</p>
<p>If a school cost’s $50k per year and a student has an EFC of $45k, then “need” is only $5000…that will be 100% met with a $5000 fed student loan.</p>
<p>But a student with an EFC of 0 will have a need of $50k. Most schools won’t give that student that much money. The student might get $25k - a mix of fed grants, fed loans, work study, state aid, and maybe a small univ grant. So, that student’s need was only 50% met.</p>
<p>the average need met for the 2 students is “75% of need met”…but clearly one student has a very big gap, while the other only got a small amount of aid (and no free money at all).</p>