<p>the petty, juvenile slams on the UC system (santa cruz in particular) are just ridiculous. some of u need to grow up.</p>
<p>that said, i’ve no sympathy for this student. s/he needed to stay in their own state. the situation this family finds themselves in was pretty foreseeable. i mean…duh??</p>
<p>None of the UCs (all of which are very good schools) are worth the private price tag they carry. No college in this nation is worth a high level of debt or such strain on a family’s life.</p>
<p>I’m glad I’m not the only one who doesn’t feel sympathetic. The tone of the article pushing a feeling of sympathy on the reader made me feel like perhaps I was wrong even knowing the decisions the girl has been making are bad. Worse, it is very likely that there are many on campus who will be sympathetic and will blame California and the UC system for this girl’s decision to come to UCSC.</p>
<p>I’m still trying to wrap my mind around why a family would do this to themselves. I just don’t get it same as I don’t get all the starry-eyed students posting about going $100k+ in debt for their “dream school.” She most likely had far more affordable options (assuming she even applied to other schools, the article didn’t say) that made them a better choice than any UC. Why would anyone put themselves in this position? And why would anyone stay in it?</p>
<p>It occurred to me later that the student also turned her nose up at the Bright Futures scholarship which would have made the FLA schools even more reasonable. Pity.</p>
<p>A lot families and students, particularly international student, I’ve noticed, think that if they can scrape just enough money to get on campus, they will be able to pry more funds out of the college. True, that a student learning the fin aid system, players and being on the scene to get first dibs on any new bucks coming may enhance chances, but it isn’t going to make up for a huge gap. At a public school, it is especially difficult to get any extras because so much is formula driven with less room to maneuver. To try to get close to a full ride is really preposterous, and when you are OOS and that state is CA, it is beyond that.</p>
<p>I personally do not like the UCs despite their excellence. I think they are too big for undergraduates. Great grad school, but I definitely do not like them for most kids, particularly mine. But there are kids who wanta be California babes and dudes; it’s a dream to go there for school. And the UCs have the ratings. </p>
<p>UCSC is certainly a great choice for those who like the casual atmosphere there with UC academic excellence int here. It’s just that it’s not worth the $50K+ price tag, in my opinion. And no school is when a parent is risking eviction or foreclosure or any financial crisis to pay the costs.</p>
<p>AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!</p>
<p>This is precisely why I am a member of my state financial aid association’s early awareness committee, and why I champion early financial aid education to anyone who will listen. There are a lot of heads in the sand when it comes to financing college.</p>
<p>Money will not fall from the sky. And parents need to learn to tell their kids no … sure, we want to give them what they want. Too often, though, this is NOT the right thing to do.</p>
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<p>It’s not a “juvenile slam,” just an acknowledgment that beyond UCLA and Berkeley, there is little reason for someone to pay OOS prices for schools that aren’t generally known outside of California.</p>
<p>UCSC … is responsible for the Human Genome Project just to name a couple of the accomplishments it has had in recent years.</p>
<p>Not really.</p>
<p>MisterK:
Yes. Really. Anyone who has taken and paid attention in a basic science class in the last decade that had any discussion of genetics should know about UCSC and its heavy involvement with the project and its work before it officially joined.</p>
<p>I kept my comment brief without giving extensive detail because the quality of the school is not the focus of the thread nor should it be a factor of consideration. The fact that a student is allowing her family to risk eviction just to fund her education at a university that is obviously too expensive is. It is horrifying that anyone could be in this position no matter what school they are attending.</p>
<p>I politely request that you be respectful and keep the discussion to this topic as this thread is located in the financial aid and scholarship forum. There is a UCSC forum where you can create a thread to further discuss the qualifications and accomplishments of the school if you so wish.</p>
<p>kelsmom:
How does such a committee work anyways? Is counseling offered at the application process to college or sooner? Have you seen any positive results? Does one approach seem more effective than another that the committee has used?</p>
<p>I’m curious to leech ideas off of you so I can perhaps write someone about this issue and back it up with methods that have worked in your state :). I’m incredibly bothered by this article the more I think about it and I wonder how many other students are in similar positions at schools in California.</p>
<p>Kender: That’s better. Yes, UCSC certainly did participate in the Human Genome project, and undoubtedly made valuable contributions - along with a number of other institutions, academic and nonacademic. </p>
<p>Just don’t say that UCSC was “responsible for the Human Genome Project,” especially in real life. It’s good to be proud of your great school, but a statement like that sounds a bit silly. </p>
<p>Surely you can see the difference?</p>
<p>MisterK:
I never said UCSC was completely responsible. And my statement was 100% accurate when you consider they do at the current time hold the responsibility for the Human Genome Browser that is in use around the world both from having created it and hosting it. You read between the lines of a quick, lacking specific details statement and assumed I was saying something I wasn’t. Surely you can see the difference? ;)</p>
<p>Inconveniently for you, I quoted your own words.</p>
<p>By the way, you should send an email to the folks at [History</a> of the Human Genome Project](<a href=“Human Genome Project Information Site Has Been Updated”>History of the Human Genome Project). Since “anyone who has taken and paid attention in a basic science class in the last decade that had any discussion of genetics should know about UCSC and its heavy involvement with the project”, those guys really should be informed. They can add UCSC to their list of participating institutions. They do say that “This list is not comprehensive. Numerous institutions worldwide are engaging in genetics and genomics research.” But Berkeley made it. :)</p>
<p>Inconveniently for you, I did not use the words “completely,” “solely,” or anything that remotely suggested what you are implying. I do see how you could be confused, though, but I did clear up my meaning when you addressed it. You know what they say about assuming…</p>
<p>As you said, that list is noted to not be comprehensive and it is widely acknowledged that UCSC does host the browser and was the one to sequence the data in the earlier part of the decade. UCSC was also the one who began discussion of such a project four years before the actual project began.</p>
<p>Your comments are off topic as are my responses to you. My part in this is over so I do not further act like a hypocrite by responding to you with off topic comments. Believe what you want. I believe the facts. Get the last word in if you want since that seems to be something of great importance to you ;)</p>
<p>There was a student at NYU a few years ago who found himself homeless and broke. He was squatting where he could just to make it through the semester when the newspapers made a story out of the situation shaming NYU into giving him a room for the few weeks left in the term.</p>
<p>Hey look, anybody who’s taken any class recently anywhere knows that UCSC is pretty much right up there with UCB. But I think those government genome guys just typed Berkeley in there out of habit. You should send an email, don’t let UCB get all the credit.</p>
<p>cptofthehouse:
Is this the story?
[Yes</a>, Some Students Live in the Library (But Not Like This) - NYTimes.com](<a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2004/04/27/nyregion/yes-some-students-live-in-the-library-but-not-like-this.html]Yes”>Yes, Some Students Live in the Library (But Not Like This) - The New York Times)</p>
<p>If so, how awful. NYU may give terrible FA packages, but they make no secret of it or false promises to meet need. That student made the decision to go to NYU knowing it would be a huge financial burden. There were much more affordable options in the state.</p>
<p>Thanks for mentioning this, I hadn’t read about it before. At least the student at UCSC is not currently in a situation like that. It’s scary to think that there might very likely be others around the nation who are, though.</p>
<p>Thanks, Kender for finding the story. Upon rereading it, I see that he did not lose his housing in the last few weeks of the school year. It appears as though he showed up and said, “need housing, have no money”. There are kids and families that have it their heads that a school would come up with the money if a that happens. </p>
<p>I know some kids who ended up living on friends’ sofas after housing did not work out for them and they ran out of money to pursue other alternatives. They’ve all been kids who went off campus–the ones I’ve known, my son being one of them. He luckily was able to find a dorm room–a quad when his off campus house (that I told him was a bad idea) was pretty much condemned when a huge snow storm hit. It definitely became uninhabitable and inaccessible. I had had him on await list at the dorms and he cleared it at that time, so got a bed in there. So much for off campus that year, but he did it again senior year making a wiser choice, and that worked out. </p>
<p>Some end up taking huge loans, getting their parents to co sign when this happened. My friend’s D was pretty much living in her car when she finally got some horrible loan that allowed her to get a room. Parents co signed it.</p>
<p>*I’m still trying to wrap my mind around why a family would do this to themselves. I just don’t get it same as I don’t get all the starry-eyed students posting about going $100k+ in debt for their “dream school.” She most likely had far more affordable options (assuming she even applied to other schools, the article didn’t say) that made them a better choice than any UC. Why would anyone put themselves in this position? And why would anyone stay in it? *</p>
<p>I think there are just too many parents who have rarely ever said “no” to their kids. When their kids had their B-day or holiday lists, everything on the list got bought…even if money was an issue.</p>
<p>My MIL had 8 kids yet she NEVER said no about anything (and still doesn’t). Their Christmas tree looked like a Toys R Us exploded underneath with every gift from each child’s wish list. Unbelievable. </p>
<p>So, when such parents are faced with kids with college demands that aren’t financially affordable, they just look to the nearest loan and/or credit card to continue saying “yes.”</p>