<p>I am a dependent, 20 year old California Community College student, majoring in economics. I'll be applying to in-state public and private universities this fall like UC Berkeley, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara, UC San Diego, and Claremont Mckenna.
Lately, I have been considering applying to out-of-state universities like UChicago, UPenn, Georgetown, Elon, Brown, UMichigan, Amherst, Northwestern, Stanford, Harvard, and Yale. I know about the last few, but hey it's worth a shot. Anyways, they are all really great schools but every time I think of the costs, my stomach churns.</p>
<p>My parents are mexican immigrants that came into the country in the 80s and became citizens in the 90s. My mother does not work but my father makes ~ 60k a year. What I fear most about transferring is the inability to pay for college when I transfer. As tuition in this country has been rising, so has the churning in my stomach (no it wasn't the burrito I ate). I did not qualify for a Pell grant this year, which adds to my angst.</p>
<p>What I'm asking is should I consider applying? I have a 4.0, I'm a member of Phi Theta Kappa, will be school treasurer this year, and work in financial aid at my college. Any schools that give great aid, or information about scholarships that help out tremendously, will be greatly appreciated.</p>
<p>Lately, I have been considering applying to out-of-state universities like UChicago, UPenn, Georgetown, Elon, Brown, UMichigan, Amherst, Northwestern, Stanford, Harvard, and Yale. I know about the last few, but hey it’s worth a shot. Anyways, they are all really great schools but every time I think of the costs, my stomach churns.</p>
<p>Private U’s like Brown, G’town, etc, don’t care if you’re OOS. They charge the same price to instate and OOS students… And, they give good aid.</p>
<p>however, OOS publics like UMich do charge OOS prices to OOS students and often do NOT give much aid.</p>
<p>If you have the stats to get accepted to a school like UPenn, then you’ll probably get the aid you need.</p>
<p>That said, if you get accepted to a UC, then you’ll qualify for Blue and Gold and you should get good aid.</p>
<p>Look at your list and separate out those that private and public schools. The private schools have the same prices for everyone, in or out of state in almost all situations. The public ones have pricing different for those in state and out of state residents. It’s where you parents live that usually determines your state residence, and it appears that CA is your state. Your counselor at the CC should help you with the transfer and financial aid process for in state CA school. Get information from that office so you know that procedure well.</p>
<p>For those private schools to which you want to apply, call their financial aid office and ask if they have aid for transfer students, and what the average aid is for such sudents. When putting together your list, bear in mind which schools are generous or not, to transfers. Not a problem applying to some that are not, just know the territory. Your bases are covered with the CA state schools, so apply away to whatever you like and see what happens.</p>
<p>Usually, out of state public schools are not at all generous to out of state transfer students, but call them and do some research to find out how any such school on your list treat students like you.<br>
You have two strikes against you for aid in such school, being a transfer student and being OOS.</p>