CSU Bakersfield is seeking ABET accreditation in engineering, though it appears that its emphasis is petroleum within a general engineering framework.
Public universities in California with chemical engineering are:
CSUs: Pomona, Long Beach, San Jose
UCs: Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Riverside, San Diego, Santa Barbara
Since his major would require the added expense of living away from home, it may be more affordable to start at Bakersfield College (local community college) and then transfer to one of the above schools to finish a chemical engineering degree.
However, http://www.assist.org indicates that Bakersfield College may not completely cover the lower division courses for chemical engineering at the various CSUs and UCs, so he may need more than 4 semesters or 6 quarters after transfer as a junior to complete the degree, so that should be considered in the financial planning and cost comparisons.
It looks like his stats may qualify for a full ride at a few of the schools listed in http://automaticfulltuition.yolasite.com/ (e.g. Florida A&M, 3.5 unweighted HS GPA and 1900 SAT; Tuskegee 3.7 HS GPA and 1300 SAT CR+M), but he would have to wait a year without attending any college (e.g. work) to reapply for fall 2017 (and make sure that the scholarship is awarded to “gap year” students; Prairie View A&M disallows “gap year” students from its full ride).
Your second son may want to explore the list in that link as well.
I was also researching about transfer opportunity (TAG). You’re so knowledgeable in this area and your suggestion is very rational and sound. I was convincing my son to take Petroleum Engineering at CSUB, which by the way is supported by AERA energy that gives scholarship and internship to students.
It probably makes sense to start your own thread (with a descriptive title, like “$15,000/year limit, CA resident, no FA, chemE”) but leave a link here to the new thread, and leave a link in the new thread to post #125 of this thread so that others can get the background.
Interestingly, the two with high incomes did not object to their taxes, while the middle and lower income ones did, even though the one at the poverty line ($20,090 for a family of 3) probably gets a net credit of around $2,631 as estimated by http://www.tax-rates.org/income-tax-calculator/?ref=nav_income .
That was exactly what stood out to me, too, @ucbalumnus.
I think for people on the lower end of the income spectrum, things like sales tax on necessities (including food and clothing in CA and many other states) really hurt.
I agree @LucieTheLakie. Higher income people mostly consider income and property taxes when asked that question but lower income are more aware of sales tax since it is a higher % of their take home pay. When you spend most or all of what you earn sales tax feels like a pay cut.
One option is to go to places like Princeton which have extremely good financial aid along with a good education. Of course not EVERYONE can get in but there are other places.
I feel like if a parent has the means (income and savings), they should contribute towards their child attending college. My husband and I are fortunate in that we can afford to pay for most of our kids’ college. (I say most, because we want them to have some “skin in the game,” so they are going to have to take about 5K per year as loans. We will deduct any outside scholarship awards from the amount our child owes toward the loan.)
We did (private school) too for both of our son with the exception of the student loans they all seem to be offered $5500 per year I think. While we did not dip into retirement savings for this, we did put in less for retirement because of it. I’m glad we did though because we now have 2 independent sons who have chosen careers that there will always be jobs in and they are both able to take care of themselves. That, to me, is key. DH and I have very little debt and although we can’t retire yet, if one of us were to lose our job it would not be a catastrophe. We could get by on much less than we are making now. The key I think is to amass as little debt as you can and provide the tools your children need to become independent adults whether they live at home or wherever. One son lives at home but that is only because his job worked out to be 1 mile from our house. It wasn’t planned but it allowed him to pay off his student debt in one year. We now only have to take care of ourselves, and that is a huge freedom retired or not.
It really depends on your culture, IMHO. I consider kids education as an investment into my retirement. I expect my children to help me financially, when I will be old. Obviously, we, ourselves, provide financial help to our parents and in-laws. Thus, children have an example in front of them.