So you want to come to California for college?

Not today, Hot!!!

Here are some things about California that ARE true:

Californians may not all be tanned and fit, but they do tend to favor outdoor activities more than most Americans. There’s a big culture here around hiking, camping, mountain biking, and to a lesser extent skiing/snowboarding, river rafting/kayaking, and of course surfing/paddleboarding/etc.

We’re pretty spoiled about having good Mexican food here. I’ve never met a Californian who thought anywhere else in the US had decent Mexican food. I’m not even sure Californians would think you could get decent Mexican food in Mexico. I suspect we secretly think ours is just better.

We are terrible wussies about weather. We dislike humidity as much as freezing cold and we do not hesitate to complain about it.

More on weather: the low humidity means temperatures fluctuate according to whether the sun is out. Even if it’s in the 80’s during the day, if you go out for dinner you bring a jacket with you, because it will be in the 60’s once it gets dark out.

It only rains in the wintertime. Rainy season starts any time from mid-October to December, and ends in March or April. Rain in summer is highly unusual. However, if you’re in San Francisco or elsewhere on the mid- to north coast, summer is fog season, so don’t expect warm sunny June days. You have to wait till September for that. I’m not kidding.

The weather here is pretty constant – it’s unusual for a day to start out sunny and then cloud over and start raining. If it’s going to rain that day, you pretty much know it when you get up in the morning. The rain is also pretty low-key – even if it’s a downpour and the creeks are flooding, it’s still just rain, not a thunderstorm. Lightning is a rare event here.

We have very few mosquitoes. Maybe on the North Coast they have mosquitoes, but not south of the Golden Gate Bridge. However, we have no fireflies.

Re #15

Not getting needed classes seems to be a mostly bogus fear in schools other than open admission community colleges. Most late graduations are due to student related factors, like needing remedial courses, taking light course loads, changing major late, etc. Four year graduation rates unsurprisingly correlate to admission selectivity.

Is there any way for an out of state student to gain residency at all while attending college? I would love to go for both undergrad and grad but idk if i could do that financially

@hcampo From a financial standpoint, it is always less expensive to attend college in your home state at resident rates.

@Happy2Help Hello! And yes, although in state tution is very afforable, I would like to go out of state. Is there any way to gain residency in California while attending college?

There are a few exceptions (e.g. dependent of active duty military who is transferred to CA) but, for the vast majority, you need to establish yourself as an independent Californian (a year of work and self sufficiency and NO SCHOOL) before gaining Resident status.

As @NCalRent describes, the key is self sufficiency. Not dependent on parents for money to live, not listed as dependents on their tax returns. You’re making enough to support yourself, filing your own tax returns, proving this through various documentation and not in school. See links on my post #8 on page 1.

Thank you so much! @NcalRent and @Happy2Help !!

@dustypig “bring a jacket with you, because it will be in the 60’s”

Hahahahah, we do shorts + t-shirt until ~45F or less out here in Upstate NY. This is exactly why I want to go back to where I was born.

One way (which I realize isn’t an option for everyone) - starting January 1, a new federal law called the Veterans Access, Choice and Accountability Act says if you’re a military veteran, any public university has to charge you in-state tuition rates, no matter what state you’re from.

It isn’t an option for everyone, but it is only for tuition, doesn’t cover housing (very expensive for non-Californians).

Another issue for OOS students:

California is a smoke free state.

No smoking in public places nor in bars and restaurants.

Some towns are completely smoke free and will cite you if you smoke on the street.

@auntbea - except for pot and, then only if you have note from your Dr.

D is in senior HS now in CA, and we unfortunately fall in the middle class (too rich for aid, too poor to afford college). Online cost calculator for UCLA estimates we will pay around $35k annually, with no aid whatsoever. (Same for Stanford --not that I think she can get in, but just for comparison). She does have good grades (in a highly-gifted magnet, multiple APs, 2200+ SAT), but there is NO significant merit aid I can find in any CA university. While she can hold her own with test skills and grades, she has no interest whatsoever with leadership, etc. Her EC’s are mostly music (piano, guitar, ukulele, choir). So I doubt she can get those coveted “presidential” or “regents” scholarships which are what, 20 slots per school and few will pay full tuition. So here we are, thinking of going OOS for a merit scholarship somewhere so we can defer big loans until grad school. I thought of sending her to Cal State, but worried she’ll be bored with the instruction.

So there’s my rant, CA mom urging my highly-gifted D to go OOS to escape sinking in debt…

@kellybee2

I pay full tuition at a CSU for my son so, I feel your pain. Truth be told, even at full fare, UCs and CSUs are a bargain. In state tuition at a is UC $14k/yr and $7k/yr at a CSU. Many of them rank among the top schools in the country and they all provide a solid education to a large and diverse population. Living away from home is frequently more expensive than tuition and, if you are strapped, she can commute. A dorm (room and board) at Chico is about $10,500. We are paying substantially less off campus. This year my total bill (rent, utilities, food, tuition, books/supplies) will be less than $17k. Something we’ve found pretty workable on a ‘middle class’ income with some planning. Contrast that with the $22k Chico lists as their COA. Obviously, there are more expensive places to go to college - a friend with a daughter at UCLA estimates $1,100-1,200/month for living expenses and their total bill is less than $30k/yr (4 kids, 2BR apt near campus) . I relay my experience just for some context. It ain’t as expensive as many people make it out to be.

I have a niece from CA who attends Colorado State and pays $27k/yr in tuition and another $11k+ for room and board and another $1k+ to get back and forth 4-5 times per year. Honestly, i can’t get my head around it… Co State is comparable to a mid-tier CSU. Clearly they have more disposable income than i do.

Depending on your daughter’s stats, you will probably have better luck with merit aid at privates like Santa Clara, Chapman and USD. Most of them will offer well qualified applicants enough aid to make them cost-competitive with a UC. Just note that ALL merit aid comes with strings attached and may disappear in year 2, 3 or 4. Be careful sending your kid somewhere you can’t/won’t pay for if this happens.

Many CSUs offer Honors programs for highly qualified applicants - including . Chico, (my son is enrolled.) Long Beach, San Diego State and Sac State also have well established programs. They offer priority reg, smaller class size and a different take on the GE curriculum. Some offer honors housing too.

Here are some links.
http://www.csuchico.edu/honors/
http://www.csus.edu/honorsprogram/
http://newscenter.sdsu.edu/dus/uhc/Default.aspx
http://web.csulb.edu/divisions/aa/uhp/

I am sure I missed a few.

Have your daughter apply Apply to a BUNCH of schools - including a mix of public and pvt and OOS if you gotta. Check out honors programs at campuses she is interested in - particularly if she’s an above avg applicant. Most have supplemental applications you’ll need to seek out. You don’t need to make up your mind until Apr/May after you see where she’s been accepted and what they will cost. I am pretty confident you’ll find a viable option here in the Golden State.

Good luck.

@kellybee2 Here’s what we did – we’re CA residents:

My D went to multiple CA community colleges for 2 years and successfully transferred to UCLA. She’s a senior now and we pay full fees.

We also looked at WUE http://www.wiche.edu/wue

Another thought is, since your daughter has multiple APs, she may have enough GE credits to be able to do one year at CC and then successfully transfer to a UC starting year 2, for 2 more years. There are still scholarships available for transfers but of course not as many. Browse the forum at http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/uc-transfers/

Seems like your household income and assets have to be pretty high to get a net price of $33,898 (list price) at UCLA or a similar net price at Stanford, according to their net price calculators. Income is probably double or more than the median California household income of $61,320.

@ucbalumnus, our income is more but certainly not double the median. we own our home (with a mortgage of course) and 1 rental that breaks even (after mortgage, property tax, HOA, maintenance). the rental we bought as a rainy-day investment for our 7-yo with autism (with help from my parents). i think it’s the rental that is throwing a wrench in the aid process. that’s our problem, we have to save for our retirement & the younger one so all won’t be a burden to D in the future. But then D pays for it by scaling down her dreams.

When we see the tuition rates at UC’s, it doesn’t seem so bad. But then you see the room & board, fees and other incidentals, then we see the bigger picture. We know people with 100-300k in student debt and mostly they regret borrowing so much.

My son with a 2230 SAT applied to 5 Cal State schools. He is labeled highly gifted+. He was strongly considering Cal State Fullerton. He was a finalist for their Presidential Scholarship (or whatever the full tuition scholarship is called) which would have put him around other high achieving honors students.

He ultimately did not get the scholarship and will be attending U Penn after a gap year.

My point is, don’t discount the Cal States if they have an honors college, possible scholarship and a major of interest.