Student neeeds FA help

<p>Well, I'm originally from the east coast and moved to southern california. I'm definitely looking at the UC's (and will apply RD if I make it to that to Davis, UCLA, and Berkeley), but I really want to get out of the southern california area. Berkeley is my #2.</p>

<p>jcll...if you are concerned about the finances...those UC's provide a top notch education at a great cost for in state students.</p>

<p>for some reason I can't formulate my own questions and I your responses prompt the questions that are really in my mind:</p>

<p>Is it worth spending roughly $35-40k to go to a private (UPenn) and the program I really want to do (LSM: combines business and medicine) or spend about $20-$25k to go to a california school (let's just qualify it as UCB or UCLA) for business and science. Yes, I know the schools are entirely different (non-academically speaking). I guess I should just visit each and see?</p>

<p>jcl,
Penn is $50+k, assuming there is no FA. It's double the price.</p>

<p>I honestly don't know why I just typed $35-40k. I know it's about $45-50k (I even calculated the difference out @ $50k per year vs 23k per year).</p>

<p>That said, opinions? It doesn't seem worth it.</p>

<p>jcll...there are students who would pay the out of state price (which is about the same as you would pay to go to UPenn) to attend UCLA, UCB, Cal Poly SLO, etc. </p>

<p>If you want my opinion...and you really want to save some money while still getting an excellent education, at least consider the UC's. You could still apply to other schools but unless you get significant merit aid from somewhere, your costs are going to be higher.</p>