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<p>That plus taxpayer revolt, in my opinion. Public colleges have to be funded somehow. If we are going to cut or hold the line on taxes, then students (and their parents) have to pay more. Extending access to more people, rising healthcare costs, salaries, etc. all contribute to the problem as well, of course.</p>
<p>My D has a 2360 SAT score, a 4.0 unweighted, AP classes with 5s and 4s, great ECs, and is ranked number 1 in her class. No one from her high school has ever had her stats. Her counselor was not even familiar with the Common App or the CSS profile. We were on our own. </p>
<p>She is my youngest. All of my other children are very bright, but had had nowhere near her stats. I have been putting her siblings through public colleges for the past 15 years or so. Needless to say, there is no savings for her for college, but her sibs have graduated with no debt. Her dad and I make about 145K before taxes in a high cost state. But, with all of her sibs graduated, we felt we could afford to send her to a good school with a little bit of financial aid. (I know, na</p>
<p>CaliMomof5 --</p>
<p>That is dreadful, and I feel you… The problem with leaving California is that nothing is cheap and taxes are so high. I hope it all works out for you and your high-achieving daughter.</p>
<p>diana, it did work out for her. Her D applied to somewhere where she got merit money. Same as what many have encouraged you to do.</p>
<p>Congrats on that, cali. :)</p>
<p>Thanks Diana and Gypsyeyes for your kind words. I do feel that in the end, our family is blessed with the option D has chosen. She is excited because she will be able to take advantage of unpaid internships and study abroad without worrying about the money too much. They will accept all of her AP credits, giving her advanced standing. Their academics are outstanding. It could have ended so differently! </p>
<p>As for the 6 year graduation number, of course that is not the case for all students and all campuses. But just last week the CSU system announced a 13 unit per semester limit! It makes me sad because I love the CSU system! I am a life-time Cali resident and a CSU (and CA community college) alum. It’s tough out there for kids! California is lucky to have the Community College and CSU/UC system that we do, but budget cuts have taken their toll.</p>
<p>Sorry, cali. I deleted my comment because this thread has already gotten off track numerous times!</p>
<p>Congrats, Calimom! You and your D have done well to come up with a great college that your D is in love with and have a LOT of wonderful opportunities at. It’s great that you will be able to save to help her with grad school!</p>
<p>Congrats Calimom! Thank goodness that you had a financial safety!</p>
<p>I do have to wonder what calculator gave you an EFC of only $17k with an income of $140k? That is unusually low. EFC would be about 1/3 of income at that point. Was that an NPC from a school that gives “super aid” like Stanford or HYP?</p>
<p>M2CK, If I understand correctly, it’s because that was split between 3 kids I believe. The H thought that he could count those in grad school as being students.</p>
<p>I wish that were true;). We haven’t qualified for aid the last couple years although oldest is in grad school.
Our EFC is about $14,000 more than it was when the oldest was getting her BA.</p>
<p>Thanks Romani! Missed that the H had counted the grad students. </p>
<p>Since this seems to be a common mistake, I don’t understand why the NPCs and such don’t REALLY spell that out when they ask how many are in college??? Why can they all just include a little note stating that you don’t count parents in college and you don’t count siblings in grad school???</p>
<p>By not being clear on the NPCs, you have these unfortunate situations…people spending money visiting schools and students spendiing countless hours on perfecting essays and doing supplementals. Ugh!</p>
<p>Mom2Collegekids- I am both saddened and relieved that it is a common mistake! Sad because you are right- LOTS of time wasted, money wasted visiting schools and paying for apps and CSS profiles, countless hours on apps and essays and interviews. In the end we have an excellent result. I have told my daughter that because she aimed for Ivy and elites, worked so hard on her essays, polished up her Common App and resume, did interviews for all these elites, etc., she positioned herself to be competitive for an honors college tuition scholarship–so it wasn’t wasted at all. But, ideally it would have been better had we known ahead of time what we were facing so that we could have made an informed decision and avoided all the disappointment when we saw the FA offers! </p>
<p>But I am also relieved that it is a common mistake, because H and I feel like real dummies and that we let our D down. We learned a BIG lesson and I wanted to share. It was pure serendipity that it ended well for us. </p>
<p>I agree that the calculators need to be more specific and give explicit directions. Not everyone is a FA expert. If we made this mistake, I can’t imagine what others might be going through!</p>
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<p>You really have to check with each school about this, UCs and some other schools WILL count grad students if you are providing support.</p>
<p>Great tip somemom! Again, it would be nice if each institution’s calculator gave more explicit instructions. Wish I had asked for advice here at CC last fall! I hope my experience will help someone else.</p>
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Since the proposal that aid should not be provided for the student who can commute appears to limit the choices available, I’m wondering who would decide whether or not a given student has a “commuter” option? And on what criteria and how rigid?</p>
<p>I really don’t think there are that many low-income students who receive a “full-ride” without also having an exceptional academic record. I can understand some of your frustration with the inequalities of the government “system”. I would suggest that you direct some of your frustrations toward your representatives in the California legislature. Many of the laws and regulations in your state are ridiculous, and your higher-than-average state income and sales taxes reflect the costs of many of those programs. (I’m not talking only about educational programs, either). For the record, what would you consider to be the cut-off point between low-income and middle-class?</p>
<p>*Quote:
Originally Posted by mom2collegekids
However, many/most people live near a CC (to do the first two years) and many live near a state univ to finish.</p>
<p>Are you suggesting that because a small minority of people don’t have a commutable option that the sleepaway experience be available to everyone via taxpayer aid??</p>
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<p>Sylvan quote:
Since the proposal that aid should not be provided for the student who can commute appears to limit the choices available, I’m wondering who would decide whether or not a given student has a “commuter” option? And on what criteria and how rigid?*</p>
<p>Not sure what you’re asking…</p>
<p>I’m thinking of some kind of mileage limitation. Such as, if you don’t live within 50 miles of a college (CC or univ), and you’re needy, then aid would be provided.</p>
<p>(I also think there should be some kind of minimum GPA/test scores, because this shouldn’t just be some sinkhole of money for kids just wanting to collect aid.)</p>
<p>If a needy student doesn’t live near a CC (to start), then he should get tax-payer aid for R&B to an instate school. </p>
<p>If a needy student doesn’t live near a Uni that has his unique major, then he should start at a nearby CC for the first 2 years, and then transfer to the target school. Since kids change their majors so often, it’s silly to pay for a student to go to a specific school for a unique major as a frosh, when likely he’ll be a more common major by the time he’s a junior. (Plus, we don’t need kids declaring odd majors as frosh just so that they can get money to go away to school and then change their majors once they’re there.)</p>
<p>If you’re asking…should a child who lives near a state school with a good engineering program be given tax-payer aid to go to a “better” state school, the answer would be no. If his stats are so good, then let private-sourced merit or private universities cough up the bucks. But, no, it would become a nightmare if the argument became, “Give this kid money to go to Cal over San Diego because Cal is ranked 10 spots higher in that major.” It’s only undergrad. He can go there for grad school.</p>
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<p>I really don’t think there are that many low-income students who receive a “full-ride” without also having an exceptional academic record.</p>
<p>I think we’re beyond the “full ride” issue as that’s not what’s happening. The issue is more about providing free money (taxpayer) beyond tuition/books. </p>
<p>And, the other issue is the weird $80k cutoff. If fees and books cost $16k at a UC, then free money could be provided to that point of EFC. If you have an EFC of $14k, then you get $2k.</p>
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So that would be your criteria? 50 miles? And how rigid would you want to be with it? Assume for a minute that you’ve just been appointed czar of making the new rules for every state in the country (not just California).</p>
<p>I think we can all agree all aid should be on a sliding scale. Arbitrary thresholds are inherently unfair.</p>
<p>I second proud.</p>