Hello all,
This is my first post on the website but I have been reading forums on here for a few years. I am going to have my AA in Journalism this summer from a community college here in San Diego. I have applied and am waiting to hear back from Western Washington University. I am considering applying to UW as well but the cost is overwhelming for me. I don’t have any financial assistance from family. I am looking to get my BA in Linguistics and haven’t found too many scholarships for the major. I have only considered these two schools as WA State is where I have dreamed of moving to for years and I want to stay close to the coast.
I haven’t had much luck finding scholarships for transfer students and do not qualify for the WUE to pay in-state. I have reviewed the scholarships WWU offers but none of them really apply to me. It seems freshmen have the upper hand. If there is anyone that has had luck applying for certain scholarships to help pay out-of-state tuition I could use your help/input! I have a 3.67 GPA.
I’ve been a barista for 8 years, most of my money going to my education. I am hoping I get in but it seems WA also gives priority to their residents. Crossing my fingers… thanks!
Why aren’t you looking at any in-state CA schools? Fullerton, Long Beach, Northridge, Davis…
Thanks for your reply, Erin’s Dad… I actually did attend Cal State Northridge for a short while but the area wasn’t right for me. I did think about staying in California but my heart is taking me elsewhere. I’ve been up and down this state, family all over and I am just ready to get out for a little while. It mostly comes down to wanting to be in an entirely new environment while at the same time I can no longer afford to live here. The cost of living here may even out with the tuition I will be paying up there but I think if I can tackle some scholarships and get a decent job in WA I will be better off.
What job can you get with a degree in linguistics?
If you cross your fingers and get in, how will you pay for it?
Have you tried the net price calculator?
What is your FAFSA EFC?
Hi Madison, thanks for your reply! I have also applied for the TESOL program because I’m interested in teaching. Ideally I want to teach abroad. I know sign language and I want to learn another language but haven’t decided on which one. If that falls through I would like to write for a magazine or work somewhere in the journalism realm. According to my FAFSA report I am eligible for a stafford loan of up to $10,500 and a Pell Grant for $2,680. I had to take out a loan to pay for Cal State Northridge in 2009 and I already paid it off. Ideally I would like to not have to take out any loans this time around. I did to a net price calculator and the total for the year came out to $28,034 with $6,400 in aid. That was WWU’s calculator.
I would like to add as well that I haven’t ruled out continuing with Journalism and getting a BA because writing is where my passion is. I would still end up minoring in Linguistics because I am fascinated by language and different dialects. I would assume there are more scholarships out there for journalism students as well. I will start looking into that.
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I don’t have any financial assistance from family.
According to my FAFSA report I am eligible for a stafford loan of up to $10,500 and a Pell Grant for $2,680. I had to take out a loan to pay for Cal State Northridge in 2009 and I already paid it off. Ideally I would like to not have to take out any loans this time around. I did to a net price calculator and the total for the year came out to $28,034 with $6,400 in aid. That was WWU’s calculator
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This sounds like a bunch of magical thinking. how are you going to cover $28k?
And how is that cheaper than a CSU??
My dd applied to private and public schools in Washington when she was a senior in high school. She got in and had great grades and scores but the Washington schools were expensive. There were no scholarships for OOS students and the fees were around $40K and up. It was too expensive so she went to her UC.
I don’t think you will have much luck in finding money north of us. Your loans will be ridiculously high.
Hi mom2collegekids, It does sound like magical thinking and I hadn’t done a price calculator until today. The tuition is actually closer to $19k for the year. If I can get the $6400 in projected grant money and take out a stafford loan for 10k I think I may be able to make up the difference with what I have saved and any potential scholarships I may receive. My last resort is taking out a private loan. I posted this originally to see if anyone had transferred like this out-of-state and had success with any scholarships. The original quote includes room/board and transportation. I’ll be living off-campus with my boyfriend, both of us working and hopefully living close enough to not depend on my vehicle as much as I do here in San Diego.
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think I may be able to make up the difference with what I have saved and any potential scholarships I may receive. My last resort is taking out a private loan. I
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What you have saved to cover the difference for ONE year? what about the other year(s)?
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The tuition is actually closer to $19k for the year.
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Why are you only looking at tuition? what about room, board, books, fees, etc? and do you need to buy health insurance?
And what about moving costs? How much will it cost you to MOVE from San Diego to practically the Canadian border? I think THAT expense will eat up a chunk of your savings.
These are the current costs at WWU…next fall will likely be higher…and the following fall will be higher still.
Tuition and fees $20,407
Room and board $10,042
Books and supplies $1,080
The R&B costs are for a dorm…if you’ll be living in an apt year round, then your costs could easily be higher.
How is this cheaper than going to school in calif???
Aunt bea, thank you very much for your input. I’m not applying for UW for those reasons exactly. UW is at least 15k more a year than Western. I keep thinking about the possibility of establishing residency first and then re-applying. Does anyone know if my chances of receiving more aid would be higher if I did so? I feel like it would be more difficult to get accepted at that point though…
Can you print out the NPC results for WWU
mom2collegekids, you are so quick to respond! Thank you! So far I have about 5k saved and I made the move from Louisiana to SD with a uhaul for $2800 (including gas) in 2011. It’s about the same distance from here to Bellingham and my boyfriend is contributing quite a bit to our moving costs and rent. It would absolutely be cheaper to finish my BA here in California but I really am looking for a completely new environment. I have been all over this state and I do love parts of it, especially Santa Rosa and Santa Cruz but I really do feel I should be in WA. My boyfriend has always wanted to live up there as well and after taking a major drive last year and looking at schools I would be interested in throughout CA and WA, I fell in love with WWU’s campus and Bellingham in general. I realize I am looking at considerably more debt by doing this but Bham was the only place we both connected with.
Your plan for instate residency in Washington is not realistic. Their instate residency requirements can be harsher than California’s.
If you haven’t been paying Washington taxes, you won’t be getting in-state residency. They also have a minimum length of time that you have to prove that you have been paying state taxes in order to pay and stay at their universities.
This will be a very expensive venture. You need to plan for 4 years and you may end up maxing out your loan eligibility.
IMO it makes the most sense to finish out college in CA and THEN move to WA. People move after college for a new job all the time.
I read in your initial post that you have been working as a barista. Are you working at a Starbucks? If so, have you checked out the ASU Online option (can’t recall the special scholarship/program name for this agreement between Starbucks and ASU Online)? This would be one way to earn a degree (and I know they offer degrees that sound good for you - journalism, communications - but I don’t believe they have a linguistics program).
It is silly to take on DEBT just to move to Wash earlier. Finish your degree, and then get a job up there.
It would be extremely annoying to be paying back big loans once you graduate when you realize that if you had just stayed in Calif a little longer you’d have a lot less debt.
Besides…I think you need to consider how likely it will be that you’ll get a job in your FIELD in Bellingham area.
Are you sure about that grant. I ran the NPC on WWU’s website with a modest income (Pell eligible) and was ONLY shown a grant that was the Pell amount.
Can you copy/paste your NPC results?
Do you qualify for a Cal Grant in Calif? If not, then you’d likely get better aid from a UC.
I don’t see being able to afford the next years unless you stay in-state. Your heart can take you wherever it wants after you have your bachelor’s degree. When your heart takes you there it will have been worth it to not have the additional debt.
I’m not seeing why it’d be unrealistic to establish state residency. Sure, it’d be cheaper, easier and faster to finish the BA in-state and then move later. (And CA does have a lot of great places to live and go to school!) But adults move all the time, and after a year, we’re residents. If you’ve been a barista for 8 years, you must be an adult and probably aren’t a dependent. I could choose to move to WA without a job, get one, and then be a resident … why would it be any different for an adult in her 20s than for me, an old mom? (Other than the jobs I’d be willing to do and my extreme unwillingness to live in one room of a grouphouse with 20-somethings at this stage of the game, LOL!)
I’ve looked at WA’s in-state residency rules, since WWU has programs that are very attractive to my son and is in a place he thinks he might like to live in, so it’s very much on our “short list.” Fortunately we’ve got a 529 that would handle most of it (knock on wood), but IMO with any OOS public uni, it makes sense to think, “OK, if this degree starts to look like it’ll take a while and money is running short, would this be a place where it’s at least possible to take a break from full-time school, establish residency because it really IS a place that seems great to settle in, and then do the rest in-state?” Of course you couldn’t be a dependent of your parents, and you’d have to not mind being on “the long plan” and having college be a part of your life but not the whole of it, but it looks to me as if that’s been your situation anyway.
WWU has all the info on their website as to what constitutes residency. I wouldn’t suggest going in as a transfer student from CA, though; why not just move to Bellingham and establish yourself there? Do you have friends there? (That’d sure help.) Anyway, find some roommates. Get a job in a coffeehouse. Do the necessaries that everyone does when we move, like changing your driver’s license and voting registration. You’re allowed two courses per semester, I think, while establishing residency. They’d be at OOS prices and you might be better off financially doing CC classes there, but you could in theory do it that way. No guarantee you’d get into WWU, of course, but with your GPA it’s a good shot, and anyway you’d be in WA for other schools if you didn’t get in, since what you’re truly keen on is WA itself!
Certainly, if you’re really committed to being in WA and don’t want to do your BA in CA first, then it makes a ton more sense to establish residency than to go into debt for OOS tuition in a place you want to stay in afterwards anyway.
Cheers from a former barista who packed all my stuff in my car and moved cross-country without a job to the state I wanted to live in many, many years ago 
@MomOnALaptop If the student wanted to take a year off of schooling, then that might work…but that’s not what she is asking.
For your own child, it’s not that simple since it sounds like he’'s 17/18. At undergrads, it doesn’t matter that you’re an adult at 18 to get instate rates. Schools look at where your parents live for instate rates until you’re 24 years old.
So, your child would have to wait a long time before he could become a WA resident…unless YOU move with him.
Yes…18 year olds can move, and be residents for the state for OTHER issues…but not for instate rates.