<p>First post so I am sorry if I posted in wrong forum section, or title is too long (or anything else). </p>
<p>A little background information: I am a female, Asian senior in high school in Michigan. ACT is 31 and my GPA is a 3.9 but I hope to earn a 4.0 (I will work my butt off). I have decent extra curricular activities I guess. I have been admitted to five colleges in Michigan so far, but I really want to go to UC Berkeley.</p>
<p>Anyway, my family doesn't make much money at all and they can not send me to go to school out of state. If I do go, it's all on me. I will have to get a job, work-study, scholarships, financial aid, loans or whatever... and UC Berkeley is expensive! I talked with my vice-principal about UC Berkeley and he told me that I should apply even if it's very expensive there, because there's no point in worrying about tuition if I haven't even gotten in. Anyway, I am almost done applying to UC Berkeley but now I'm thinking about in case it'll all be too expensive (like 100k debt when I graduate from there)... PLAN B: transferring. </p>
<p>Because it turns out I can join the Tuition Incentive Program (TIP). Basically it means I can go to a Michigan community college and get my tuition paid if I plan to get at least an associate's degree (so first two years). I think this is a good opportunity because I talked to the vice-principal and he said that the first two years are basically pre-reqs. So as you can probably guess I think maybe I can do my first two years at a CC and then transfer junior year to UC Berkeley. But I feel like I am taking a huge risk. I know UCB gives priority to CCC and then to out of state applicants. Plus does it look bad because I am transferring from a community college? I'm just thinking. And I know that I would have to make sure my CC credits transfer to UCB. I will call and make sure. </p>
<p>I just don't want to graduate from college with a large amount of debt, and community college can save some money. I could go to a Michigan college and get my tuition paid for... But I really want to go out of state (I know, same old thing everyone says). So, I want to know what you guys think of my plan-IF I GET ACCEPTED, would I get a decent amount scholarship money? Or whatever else type of aid that would help reduce the huge sticker price for out of state tuition? (I think no but College Confidential has people that know more.) And if I don't go there all four years... Is the transferring idea realistic or no? What are my chances? I think that my chances are kind of random because I am fairly confident I will perform well in CC, but I know nothing, so please don't be harsh with me, but be honest. </p>
<p>Sorry for the long post, and thank you for reading. </p>
<p>UCB is pretty up there in the top National Universities. Not as good as the lower Ivy Leagues but it still is close. If I were you I would go to UCB even if I were to be in debt and just make every single moment of my college education matter. It’s a good investment if you get superb grades and get in to graduate school for a high paying profession such as a doctor. Also if you become a doctor or into public service, the graduate school debt goes away after 10 years of serving. However UCB is very selective so the thing is to get accepted in the first place. I hope 3.9 is your unweighted GPA because if it was weighted, it would be low even for the UCB admits who aren’t asian.
If you want to transfer, you better get a 3.7 GPA from your CC and have real experience for your major in the real world. If you’re going to apply for UCB you might as well send an application for UCLA because UCLA is an awesome school too.</p>
<p>1) If you enter as a Freshman or Transfer, you will receive little to no financial aid as an OOS student, so you will end up in a large amount of debt: $55k/year for 4 years or 2 years, take your pick. You are unable to borrow more than a total of $27K for the 4 years on your own so the rest would be up to your parents unless you can work and save a substantial amount of money while at a CC. Regents pays around $8500K but regardless, the mimimum you would pay would be $23K to the maximum of $55k.
2) Local CC’s will get priority as a transfer, so coming from OOS will limit your chances, but not impossible.</p>
<p>If you are determined to attend UCB, consider attending for graduate school. Save your money for undergrad and apply to your dream school as a graduate.</p>
<p>Your VP gave you some awful advice:
“he told me that I should apply even if it’s very expensive there, because there’s no point in worrying about tuition if I haven’t even gotten in.”
There’s no point of applying if you can’t afford this school. California is out of money and does not fund OOS students-not at the CC level nor the university level. Let your VP know that the TIP program might give you the credits for your state, but the UC system does not have an articulation agreement with OOS community colleges, so they would not accept a number of your courses. And OOS transfers don’t stand a really good chance of being admitted.</p>
<p>CC route in California: You would be full pay AND if you tried to enter via a California CC, where would you live? </p>
<p>Our rents are notoriously expensive. My dd just returned from visiting her friend at Berkeley; she indicated that the apartments off-campus are tiny and VERY expensive. You would be working a lot of hours with minimal classes at the CC and maybe take 4 years to transfer. Our CC’s are full and classes are hard to come by.</p>
<p>RE Berkeley, IF you got in, (your ACT score isn’t competitive but you might be admitted as FULL PAY). You wouldn’t get any financial aid sufficient enough to even begin to cover any expenses. OOS students are admitted as full pay because California gets hundreds of thousands of applications world-wide, and can afford to be picky because people will pay to come here. Work study would maybe cover $2- 5K. Part time job, if you could find one, maybe $3k per year. Loan $5500. That totals around $10-15K which wouldn’t make a dent in the $60K you are expected to pay.</p>
<p>So are we trying to discourage you? No. Are we trying to inform you? Yes. If you are OOS for Berkeley and don’t have the funds, you are basically rejected. </p>
<p>Oh, forgot to add, the government only gives you $5500 loan as a freshman. Your parents would have to take out the remaining $40K per year. If they are low income, they wouldn’t qualify to borrow $160K over 4 years. </p>
<p>I am not sure if I am replying to all of you but I’m trying. </p>
<p>Thank you gumby mom, that is a smarter decision. I will probably just attend a Michigan school and maybe in the future, I’ll go there for graduate school 
</p>
<p>Aunt bea, you have a lot of good points… It really paints a picture of how much I’d be struggling if I lived in California right now on my own.</p>
<p>Boxlogoboy, that’s my unweighted GPA right now. </p>
<p>Thanks for all the helpful, realistic advice everyone. I really won’t be able to go there… It’s much too expensive. </p>
<p>I’m glad you have some sense in you head as well as brains! OOS is just not a good deal for the UCs as explained above. Don’t throw away a chance at your own excellent state U for massive debt. One option you do have is private colleges that might cover a lot of your ‘need’ if your parents can pay their portion. If you want to look for those post in the college search or read the financial aid forum. But this may work best if you want a smaller college or LAC. For big u you can’t do much better than UM or MSU. You are a great student so you don’t need to do Cc except if you prefer to, you have better options.</p>