<p>Hey guys!
Studying in UCLA would be a dream come true for me, but even if they'll accept me, I won't be able to afford it without any financial aid, and as an average, middle-classed, non-american girl, I'm not sure I'm eligible for any kind of scholarship.
I know that the tuition fee for California residents is around $12k - definitely affordable for me. My question is - what exactly is a CA resident? Do I have to be an american citizen, or is it enough for me to buy a house or an apartment in California, and be registered as CA resident?</p>
<p>Getting California residence is extremely difficult for international and OOS students. Unfortunately you won’t be able to get your tuition lowered to 12k. That fee’s meant for CA residents and there are already too many international students that can pay full tuition.</p>
<p>no offense, but if you can buy a house in CA, then you can afford UCLA oos tuition. Ca residency is hard to establish. My understanding is that you must live here and file taxes for a few years (there are exceptions if they can be proven.) You cannot just study here and claim residency. Good luck to you.</p>
<p>beyphy, thanks for your reply! It makes sense, my idea seemed too good to be true haha</p>
<p>Jambajo12,
Non taken But just so you know, being able to buy a house doesn’t mean you have money for college. To pay for college you need to already have $50k in the bank(per each year). Where I live there are no big student loans with flexible payment plans. The maximum you can take from your bank for the whole time you study for a degree is $25k and you have to pay it back within a year or less, opposing to mortgage, which you can pay for years. Buying a house is an investment, and eventually, you sell your house and get your money back (sometimes its value increases and then that’s just awesome), while you’ll never get the $200k you paid for college back (and I’m not talking about earning the money at future jobs, although nobody can guarantee you’ll get a good one).
I know you probably think “oh ok then don’t study here”, but I’m just trying to think of creative ways to make this dream of mine come true :)</p>
<p>BTW, is there some sort of a list of scholarships for international students only? I’ve been searching the internet, but all I could find is very “specific” scholarships, mostly nationality related(none of them is my nationality haha), or for subjects I don’t intend to study.</p>
<p>Thanks, and sorry for the long post, I just wanted to make it clear! :)</p>
<p>There are international students who attend some of the top schools on Merit Scholarship. I found their SAT scores, School records, simply amazing! If you happen to be one of that type, yes, you may qualify, though, I know for sure, for such international students, MIT/Stanford/Berkeley will be the first choice! UCLA is a very good university, though, engineering program may not be its USP:)</p>
But just so you know, being able to buy a house doesn’t mean you have money for college. To pay for college you need to already have $50k in the bank(per each year). Where I live there are no big student loans with flexible payment plans. The maximum you can take from your bank for the whole time you study for a degree is $25k and you have to pay it back within a year or less, opposing to mortgage, which you can pay for years. Buying a house is an investment, and eventually, you sell your house and get your money back (sometimes its value increases and then that’s just awesome), while you’ll never get the $200k you paid for college back (and I’m not talking about earning the money at future jobs, although nobody can guarantee you’ll get a good one).