<p>Is it irresponsible for my daughter to apply to a Univeristy of California school for the Fall 2010 with all of their budget problems?</p>
<p>No, it’s not.</p>
<p>The UC schools do offer lot of optoins for the right students. Even with its budget woes, there are a lot of good faculty & opportunities at these schools. For our kids, the OOS costs were high & it was not what they & we were looking for at the price, so they did not apply.</p>
<p>meedub:
Are you a California resident? As HiMom states, having to pay OOS tuition to a UC adds a new variable to the equation of the value.</p>
<p>The UCs still have excellent professors, programs, research facilities, a plethora of available majors, etc. and are still excellent learning facilities. There’s a lot in the press about budget woes at the UCs, CalStates, and many (most??) other colleges around the country including many privates. Just like anything else it’s best to separate the hype of the media, including some self-induced hype on the part of the colleges in an attempt to have a bigger piece of the pie, from the actual changes that would affect what your D’s particular experience would be like. That experience could be affected by the budget depending on her major, particular campus, etc. or it might be virtually unaffected by the budget issues. I know it can be difficult to figure out the reality of the effects other than some concrete changes (ex: any majors that have been eliminated, lower admissions to some campuses, increased tuition/fees) and the anecdotal ones from people like me with a student at a UC or others who know someone who knows someone at a UC who said…</p>
<p>The UCs continue to attract very top students and are still competetive to gain admission to.</p>
<p>I would say it depends on your budget. If you’re in state, they still are a relative bargain, especially the top 3. Though do look at 4 year graduation rates and be prepared to perhaps have to pay for more than 4 years.</p>
<p>If you’re OOS, I might consider Berkeley engineering, UCLA film and UCSD BME, and I’m sure I’m missing a few outstanding programs, but in general, hell no.</p>
<p>One problem to consider about UCs & other schools that are having crowding problems is that your child MAY be put in housing that is “cozier” than designed (e.g. putting 3 people in a unit built for two or put in the lounge. Another thing that can happen is not being able to get into “impacted” (i.e. popular) majors, which is a problem if your child wants to switch majors into one of those fields after matriculating.</p>
<p>OOS, the prices are pretty high, in-state, it’s still quite reasonable compared with alternatives. Check out your options to figure out what makes sense for your child & family.</p>
<p>Quite frankly, no. The problem is going to get worse before it gets better.</p>
<p>The biggest problem right now is class availability and overcrowding. It currently takes an average of 7 years to graduate from Cal State Long Beach, from what my friends and professors have told me. It may take me 5 or even more to graduate from SSU, simply because no one can get the classes they need.</p>
<p>^^^^That’s terrible! Definitely something people need to take into account.</p>
<p>My kids’ preschool teacher said her husband (engineer) had to go & repeatedly badger the dean of engineering at our flagship U so that their S could get his courses to graduate as well (all classes kept filling before all the kids & he could sign up that needed the courses). This was well before the current budget crunch, so I imagine it’s much worse now. Without his intervention, their child would have taken MUCH longer to graduate, just because he kept being told the classes were filled & closed.</p>
<p>My kids have NOT experienced this as their private U. S was disappointed that two courses he wanted to take isn’t being taught due to the professors’ health issues, but that’s pretty unusual. He & D made sure to sign up early for the courses they wanted to be SURE to get (his is sailing–senior year perogitive, & I’m not sure what her’s is, but I think it’s more academic :).) They have not experienced serious problems getting courses they needed to get at all.</p>
<p>My DD was tripled in a double at UCB several years ago, before the budget crunch, but most kids leave the expensive campus dorms ASAP. DD graduated last year and had no problem graduating on time, could even have finished early and only used one AP course credit, but every class she took counted from day one; even when she was sampling various options, they all counted for a GE credit. Some kids just take what they are interested in without making sure a requirement is fulfilled leading to too many requirements at the end to graduate on time.</p>
<p>Agree with somemom, son of a friend is finishing at UCLA this spring and had no problem finishing in four years.</p>
<p>Here’s a relevant article from today’s LA Times. Bear in mind what UCLA/UCSD dad said about media hype 
[‘Desperate</a>’ UC students scurry to snag key classes - latimes.com](<a href=“http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-classes20-2010jan20,0,4770272.story]'Desperate”>'Desperate' UC students scurry to snag key classes)</p>
<p>From my involvement with budget cuts at our state flagship and what we’re hearing from other states across the country with respect to state budget cuts, I think all public universities in pretty much all states are feeling the impact of state budget cuts. However, from what I’m hearing, many privates are in the same situation due to factors such as decreased donations due to the general state of the economy.</p>
<p>My suggestion no matter where your child is looking is to at least consider the honors college route if that makes sense for your child. The priority normally given to honors college kids for scheduling makes the difference between a frustrating registration experience and an easy one. These kids are the first to register and have no problem getting the courses they need, in my experience.</p>
<p>Also be prepared as a backup plan for the possibility of having to take a winter session or inter session course if you’re having trouble scheduling a course in a regular session.</p>
<p>My daughter is in her third year at UCLA. She’s on track to graduate next Christmas, yes, in three years one quarter. Of her friends and acquaintances at UCLA, almost all are on track to graduate in four years. The exceptions are those with double majors, or those that did not decide on a major until junior year, and only if those majors have a ton of non-GE requirements.</p>
<p>Yes, she was tripled in a double Freshman year. It didn’t bother her.</p>
<p>Keep in mind that some of these kids that are graduating in 4 years come in with a lot of AP credits. My niece is at a UC with sholarship money(tuition is free) but she still wants to graduate in 3 years. I’ve heard the class sizes are huge(like 350+). I hope the budget problem will be resolved in 4 years when D2 is going to apply.</p>
<p>My DD did not choose her major until junior year, BUT she picked the prereqs for the most stringent major she might choose (premed reqs) and made sure they fit.</p>
<p>I really think that is what happens to many kids, they take interesting courses the first year (like I did) and don’t realise those classes do not all fulfill a GE or major requirement and they graduate with dozens of extra units</p>
<p>After seeing the real numbers on state and stimulus funding for UC, the cuts were no worse than many other publics had this year or in several other years. The tuition increase more than compensates compared with the other similar major publics. Basically the UC admin is full of crap. Other similar schools have gone through simi8lar cuts without all the drama. They constantly mislead on the numbers.</p>
<p>My S has applied to four UC campuses (B, LA, SD and SB) as well as some privates in CA and OOS. He is ELC status so he’s tehcnically already “in” at SB. However, his only real interest there is with the College of Creative Studies, which requires a separate application. He’s received a phone call and an email from physics and biochem profs at CCS, indicating that with his stats he’s a likely admit. However, he and we are concerned about the “beach party school” reputation.</p>
<p>As for the UCs in general, we are gravely concerned. My H is a prof at USC, so he has colleagues at various UC campus from whom he can gather first hand information. The evidence is not for the faint of heart. One example, coming from a UCLA sociology professor. During the current year, the UCs basically decided that long term lecturers could stay for the current year, since they weren’t given enough notice of a pending downsizing. The prof expects that NEXT year (class of 2010) will feel the brunt more when these lecturers are finally shown the exits. How this plays out on any individual campus will vary. Those with more space may try to expand enrollments in existing classes. Other campuses may cut course offerings further, offer select classes less often, etc. etc.</p>
<p>Scuttlebutt among faculty members suggest some of the “best and brightest” younger faculty are searching for colleges with better financial stability. </p>
<p>Bottom line: It will get worse before it gets better. Quite frankly, we are hoping our S has some options at private schools to consider. In the meantime, we will go to ground and keep collecting information on the situation as it might impact S. Since he wants to be a science major in an interdisciplinary sense, he’s thinking of a double major. This seems dicey in the sciences, since safety requirements do not allow for overfilling labs with students spilling out the doors.</p>
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<p>BOGUS stats. The simple fact is that well over half of ALL Cal State students require remediation – at some campuses it’s 90%! In other words, they have to take high school classes over again in college. If the Cal State system stopped accepting unprepared kids, the four-year grad rate would skyrocket. But more importantly, graduating on time is not that difficult for the well prepared. The publics are extremely generous with AP/IB credit.</p>
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<p>No doubt true, but even the richest of the rich (aka Ancient Eight) will be undergoing faculty layoffs this year. No college is immune.</p>
<p>Three kids in my extended family are at the UCs. They ARE having problems getting classes, however none expects to have to stay beyond 4th year for their bachelors. That said, two of them had many AP credits and expected to graduate early. That will not be happening, because, as underclassment, they can’t get the upper class courses that would allow early graduation. Upper classmen have first dibs there. </p>
<p>Bottom line: graduating from a UC in 4 years: still possible. Graduating EARLY from a UC - much harder.</p>