Hello! I am a junior in high school that residents in Nevada. For college, I plan to attend either UCLA or UCI. Both are very good public schools and living in California has been always my dream. I have been talking to my mom about wanting to attend one of these schools, but the tuition for out of state students is a real bothersome. I mean, $50k+ a year?! I would be swimming in $200k+ debt by the time I graduate. Anyways, my mom has suggested that she would move to California with me if I do get in to one of the schools to cut down the price of living in the dorms. I know you need at least two years of attending a high school in California to qualify for instate tuition. If my mom did move to California with me, and I live with her during college, will I save money on tuition?
http://www.registrar.ucla.edu/residence/
Read carefully. Establishing California residency is not easy, although if your mother moves to California early enough and you live with her, it may not be as difficult.
You are correct that UCLA is a great school, UCI, not so sure. Even though it is in the UC system it is still considered a commuter school. With regards to tuition rates even the instate tuition is high. Also be aware that the UC Board of Regents just recently passed a vote to increase tuition cost by 27.5% over the next 5 years. I can tell you that when they raise tuition rates they also raise very other rate. My son will be going to school out of state (utah) and paying out of state tuition his freshman year and it is still cheaper. Residency for utah only requires 1 year. Again, still cheaper than in state tuition room board at california state school. Look in to the WUE (Western Undergrad Exchange). Really good deal as you only pay 150% of the in-state tuition. Also, if you graduate from an accredited high in nevada you are guaranteed enrollment at UNR and UNLV and their tuition fees are relatively cheap. Some things to think about.
Another thing to make sure you consider is this: Can you graduate from a UC school in 4 years. My son has many friends who attend UC schools and they will not graduate in 4 years as they cannot get the classes they need. Many professional students in the UC system. Don’t get me wrong, I am a graduate of the UC system and I received a great education. I was lucky though as school was much cheaper then and I had an athletic scholarship to offset a lot of the cost. It is good that you are considering the cost impact now as a lot of people do not and they end up in serious debt with/without a degree. Piece of advise, choose your major carefully as you know once you get in to the school you will need to apply to business/engineering/ect school. Do not go undeclared as this will make getting your needed classes more difficult as they enroll declared students in core classes before undeclared.
I preferably would like to major in Biology. It seems to me that this is one popular major that those who want to be in the medical field would take. If I do take on this major, I am up for competition, regarding enrollment for classes.
Not that it sounds like you need it, but I just wanted to provide a counterpoint to the anecdotal evidence. I went to a UC school, and I only knew a handful of people who took longer than four years to graduate (among all of my friends/acquaintances at my school and at multiple other UC schools). The only people I knew who took longer than four years to graduate did so because they failed required classes and needed to retake them (engineering major so they needed to take all of these classes in sequence; they only took one class in their final quarter), took the minimum amount of units to be full time, double majored/minored (they could have graduated on time if they only did one major), changed their major late in the game (junior/senior year), or had to take a medical withdrawal (and a reduced workload in following quarters because of medical reasons). Everyone else graduated in four years (or earlier). I don’t know anyone who stayed longer than four years because they couldn’t get into the classes that they needed. It may be a contributing factor for some people, but it’s certainly not the main reason.
Long story short
If you are under 18 and your mom moves to CA and resides in CA for 366 days then you could gain residency status
If you are over 18 then you’ll need to reside for an entire year in CA to prove residency along with being financially independent.
My friend moved to Colorado, so her D could get instate. She had to pay one year of out of state but now as a Sophmore she will pay instate. Actually, she just rented out her house and rented an apartment and plans on moving back after a year. Once you are instate, it stays instate.
States have different policies for determination of residency. U cannot just apply Colorado rules to other states.
Very few non resident students ever are given resident status for tuition purposes at the UC. On top of that in the UC system residency in our state for the purpose of education DOES NOT constitute towards your days for presence in California. You cannot come here as an OOS student, go to a school for one year, and be a resident the next year.
You would need to move within the next 2 months to be in-state. From @bomerr’s post above:
Your mother would need to aggressively prove intent to live in CA indefinitely at least 366 days prior to you being accepted to UC. The date of Acceptance is the relevant date here. It may be worth moving to Incline Village or Nevada City- but do it soon and change banks, give up NV Driver’s license, get CA Driver’s License- the whole nine yards. And you would have to change schools.
There would be no tuition reduction for your mom to move into California if it is fewer than 366 days prior to your acceptance at UC.
You may wish to peruse this thread:
As a previous person mentioned, look into WUE. Nevada is a participating state. The only UC school that participates is UC Merced but many of the Cal State schools do.
There are so many schools that are as good as the two you mentioned. And, it’s not safe to rely on the UC price structure. As stated above, the Regents are trying to raise tuition soon. They don’t admit too many non residents. They have been talking about it lately to raise more money, but there is a huge backlash from citizens who already cannot get their kids into these impacted campuses.
If you really love California, look at some of our private schools. You didn’t give any stats, so I’m not sure where to suggest. It’s helpful to know your unweighted GPA, number of AP’s and if you have taken the SAT/ACT. You are likely to get merit scholarships at privates that would make them less expensive than a UC! There is Santa Clara, U San Diego, the Pomona Colleges, Chapman, Loyola Marymount, Pepperdine.
In the rest of the west there is U of Denver, Rice, SMU, TCU, Puget Sound etc.
Most students taking longer than 4 years at UCs either change their major or are taking less than a full load each quarter to accommodate their work schedule or are sandbagging to boost their GPA. A motivated student who doesn’t change majors late in the game can navigate the system and earn a BS in 4 years or less.
That said, if you have the stats to get into UCLA, at least one the CA privates listed above are likely to offer generous incentives - making them cheaper than a UC for in-state applicants. They don’t care what state your mom live in.
Good luck
You can’t borrow $50k/year. Students can only borrow $5500 as a frosh and a bit more each year (max. $7500 as a senior). How much can your mom afford to pay per year?