<p>UC has a significant number of students who take longer than 4 years to finish because they take quarter/semester-long breaks in order to work full time to pay for the next term. Other students take on jobs with heavy workloads while carrying a full academic schedule, which generally results in so-so grades. Telling these students that they’ll be able to concentrate on their academics, and repay any debt later, is very appealing.</p>
<p>I’ve been near that, myself. My parents and I had a falling-out partway through my sophomore year, and I was financially on my own for the rest of my undergrad years. It was possible at that time (1980’s) at a UC, even living away from home: ramped up my work-study hours, cut my expenses to the bone, and took on subsidized debt. That was when I first learned that no, just because my parents weren’t paying didn’t mean that the FA folks considered me independent. I remember feeling frustrated that the state of California couldn’t see that it was in everyone’s best interests for me to finish my undergrad years as quickly as possible, and then move on to being a productive taxpayer. The state would make more money off of me finishing in four years and immediately moving into a higher-paying job, rather than having me take on part-time minimum-wage type work and eking out enough to finish in six years.</p>