Taking a difficult minor along with a difficult major
Playing the game for the higher GPA by dropping/retaking classes
Taking longer simply because they can - i.e. the cost is less than a full cost private so they’re willing to stay longer</p>
<p>Outside of engineering majors it shouldn’t be that hard to graduate in 4 years and many can graduate in 3 1/2 or even 3. For engineering it might tend more towards 4 to 4 plus a quarter or two.</p>
<p>I’m generalizing, of course, and I’m more familiar with UCLA and UCSD so maybe some of the other UCs are different.</p>
<p>Fees at Cal this year total $12k+, and doubling those alone would put the COA at ~$44k for intstaters. Privates are running mid-$50’s, only $10/11k more.</p>
<p>UMich is running $26k at instate rates. UVa is ~$24k.</p>
<p>I think you should not unless you can guarantee that your son can get into private colleges with decent need-based aids. You may need some safety and the UC application process is very simple.</p>
<p>I agree. Also if your income is less than $80,000, the UCs CURRENTLY have a committment to providing grants for all fees, which makes the total COA just under $20,000 at UCLA. However, it remains to be seen whether or not this financial aid committment will continue. Still, currently at least, the UCs are a good local safety.</p>
<p>^^ And the COA of the UC is considerably lower if one is attending a local one and commuting. The housing cost, especially the dorms, is generally more than the tuition cost at a UC. This is usually reversed at a private.</p>
<p>^^^: I’m not sure if that’s the case the average cost of dorm and food is around $13000 at a private University. It’s just that the tuition at private college is more so the cost seem less.</p>
<p>Are you saying the average cost of dorm and food is more than $13000 at UC campuses?</p>
<p>I think the cost of UC tuition upto $18000 is justifiable under the current circumstances. Increasing overall taxes will be insane.</p>
<p>For UCLA, it’s $13,734. UC San Diego $11,500. UC Davis $12,500. UC Berkeley $15,300.</p>
<p>Figures from Collegeboard.org. Living at home and going to a UC has always been the cheapest way to get a great education for little money. R&B are killers…</p>
<p>My D is one of the many SoCal kids in her graduating class last year that either did not apply to a UC school or turned down a UC school in favor of a private school. My D is in an east coast private that is costing us less than if she had opted for a UC school. D’s major is musical theatre so there were only 2 UC’s that offered this major anyway. D had excellent grades and was awarded both merit and talent scholarships at her private school which bring the COA below a UC even with travel home added in.</p>
Regarding housing/food plan costs - yes, it’s more than the tuition at most, if not all, UC campuses. However, this is mitigated by the fact that most UC students move off campus into nearby apartments after the first year or two or three and the fact that none of the students are required to live on campus. Usually living off campus will be less expensive. Of course, LA (especially Westwood/Santa Monica/Beverly Hills/etc.), La Jolla (for UCSD) and the SF bay area for UCB are all expensive areas but regardless, it’s usually cheaper to live off campus. </p>
<p>Even with the cost of housing/food one can compare it to whatever other colleges one’s interested in and quantify the difference and decide whether that’s worth making a different decision based on it or not.</p>
<p>
I think it comes down to what other options the person has. UCSD also has highly ranked engineering/CS programs (but so do a number of other state U’s) and while I don’t know about the UG degree in theater, the grad program is apparently one of the top few in the country. There are lots of variables including how one’s local state U compares, what private options exist for them, whether they’ll get need based aid anywhere or not, whether they’ll get merit based scholarships anywhere, whether the person wants to go to a different geo area, where the person wants to end up working, and how much the cost difference will be felt by the family (i.e. for some people 50K/yr is much less of an impact than it would be for some others).</p>
<p>So, it comes down to an individual decision. If you were considering UCSD (or anywhere else) OOS it may be a reasonable decision depending on your priorities and individual circumstances.</p>
<p>it is all politics.When prisons are better funded than schools, a state has a fundamental problem of priorities. Badly-thought out voter initiatives such as “Three Strikes” and Prop 13 have had devastating consequences on education funding. Meanwhile, the federal budget is being held hostage by fundamentalist ideologues who don’t understand that contraception prevents unplanned pregnancy. In the meantime, corporate bonuses and tax breaks make the rich richer, and us in the middle class get the squeeze.
Maybe we are all doomed by politics and greed.
I went to university in Australia; not only was it FREE, but I GOT PAID A STIPEND to do my undergraduate degree. Last time I checked, the Australian economy was doing gangbusters. I should have stayed.</p>
<p>I don’t think most people find police/fire/jails very much red or blue. Nobody wants criminals running free. It’s much more a union thing which is blue for sure. Jails are good. Jailers making $120K a year–not so good.</p>
<p>Barrons is right. Add to that the high percentage of inmates who are illegals and for which California gets no reimbursement from the federal government. And though god knows we need our firefighters for wildfire season, they are permitted to retire rather young and collect very generous pensions. </p>
<p>But Jerry Brown doesn’t have the power to raise tuition. That’s for the Regents of the UC system.</p>
<p>However, the prison guards’ union has had the “reds” / Republicans in their pocket for quite some time by playing the “tough on crime” card (also note that when Republicans like Wisconsin’s governor want to end collective bargaining for government employees, police and fire are exempted).</p>
<p>The California “three strikes” law, lobbied for heavily by the prison guards’ union and “red” / Republican politicians, does a great job at maximizing prisoners, prison costs, and prison guard employment, rather than using prison space in the most efficient way (in terms of crimes prevented and deterred per prisoner).</p>
<p>In responding to posts #31 and #32, yes. The main reason S1 applied to UCSD is due to its strength in bio-related sciences, plus the good weather. By the way, I know Chancellor Fox personally when she was a Prof. at UT Austin. However, the high price tag (over $51K/yr) in comparison to the in-state option (UW Madison) makes it an easy decision. As good as it may be, paying twice as much for UCSD is not a smart move by any standard. And besides, UW-Madison is a terrific school, fairly strong on bio-related sciences, may be just as good as UCSD. Granted that the quality of life is much better in La Jolla. You simply can’t beat the CA weather. That is the bad news. However, the good news is, he can always go for a graduate school or a medical school in CA: A reasonable motivation to study hard and excel in life.</p>