<p>Hello friends!
I was recently admitted as an out-of-state student to my dream school , UCLA, and was thrilled! Until...
I saw my financial aid award.</p>
<p>The only grant I was offered was a $502 scholarship for Health Insurance. The site says that if I have health insurance, then this grant is cancelled too. Well, since I already have medical insurance, I have zero help at all.</p>
<p>The final price is $56,133.
That is FAR too much!</p>
<p>The FAFSA stated that my estimated family contribution should be around $24,000. Even if they weren't able to meet that, shouldn't I have received more?</p>
<p>In addition, I have a sibling entering medical school in the fall, for $80,000.</p>
<p>My father is sending an appeal letter to the financial aid office to see what we can do, but does anyone have any comments?</p>
<p>State universities are supported in part by the taxpayers that live in the state. Why should they offer money to an out of state student whose family does not pay taxes that support the university system?</p>
<p>Estimated family contribution means the amount that the federal government thinks that your family should be able to contribute for your education. It does NOT mean the amount that the school has to charge you - a mistake that many students and their parents make in interpreting the EFC. And the EFC will not factor in your brother’s medical school costs because graduate students are considered to be independent of their parents’ support.</p>
<p>California schools do not offer much in the way of scholarships or financial aid for out of state students. They exist primarily to provide educations for state residents, who support the schools through their income taxes.</p>
<p>What other schools are options for you? Hopefully you applied to a few schools that are affordable.</p>
<p>Thank you all! Yes I did apply to more affordable schools and have been admitted.
I was hoping for a more positive outlook, but it looks like that’s just not the situation I’m in.</p>
<p>It just doesn’t make sense for out-of-state students at all, then.</p>
<p>^^^ That may or may not be, but this student’s problem is not that she’s middle class. She applied to an OOS university - and they don’t generally offer financial assistance to anyone, regardless of whether you’re rich, poor, or somewhere in between. As explained above, if you want an affordable state university education, stick to your home state!</p>
<p>I don’t see any point to sending an appeal. You would always have at least your EFC of 24k at minimum plus 23k of OOS surcharge which won’t be covered. So if they wanted, they could bring it down to 47k for you at best, and that’s unlikely. CA admits so many OOS students so they can get the high full tuition they need.</p>
<p>For UCs, the in-state net price is typically FAFSA_EFC + ESC. ESC is the student contribution that is typically around $9,000 ($5,500 federal direct loan + expected work earnings).</p>
<p>For the out-of-state net price, add the out-of-state additional tuition of about $23,000, which they do not cover with financial aid grants, except for a few rare merit scholarships.</p>
<p>So if your FAFSA_EFC = $24,000, then the expected net price at a UC would be $24,000 + $9,000 + $23,000 = $56,000 (or the list price if it is lower than that). Meaning you got pretty much what you should expect as an out-of-state student.</p>
<p>We are out of state and D has also been accepted to UCLA and UCSB. At either one the OOS tuition is higher than what we would have paid at Stanford if she had been accepted, which she wasn’t. Unfortunately we come from a state where option A has an average GPA of 3.2 weighted, doesn’t consider SAT/ACT scores and the four year graduation rate is 14.6%. Option B does consider SAT/ACT scores and the average M+CR+W score is 1585, and the four year graduation rate is slightly better at 17.5%. Compare that to UCLA where the average GPA is 4.2, the average SAT is 1935 and the four year graduation rate is 70.9%. So if she chooses a UC we will be paying $56,000 a year. </p>
<p>But I totally get that it is California tax payers who are funding the UC’s and the need based money needs to go to Cali kids. We don’t qualify for need based aid so that is a moot point for us. But I do understand that reasoning. </p>
<p>So there you go. Do we make her attend her state school when she has worked her butt off to achieve at 4.0/4.75 GPA and a 2020 SAT? Or do we bite the bullet and reward her hard work and the amazing opportunities she will find at either UCLA or UCSB? We are biting the bullet…</p>
<p>She could also take a gap year and/or apply at Us that give automatic merit to kids with great stats. It is really a choice you have to be comfortable with, especially financially for 4+ years. If grad or pro school might be in the picture, it might be wise to save some resources for that as well. </p>
<p>@notmadeofmoney
You could just send her to a CA CC (some of which are really good, SMC) then transfer into UCLA or UCB or even use the money you saved for USC. </p>
<p>Why did her app list become a situation of a UC or a bad public? What kind of list was that?? </p>
<p>and what “amazing opportunities” at UCLa or SB? I think you’re expecting too much from either school. My two nephews are at UCLA, both A students with much higher test scores, and we’ve yet to see any amazing opps at all…at all.</p>
<p>If you want to spend that much as an OOS at a UC, then fine, but there could have been other options if her list had been more thought out. Her stats are good, and could have gotten her decent merit at a number of schools that are better than her state school. What are these state schools? Are they in Nevada??? That’s the only state that I can think of that has lousy state schools.</p>
<p>edited to add…I see that your D is premed? I would never send my premed child to a UC…especially as an OOS student. and, I have a child in med school.</p>
<p>That madeofmoney’s daughter has to choose between the high costs of UCLA and a mediocre college is a shame. Why apply to UCLA if you can’t afford it comfortably? their own website cautions against doing that. There were plenty of schools with merit scholarships that she could have chosen but did not.</p>
<p>There is a reason the NPC is mandated to put up on each college’s web site. It is well known that most, I mean most, public schools do not meet need for oos students. Unless you are brilliant and receive a large scholarship from them, it would be hard to fill the gap in need.</p>
<p>I don’t know what the 4 year grad rates are at most schools, so can’t comment on what you have there for your state schools, Madeofmoney. But I can give you a bit of advice, if you DD is premed. And that is an area I have a lot of info and knowledge over more than 40 years. Keep those loans to a minimum, take courses to prep for the MCAT and the rest of interest and get the top grades on them Use any extra money to fatten the knowledge for the MCAT based courses. </p>
<p>I went to a storefront Urgent Care last weekend, and the excellent doctor working there is a top ug school grad, from an excellent medical school, working at a very good hospital in this area, who is moonlighting to try to live in this area on that hospital salary AND to pay off his many, many student and med school loans. It’s come to that if doctors want to live in areas like mine and have an upper crust life that they feel they have earned. And that feeling comes right from home, college and peers. Not just the Jones.</p>
<p>I think UCLA has a great reputation, but class sizes will still be large for many first year classes.</p>
<p>I would rather have my child attend a less prestigious school, but have more interaction with her professors, classmates and TAs.</p>
<p>The UCs don’t need to give OOS or internationals aid, since they all want to apply and attend. This is well known.
If the UCs wanted OOS students, the tuition difference would be lower.</p>
<p>I told my daughter not to apply to UCs, but instead to apply to schools known for merit aid. I’m very happy that she is considering three private schools that will charge 15-22K for tuition after scholarships.</p>
<p>It’s best not to have a dream school, but to have college provide opportunities for you to fulfill your dreams.</p>
<p>@marymac
It seems we are on the same boat. My D never considered UCs as we know they are not affordable to us and she ended up picking schools from a quite few good schools between 14-22k after scholarships. Thank God that my D loves the one that is the second cheapest among her options although it is not the one with the highest reputation. ;)</p>