<p>I am stuck in a real sticky situation here. Throughout high school I've worked very hard for my grades. I visited the UCLA campus the beginning of my junior year and fell in love. I knew immediately I wanted to go there and that I would make it happen. I applied the fall of my senior year and as it turns out I was accepted. My GPA was 4.5 and my SAT scores were about 2000 or a little less than 2000. I've taken honors, AP, and IB classes. I went to Bruin Day in April and fell further in love with the school. My major will most likely be economics however my passions are film and acting which is what drew me to UCLA in the first place. The problem I am facing is that I am from Arizona which makes me an out of state student. My tuition per year would be about $55,000. Financially, my parents can't afford it and neither can I. The thought of student loans is terrifying. Being from Arizona, I applied at all the state schools as "insurance" just in case. I got into all of them with scholarships. I love the big cities, so U of A just wasn't an option for me and neither was NAU. So ASU was my only choice left and the scholarship I got would practically pay for my entire tuition. However, ASU has a "party" reputation and I've never heard anything really great about the academia. I would feel a lot better about ASU if I was in the Barrett Honors College, however I didn't even apply because I was almost positive I would be going out of state. So my choice is a matter of the heart and the head. It would be smart to go to ASU and get my degree quickly and with ease with little cost. But UCLA is a really great 'top' school. It's my dream school in my dream city and I worked hard to get in. However, I would be leaving with massive student debt and I don't know if it will be worth it. I need some outside opinions. Can anyone help me shed some light on the subject?</p>
<p>Go to ASU. Use the money you save to go to drive to LA for spring break. No school, not even UCLA is worth an enormous amount of debt. Besides, there will be thousands, if not tens of thousands of students at ASU who don’t party. I go to a party school, and know plenty of people that don’t drink or party. Besides, UCLA students party a lot. Just because it’s more selective doesn’t mean Bruins don’t go out. </p>
<p>Can you apply to Barrett as a rising sophomore?</p>
<p>I, personally, would take out the student loans for a school like UCLA when ASU is the other option. UCLA is a world-renown school with a great reputation, sure to snag you any coveted job. However, I understand the hesitation and the decision whether the debt is worth it or not is really up to you. For a major like economics, UCLA will take you way further than ASU (and I imagine film at UCLA would too, but that has more toss-up results). Talk it over again with your parents, see what they are willing to contribute. If they will pay 20K a year, then that means your debt will be around ~100K. Of course that is a lot, but much better than ~200K and IMO is definitely worth it. Good luck.</p>
<p>Also I’d recommend reposting this exact thread under the financial aid section. You will probably get more (and very knowledgable) responses.</p>
<p>Whatever you do, DON’T graduate with a debt of 100k. If you can’t afford UCLA, simply go to ASU and try to enroll in the honors college.</p>
<p>How much are your parents willing to contribute per year? You can only take out a minimum amount of loans by yourself ($5500, $6500, $7500, $7500 per year). Any more, and your parents will have to cosign. Bottom line, if you cant afford it, you cant afford it. Would you buy a ferrari if you only had $20k worth of assets? No, because it would be impossible to afford. </p>
<p>Investigate starting off at a california cc and transferring to UCLA after 2 years. You can work part time, and you can also try to gain in state residence. Or, go to ASU for two years and try to transfer as a junior. You would be effectively cutting costs in half. Did you get substantial aid from any other oos/private universities?</p>
<p>UCLA accepts a lot of OOS students due to needing OOS tuition. This is a good explanation of the current trend by the student newspaper, The Daily Bruin:</p>
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<p>[Record</a> influx of international students puts pressure on Dashew Center | Daily Bruin](<a href=“http://dailybruin.com/2012/09/23/record-influx-of-international-students-puts-pressure-on-dashew-center/]Record”>Record influx of international students puts pressure on Dashew Center - Daily Bruin)</p>
<p>Increasing OOS students diversifies the student body both racially and geographically. However, attending for accepted OOS students is only a serious option for those who are able to afford the additional non-resident tuition. Unfortunately, like many others who are accepted, it doesn’t seem like you and your family are able to. I know someone whose family did this and, living expenses included, her family paid no less than 100k for her to attend UCLA (and likely more with travel expenses.) But, realistically speaking, that isn’t a reasonable option for most families.</p>
<p>My advise is to go to ASU, and move to Los Angeles after you graduate. Unfortunately, some on here are adamant about going to UCLA as OOS students regardless of how irrational the decision might be. So, if you’re dead set on going to school here you have a few options:</p>
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<li><p>You can go to a california community college and transfer to UCLA later and save quite a bit of money on tuition. Unfortunately, since your an OOS student, you’d still be charged a premium for enrolling in a CCC, but it would be far cheaper than the tuition you’d be paying at UCLA.</p></li>
<li><p>You can go to ASU free and transfer to UCLA afterwards saving money on both tuition and perhaps living expenses. The downside of this approach is that UCLA wouldn’t have to accept the classes that you transfer with since unlike CCCs, they don’t have an agreement with ASU that makes them accept that classes that you apply with. (I’d urge you to do some investigation if you intend to do this.)</p></li>
<li><p>You can wait until you’re 22/24 and eligible to become a California resident. If you start community college when you’re 22, you should be eligible for in-state tuition when you’re 24 and independent. From there, you should be able to transfer to UCLA with in-state tuition. With this option, you would, however, be paying the OOS premium for community college; another option is you could start CC when you’re 24, and eligible for in-state residency, and continue on to UCLA with in-state residency. But with this option you wouldn’t be done with college until you’re perhaps 27 or 28. (i’m pretty sure that one of my friends, originally from Kansas, did something like this.)</p></li>
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<p>With your current circumstances, unless you’re getting extensive scholarships, going to UCLA isn’t advisable.</p>
<p>I still stick with my advice above, about moving to Los Angeles when you graduate. I think it’s the most reasonable option. And you could still be a UCLA fan going to ASU. I saw someone the other day who was a UCLA fan but went to UCSD; and one of my coworkers is an ASU fan who went to UCLA. He originally went to ASU but transferred later to UCLA. So not going to UCLA isn’t the end of the world if you can’t afford it. And you could always go to the school later for graduate school if you’d like.</p>
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<p>They probably party a lot for a top 25 school, but, at least from what i saw, parties (at least large ones) didn’t happen very much outside of three-day weekends and at the beginning and end of quarters. The quarters at 10 weeks are short, and if you’re a STEM student, you’re likely far too busy with actual work to spend your free time partying at length; but even liberal arts majors could be too busy with papers to party a lot (my last quarter I had a paper due each week for eight of the ten weeks in the quarter, and that was supposed to be an easy quarter.)</p>
<p>Beyphy, I’m fully aware of how often UCLA students party, but from the post it sounded (to me at least) that there was some assumption that UCLA would be an entirely studious school. Though there is certainly that contingent, plenty do go out, albeit not as often as most ASU students.</p>
<p>State universities generally are not too generous with need-based aid for OOS students.
UCLA/OOS is nearly as expensive as some private schools that are not much more selective yet have much better aid. Examples: Boston College, Brandeis, Carnegie Mellon, Colgate, Rochester, and many small liberal arts colleges. So one option would be to take a gap year and apply to some of these private schools, perhaps after raising your scores a bit. </p>
<p>Another option would be to talk to ASU about getting into the honors program. Explain that it was an oversight that you did not check the right box or file the right form when you applied. If this doesn’t work and you are willing to take a gap year, see if you can re-apply to ASU as an honors candidate. You’ll still need an admission & financial safety, in any case.</p>
<p>I agree with others that taking on a pile of debt to attend UCLA is not a good option (if it’s even a real option at all.) Establishing CA residency may not be easy, either. It would be more practical to go to ASU and work on meeting students who share your interests.</p>
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Why is this even a question? Neither you nor your parents can afford UCLA. Go to ASU, do well, go to UCLA for grad school or move to LA after graduating.</p>
<p>UCLA is just not worth the OOS tuition if you have to do serious amount of loans. Certainly it is no guarantee of a job, and I happen to know a recent Econ graduate. I think he is working at a recycling kiosk behind a grocery store. It’s too bad you didn’t more seriously consider financial safeties, or compromise on location. Pick an Arizona school, focus on being at the top of your class and you will have great options with employers and grad schools. Look for internships every summer.
<a href=“http://www.epi.org/publication/unemployed-workers-outnumber-job-openings/[/url]”>http://www.epi.org/publication/unemployed-workers-outnumber-job-openings/</a></p>
<p>I graduated from UCLA and yes it is an amazing school, but ASU isn’t too shabby either. I have a friend who graduated from ASU and then moved to LA. It’s ultimately the person who will be responsible for their own success. If you really want to go to UCLA then be prepared to pay back the loans. It’s really your own decision to make.</p>
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<p>Actually, no you wouldn’t because you would not be eligible for enough loans without a cosigner.</p>
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<p>And that would be sheer stupidity. But then again, it can’t happen since no one would loan you that kind of money.</p>
<p>OP: if you have the numbers for UCLA, your tuition/fees will be heavily discounted at ASU, perhaps even free. This is a no-brainer.</p>
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<p>However, if the amount of student loans is larger than the Stafford loan limit ($31,000 for all four years), that would not be a very good idea, particularly if one wants to major in a field like film and acting where the entry level job is an unpaid internship.</p>
<p>ASU may have low baseline selectivity, but it does get some of the top students from Arizona. Some ASU graduates go on to top PhD programs in their majors. A highly motivated student should not judge a school by its worst students, but by the opportunities available to its best students.</p>
<p>ASU. …Go sundevils! (10 char)</p>
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<p>California CC tuition costs about $6,780 per year for non-residents, versus about $1,380 per year for residents. But attending a California CC by itself won’t help gain California residency for state university purposes. Students who are considered financial-aid-dependent generally won’t be able to get it unless their parents establish residency in California. Financial aid independence means being 24, being married, or being a military veteran, or a few other less common conditions.</p>
<p>^And even if CC were cheap, I wouldn’t recommend it. The gap between UCLA and ASU is small compared to the gap between ASU and CC. It makes no sense to get crappy education for two years just so you can get two years of better education at UCLA.</p>
<p>^IMO, it’s where you finish, not where you start. Employers and grad schools will only care about the UCLA degree and UCLA GPA-and not how he/she got there. </p>
<p>And its basic gen-ed requirements anyway. Biology is biology whether its at the local cc or Harvard. The calibre of professors and the surrounding student body matter much more when you get to upper level courses. UCLA will also allow the OP to make better connections, and join all the associated alumni groups etc. especially if OP is interested in a high prestige oriented career like finance or academe.</p>
<p>Not worth big debt…especially for film…but not worth it for any major.</p>
<p>This is likely a non-issue since it’s unlikely your parents would cosign these big loans. And, they’d have to qualify EACH year. They’d be on the hook for these big loans if you don’t pay. </p>
<p>What are your parents saying?</p>