UKy (Full ride) vs UCLA (in-state live at home 14k) vs Santa Clara (14k)

Parents Forum
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Trying to give good advice to my D. She has some great choices right now, but difficult. She received a full-ride scholarship to U of Ky (honors college with honors dorm and meal plan). We visited the school and like it. However, she also got in to one of her dream schools, UCLA. No aid, to afford it she’d live at home we’d pay tuition. Along the way she got a surprise from Santa Clara University, no scholarship, but aid that made the cost 14k. We can afford around 15k a year even though our EFC is 35k. She’s a double major Humanities and Pre-med.

Kentucky is enticing since she would get the big college experience that I think she wants, great dorms and cool little city. But UCLA for a kid from So Cal is hard to pass up. Santa Clara has a beautiful campus and in the heart of the Silicon Valley and she gets a taste of dorm life.

Any advice?

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What gpa does she need to keep the scholarships? Such information is important to the decision because many students have lower gpa’s that expected in college.

3

3.0 for the UKy scholarship. Doable for her. Santa Clara is grant aid, not merit so no gpa requirement.

4

A very difficult decision. If UCLA is her dream school, then that’s where I think she should go. And it’s the most academically prestigious of the 3. I haven’t been to Kentucky, but a full ride would be hard to pass up. Santa Clara would be my 3rd choice. I’m not a big fan of the area around it, traffic can be a nightmare at times. It’s in the middle of Avaya Stadium, the SJ airport, hotels, business, etc.

Best of luck with your daughter’s 3 wonderful choices.

5

We were in a similar situation 2 years ago with my daughter who had full ride (w/ room & board) with the local LMU (loved the school spirit) and some others but at the end went with UCLA (with Regents, though the Regents was not the reason).

6

UCLA all the way, and if I could at all afford it, I would let her live in the dorms and have the experience.
If I absolutely couldn’t swing it financially, I would still go with UCLA/live at home.

Congrats to her!

7

@sushiritto Thanks. UCLA would be the easy choice, if we could afford for her to live on campus. I think UKy has the appeal of campus life, dorm life, etc.

8

I would ideally prefer an option that involves “going away to school,” not living at home, even though UCLA is, of course, a superior school.

Forgive me, but I don’t understand what you mean by your description of the FA from Santa Clara as not a scholarship, but aid. Is this in the form of loans? Is the KY required GPA a cumulative thing, or is she in trouble if she drops below for one semester? Of course, if she seriously wants med school, she’ll probably have to maintain a 3.75. But there is a big difference between forgetting med school because one’s GPA isn’t high enough, and losing a scholarship altogether. If she loses the scholarship, can you afford KY?

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@consolation Santa Clara is grant aid, no loans. I can’t really see her going below a 3.0, smart kid, very motivated. However, if she did go below, I think she looses the scholarship until the GPA comes back up. But at that point I would probably bring her back home, she’d attend a local college and then try transferring back in to a UC later.

10

@philbot

We have a D16 at UKy on the Patterson Scholarship (full ride).

She went in with enough AP & CLEP credits, that by taking a couple classes online over winter intersession (not covered by the scholarship btw) she has sophomore standing. She was then able to apply to a pre-professional major in the College of Health Sciences a year early. She was accepted, so she’s officially on the 3 year plan.

She knows a few kids that are moving off-campus next year and are planning to live frugally so they can “pocket” whatever is left over from the room & board stipend. The money is discharged into your student account whether you live on or off campus.

Our D has her sights set on grad school (the pre-professional major), so the $ savings is important, as well as her ability (so far) to get high marks in her classes.

With the university hospital right there on campus, UKy is a good choice for a pre-health track. For pre-med, as little debt as possible in UG is wise, and a high GPA.

She knows a lot of happy engineering students there as well. It seems to us that bright, motivated students WILL get noticed at UKy, and doors will open. She was encouraged to apply to an UG Fellowship by one of her professors first semester.

Our D was (very) disappointed that we said she had to take the big merit at UKy. Her first choice school was much more prestigious, but it was way more than we could possibly afford without ruining ourselves. We told her to take the money at UKy and then try to go to a prestigious grad school.

She’s making it work for her. It’s going to take her where she wants to go, career-wise.

Lots of school spirit! Lexington is very nice. The bus system is good. Getting in and out of the airport is easy. Of course, being from Chicago, we’re impressed with the weather in Lexington more than you will be!

That’s our story! I hope it helps and good luck with your decision!

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@Midwest67 Thanks for your remarks, very helpful. Your D sounds awesome! Our tour guide was also a Patterson Scholar from the west coast and turned down a more prestigious school. She had no regrets. It sounds like UK is doing something right!

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@philbot

UCLA is an awesome university but a huge part of the “dream school” experience is living and being on campus. I would think living at home 4 years would tarnish the luster of the UCLA experience.

personally i would take the Ky full ride and enjoy a true college experience even though it might not be on UCLA’s level, but i would completely understand a different opinion.

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@Wien2NC Do you think the on campus experience at a place like Santa Clara is worth 14k compared to free at Ky. ?

14

I think I would say “We can afford 15K” and let her decide.

I think it is good to live on campus if you can because you gain independence…but if she wants UCLA that bad, why not? I would also talk to her about how independent she is…if she is very independent, living at home might chafe after awhile. Also I would talk to her about what you expect from her if she is living at home:

  1. Chores?
  2. Would you cook for her? or expect her to do it herself?
  3. What would she need to pay for? Phone? fun stuff?
  4. Would you expect her to let you know where she is?

Talk through the advantages and disadvantages of all and let her decide as long as you think any of them would be okay which I think it would.

Also I would try to let her go to admitted students day so she can get a feel for what the UKy students/campus are like.

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@bopper Yeah we should be clear on what “living at home” means before she makes a decision. Thanks

16

@philbot

Also, since cost is an important variable, I think it was about $2200 for the school health insurance since our HMO would not give her coverage in Lexington. And, there is a tax liability on the room and board stipend, which I will find out more details in about a week when we get our taxes done!

We paid about $300 in fees first semester. I don’t recall whether D upgraded her meal plan or not for second semester or left it the same, and I don’t remember what the fees were, if any. I’m guessing it was insignificant if I apparently have no memory of paying it!

Next year, she is upgrading her dorm room to one with 2 private bedrooms (full bed), small kitchenette, and bathroom.
That will cost $500 more per semester.

We had some confusion about any costs, if any, there would be above the scholarship. It’s still the very best deal we had on the table.

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@philbot

i’m not a good person to ask since i don’t the first thing about Santa Clara. I do know i’m a cheapskate and to me, 4 years free is better than $56,000. saving that $56K is even more important if medical school is in the future plans.

at UKy did you get the Singletary, Presidential, or Patterson Scholarship? if so that’s a feather in her cap and carries with it a certain level of prestige.

as a family you have to come to a decision as to what is the priority here – medical school, or a more fun, memorable, and nostalgic undergrad experience. if it’s really medical school, and you are on a somewhat tight financial leash, then that UKy full ride is manna from heaven and i would not turn it down.

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@Midwest67 Wow, I’ll need to check our insurance coverage. Is the tax liability yours or hers?

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@Wien2NC Good point, I think we should ask her again about how serious she is about med school.

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@philbot

I’ve skimmed some threads on the Kiddie Tax. I don’t have a number yet because we haven’t had our taxes done yet.

My limited understanding is the room and board stipend is counted as income on the student’s tax return, but paid at the parent’s tax rate. Someone correct me if I wrong.