My son gave his Statement of Intent to UC Irvine 5 days back. Now he has an offer from Urbana Champaign for his first choice - Computer Science Major (earlier it was Mathematics - second choice).
Ranking wise I see that UiUC is better than UC Irvine for CS.
Catch is UC Irvine is home state for my son (CA). His total expenses will be around 40K per year which rounds to ~ 160K. Along with that he has been awarded Regents scholarship which is about 5K per year for 4 yrs. and Dean Scholarship which is 3K per for 2 yrs. Total scholarship amounts to $ 26K which brings down his overall expenses to $ 134 K for 4 years. Additionally he is also award the campuswide Honors collegium which gives certain privileges.
At UIUC I see that ~ cost of attendance is around $ 58 - 60K which is about 230 - 240K for 4 years. He hasn’t been awarded any scholarship or aid at UIUC.
That makes it about 90 to 100K MORE to attend UIUC. We can fund about 20 - 25K per year and rest has to go on loan at about 7 to 8% APY. I wanted to know if there is any value add
attending UIUC just because of college ranking and reputation
Giving up the scholarship at UC Irvine and also the Campus wide Honors Collegium, which gives him certain privileges like preferred in campus accommodation (Honors have separate hall) and also guaranteed research in field of interest during final year.
We have respond in the next 3-4 days. Any advice, especially from folks who have idea about UC Irvine or UIUC, students current or past, faculty, parents who have kids here will be helpful.
UIUC would require large parent loans or cosigned loans, which are a bad idea. I.e. it is too expensive, a financial rejection. The numbers: for four years, he would be looking at $224k list, or $124k-$144k beyond your $80k-100k contribution. He can borrow $27k on his own, and earn a few thousand dollars per year during the summer and part time during school. That leaves gap close to $100k, and even best-case paid summer internships in CS if he gets them may not close it.
UCI at $144k list ( https://www.ofas.uci.edu/content/costs.aspx?nav=1 ) minus $26k scholarships would be about $118k, so $18k-38k after your $80k-$100k contribution. I.e. affordable, although just barely if you contribute only $80k. Any good paid summer internships in CS would be gravy.
Thanks for your reply senior member ucb, i beleive is Berkeley…
I am a mech engineer from India class of 1992, in an ok college. i happened to pursue my career in IT then and to some extent now, but feel kind of embarrassed to say I am in IT, I just do data center and kind of work with server management like that.
my son took to his choice of career as CS. Experience wise (not my mental wisdom, but just being in the ecosystem of Bay Area only), I know something. Industry wise, most of them decision makers almost are of my age or more… be it who studied here in USA or India, really didn’t even know much about computers. Languages were unkonwn. They knew programming and getting the job done mentality. There was no search. We knew learn by either theory or trial and error they say (mostly akin to mech or civil area). And not sure how many agree, college was more to learn more than what we knew after 12th grade and not what to learn, but why to learn. most of us lesser mortals were taught how to learn, and then books, thats it. some went on to be the best, children off lesser Gods only learnt how, not why. So here I am, but still not ashamed. My peers are the best, but neither I consider them nor they think am worst, and best ask me, how u stayed still here.
Now, here am asking this question. what is best. I didnt get much answers for my post, so I thought it best to give my opinion. trust me i am an aggrieved parent even now. How I brought up my son I have no idea, it was joy, from Nov 19 to March end my son brought me up (to boiling point). I give up now. was the journey good, NO. I am happy my son is an academician, which I am not. I am with every parent and student, who needs any help in dealing with crap of college. ultimately in-state out-state works. some one has to pay.
as a family we havent decided yet. odds are only money talks is the principle. which way we go, I am not sure yet, will let you all know.
Congratulations to your S on two great acceptances.
He is faced with a tough choice, but I generally agree with UCBalumnus that taking out that much debt is probably not wise. Many families choose their in-state schools to save money…that’s one benefit of paying all those taxes every year.
I can’t find starting salary for UCI CS, which is also a great program, but I expect the grads do well too…perhaps reach out to the career center and see if they have placement/outcomes data, and also ask how long on average it takes a CS major to graduate.
Measuring ROI of attending college is difficult and imprecise, but UCI’s starting CS starting salary would have to be much lower than UIUCs to result in UIUC having a higher ROI…further it’s probably more accurate to calculate ROI using measure mid or long term salary data rather than starting salary, so again UCI’s ROI would probably be higher on average.
I am a tax expert, but as about spending for our kids college there isn’t much tax benefits, even if its loan (unlike mortgage payment etc, but I will delve into it more)
I have no doubt in my mind that 100K EXTRA for UIUC is heavy even for rich people. We consider ourselves average middle class, since we rent a home.
My son does understand the implications of loan etc. We have no intention of putting the burden on him. I am 50, my wife 45. She has a good career but not high paying job, I am older than her, but I as of now am in a low payed job, meaning little above CA min wages. He is our only son. He worked really hard, we couldn’t afford his athletic pursuit, I asked him to stop playing BB only to focus on studies. He gave his all…
I am short of 100k less for his dreams. Thats why my question, the value of UIUC to Irvine. He knows it and absolutely said its not worth because he wants to do his Masters too.
And, he got in UT Austin in Jan for CS. I convinced him saying its too hot. I don’t want to lie anymore. UICS is cold, but I couldn’t. My take my and my wife can cover 100k in next 10 years for sure. I am that confident.
Apart money thing, I wanted to learn, is it worthwhile to commit ANOTHER 100K extra for UIUC. If I were learned I would have known. Vote at home is my son says no UCI, I say UIUC, wife undecided (she will go with my son, mom what do I say, he is new, I am old )
I did a mistake for MW…21 reply…my opening statement I said I am a tax expert… I correct it. I meant I am NOT a tax expert. In the flow of thought, I have missed the NOT. please anyone who reads this message, make a note of my mistake in writing.
Since his preference of UCI is the less expensive, let him have his preference.
$100k of parent loans or co-signed loans is too financially risky, especially if you are “in a low payed job”. Don’t burden either him or yourself with that level of debt.
@kishorekp We have not considered UIUC even though my DS was accepted from the beginning. We are now looking at UIUC. It’s a big school. Undergrads classes are taught by PhD Students. Compared to UCI, undergrad classes are taught by professors (CS) … so I am thinking UCI is a better choice, especially with Regent + Dean scholarships.
This is absolutely untrue. Look at the average starting salaries of UIUC grads compared to anywhere else. Huge difference as UIUC CS grads average starting salary is $106,551 compared to the national average of CS graduates’ starting salaries of $67,411. UIUC CS is ranked 5th per USNWR for undergraduate CS as well as 5th for graduate CS programs. Companies recruit HEAVILY at UIUC because they know the quality of the education these grads have. My DS will be graduating this May with a CS degree from UIUC and has already received job offers, one of which he will accept in Chicago with a total compensation package (base + signon + stock) equal to $150K. Rankings & Statistics | Computer Science | UIUC. I can’t speak to UCI’s CS program or their starting salaries, but please do not spread misinformation as CS salaries definitely depend on where you graduated from.
Unfortunately, UCI does not have good first destination survey publicly available.
However, the pay levels for recent CS BA/BS graduates at other California publics are:
CPSLO $100,000 (median) for CS and software engineering
SJSU $97,444 (median) for CS, $95,000 for software engineering
UCB $116,000 (median) for L&S CS, $117,000 for EECS
UCSC $75,000 (median) for CS
In any case, the OP’s student has long since made the decision, since the thread is from April 2020.
Where did you get this information from? According to Best Computer Science Schools | Payscale
UCB’s CS starting salary is $109,200, SJSU is $87,700, UCSC is $86,900, and CPSLO is $86,500
Don’t use payscale for starting salary information. Go to each school’s First Destination report (or similar) for the most recent data. Here is UCB’s (don’t think class of 2020 data is out yet): https://career.berkeley.edu/survey/2019
Hmmm, yeah okay. Except for the fact that top level companies (FAANG) and top fintech don’t recruit at lower tier schools. Did you bother to look at the link I embedded?
" The average starting salary projected by the National Association of Colleges and Employers is $67,411 for 2020 CS bachelor’s degree recipients." Yet, the average starting salaries at UIUC is $106,551 and $110,000 at UCB. So if alma mater doesn’t matter, how do you explain the discrepancies in pay?
What is it with all these parents who have kids in CS and engineering and think they know the industry better than people who actually work in the industry?
If you go to UIUC, there’s a good chance you’ll get a job in Chicago. If you go to Berkeley, there’s a good chance you’ll get a job in the Bay Area. Those jobs pay more than in most places around the country.
I have a CS degree and I was a software developer for over 30 years, mostly in the Bay Area, but also Seattle and New York. I’ve been involved in a lot of hiring, and the last time I saw different pay scales depending on what school you went to was in the late 80’s.
That’s great and all, but Google doesn’t recruit from more than a small handful of schools. Same goes for Apple, Microsoft, Facebook, Amazon, Jane Street Capital, Two Sigma, Citadel, etc. They recruit from the CS powerhouse colleges and universities. If your “theory” were true, starting salaries for CS grads from DePaul, UIC, Loyola, NIU, etc would be getting equally high starting salary offers. Newsflash: they are not.
Only hiring grads from on-campus recruiting is a thing of the past with LinkedIn, the pandemic, and other factors. All the companies you list hire grads from many schools, they don’t limit themselves to where they do on-campus recruiting (and they recruit on-campus at more schools than you probably are thinking).
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