Hi,
I’m a student at University of New Mexico majoring in nursing. My partner and I are long distance, and I would like to move closer to them next year. In high school I was one of the valedictorians (my public school system did it weird) and I have an SAT of 2070. I would really love to be able to find an affordable school in LA, and am willing to work hard this year to make myself a stunning applicant for colleges like USC. I’d like some advise on LA colleges and how to make them affordable for an out of state student. How can I make myself applicable to higher tier colleges and their scholarships now that I’m a college student?
The California public universities do not fund OOS students so, your costs to attend any UC will be $55K per year. The Cal States will cost $36 to $40K per year. The publics have too many in-state applicants who need financial aid/ merit scholarships, so the State is not going to fund OOS students on limited State tax dollars.
USC is ~$70K per year, they are private and may provide some funding if you have something they want:
NMF, recruited athlete, URM, legacy, first generation, etc.
Transfers generally get poor financial aid so you need to be prepared to pay full fees. Unfortunately, your SAT would not be strong enough for SC.
I was accepted into UC Berkely and UC Santa Cruz with some small financial aid on Santa Cruz’s part if that’s at all helpful. I’m interested in the UCLA nursing school. I’m aware that there is no state money available to OOS students. I would appreciate private scholarship recommendations to pare a UCLA tuition, assuming I could get in, to $20,000 a year. I’m a white, queer AFAB teen, btw.
The best scholarships come from the universities themselves.
Outside scholarships are usually short-term and minimal amounts-think $500 or $2000 for one year duration.
@CourtneyThurston can give you personal experiences in applying for outside scholarships.