Or it simplifies the situation as there is just one affordable choice. Hopefully UCSB is still an option.
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Simplifies the choice, but complicates managing the bigger letdown that tends to happen in a financial rejection (admitted but too expensive) compared to an admission rejection or not applying due to realizing it is too expensive up front.
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So being in debt is just not a status symbol. 18 year olds sometime don’t get it. Put it in black and white. Show here the difference especially if she can be positive. Does she want to pay a lot in loans monthly for 10 year’s or be net positive and invest in her future and be able to have an apartment after school. We had our kids talk to our banker and broker prior to college. They will listen to them not us… Lol
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UCSB for sure. Many of the UCs don’t have a business major, the economics major is the pathway to business.
But OP stated their student had no interest in econ
Econ is very different than business. The student seems aware?
OP what does thr student want to study?
Business is an umbrella. There are many sub areas Which is she interested in?
Marketing, Finance, Risk Management, etc.
There’s an accounting major under economics, their finance major is under the math department. It depends what she wants to study within the broad umbrella of business.
That’s right - for UC’s (aside from UCR and UCI I believe), there is no business major, closest thing is indeed Econ which is why she chose that major. However she recently realized she preferred other aspects of being a Business major besides Econ and Accounting unfortunately (she’s not fond of stats or math) like marketing and management. Since those aren’t options at UCSB, she figured communications would be next best thing.
However for USC, she wouldn’t have this problem - she’d go right into Marshall business.
FWIW marketing these days involves a lot of statistics/data analytics. And at Marshall I expect two semesters each of math, statistics, finance, economics, accounting (among other things) will be required as part of the business core curriculum. But USC is not affordable so it is important to move on.
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UC Berkeley along with UC Riverside and Irvine have Business schools. All the other UC’s have Business adjacent type majors which can work depending the students interests.
As of now only UCSB is an option. Hopefully she can find a major that will work there.
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Econ is far from business - it’s a social science, in many ways no different than a poli sci or history or anthropology - not the same of course but in the same vein.
Business is pre professional.
In top b schools today, you’ll need both stats and math - and even in Econ you’ll need stats.
Communication is great if you want future unemployment. Or underemployment - and yes, there are many aspetcts.
So I don’t know current interest rates but at 6% it’s $667 a month or $80K over 10 years. And don’t forget when you get a loan, you’re not getting that amount because they take money up front for fees.
Your student is young and got into two great schools and wants to take the benefit of it.
But it’d be foolish and actually you’d be foolish since it’s your loan.
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UCSB Communication - others would say great - I’d say not if you want to study business.
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USC - heck no - especially if she’s not interested in quantitative areas - which used to be marketing - today - who knows - nothing well paying.
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If i was going to business - It’d be at neither of the two.
I’d start again at affordable schools.
Her going to Marshall given her desire to avoid quant materials is 1) going to be difficult in school and 2) going to get her little to no ROI if she can even finish. She can go somewhere cheaper and do just as well. And trust me - I worked in LA for many years - and it didn’t matter if you were USC, Oklahoma State, UNLV, Cal State Bakersfield, whatever else - they all get paid the same and have the same opportunities.
Just being honest but that’s the reality of life today. PS - you never know where you’ll be. I was in Gardena til 2006 - 8 years at my company - and they upped and moved to TN and our largest competitor went to Dallas…so location is never certain…unless you stay regardless of where the job goes.
That’s interesting that marketing these days is like that. I was a marketing major 30 years ago at Loyola Marymount and I don’t recall taking any upper division stats/data classes (or maybe I just forgot them all!).
My daughter is going to have to really think hard about what she wants to study then.
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I imagine one can be a marketing major without advanced satistics/data coursework. But if considering marketing, your D should research what skills companies look for when hiring. The recent marketing majors I know do take (in college) and utilize (at work) data analytics/stats.
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Where is she transferring from? Do they have a major that works better than what UCSB and USC are offering?
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When I got my mba in 1998 I chose marketing because it was fluff
It’s a whole new world. Even the social sciences majors have lots of quant today.
The world today is about data. Even HR.
Nope, she’s transferring from a socal community college - which was a good option for her because it allowed her to study abroad for a semester in Oxford, England for much cheaper than a 4 year uni would have cost.
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She won’t lock herself out of a business career in marketing or management if she doesn’t major in business. UCSB is a great school that will allow her to develop a skill-set she can demonstrate on her resume. With that extra $40k, she can pursue adding minors to the Communications major. They have career information online for those interested business careers:
https://career.ucsb.edu/career-paths/business-entrepreneurship
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Op, your D should look at the course sequence for a communications major and see where it differs from these other majors she is considering. I don’t think it is at all “business adjacent,”. I think she’s dealing with a weak set of facts…
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Found on the UCSB link on the post above yours (thx csfmap!), UCSB feels communications is an option:
Choosing an effective major related to Business + Entrepreneurship depends on the skills you aim to gain and the knowledge you want to obtain. For instance, if you want to acquire more analytical skills, you may want to study Economics, Financial Math and Statistics, or Actuarial Science. If you want to develop business skills related to communication, diversity and inclusion, or customer experience, you may consider choosing majors like Communication, Global Studies, or Sociology.
Am sure the latter majors holds more interests for my daughter, however we both know there are better (and higher paying!) career opportunities for the former ones, which is why she originally chose Econ. So she’ll have to decide how much she wants to grind during the rest of her college years.
I think I read that you live close to USC. I’d make an appointment with a financial adviser at the school so that you and your daughter can go over the costs, any FA the school can/will give, and how much she’d be expected to borrow. Your daughter needs to understand the money and where it is coming from (her). At this point it is monopoly money to her as she can’t see that she can only borrow $7500 x 2 years, and that it won’t pay the COA. Sometimes coming from the school helps her accept that the money will not just appear.
Even that $15000 borrowed will be a burden on her after graduation when it doesn’t have to be. She can go to UCSB and have a wonderful time.
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