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CA schools with good FA packages 3.96, 4.27 weighted GPA, 1400 SAT. 2 household income ~$150k
CHRuane
8 replies5 threads New Member
My son is interetsed in CA schools (WA resident) He is a white, smart, good student (not elite)3.96/4.27 weighted. 1400 SAT. His only B ever was in college calculus he took as a Junior. He is quiet gentle soul. I would think he would do best in a small to mid size institution, small classes. I think he might like to be anonymous, but I would like for him to be engaged in smaller class sizes, where a professor could draw him out. I would rather he be in a supportive environment than a dog eat dog weed out environment. He is undecided and still has a wide range of interests from Aeronautical Engineering to Behavioral Neuroscience (at this time).
2 household combined income of $150k. Custodial parent ~$30K.
Are there any small private instutions that would provide attractive financial packages that might approach the level of a WA state school?
Might there be a UC School that would have merit based scholarships?
Should we be looking taking a big frog in a small pond approach, that is applying to less prestigious (but good) colleges where he ranks in the top 10 percent?
39 replies 2 household combined income of $150k. Custodial parent ~$30K.
Are there any small private instutions that would provide attractive financial packages that might approach the level of a WA state school?
Might there be a UC School that would have merit based scholarships?
Should we be looking taking a big frog in a small pond approach, that is applying to less prestigious (but good) colleges where he ranks in the top 10 percent?
Replies to: CA schools with good FA packages 3.96, 4.27 weighted GPA, 1400 SAT. 2 household income ~$150k
https://www.collegefactual.com/majors/engineering/aerospace-and-aeronautical-engineering/rankings/top-ranked/far-western-us/california/
Out of the 10 schools listed, only USC is a private school. There might be more scholarship money at Cal Poly-SLO than at other state schools.
California is tough for OOS students to afford.
UC Regents Scholarships and the amounts/year:
Amount: Awards vary by campus and are not transferable if you transfer to another UC campus.
* UC Berkley $2,500
* UC Davis $7,500
* UC Irvine $5,000
* UCLA $2,000
* UC Merced $7,000
* UC Riverside $10,000
* UC San Diego $2,000
* UC Santa Barbara $6,000
* UC Santa Cruz $5,000
Santa Clara (mentioned in post #4)
University of San Francisco
University of San Diego (do not confuse with UCSD)
Occidental
Loyola Marymount
Chapman University
Need to check if Engineering is a a major option at these schools.
What about a schools such as LMU, Pepperdine, or USD? Will a net price calculator factor in whether they might have Merit money available for him?
Will both parents be cooperative about financial aid forms and paying?
If not, then the colleges that require the non-custodial parent finances will not be affordable. This includes most of the private colleges with good financial aid.
If they will be cooperative, net price calculator use at colleges that require non-custodial parent finances must include both parents' finances. (Note that USC, USF, and Occidental are in this category.)
https://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/2083835-faq-divorced-parents-financial-aid-and-net-price-calculators.html
UCB Regents' scholarship could give him a need-based full ride (based on FAFSA using custodial parent finances only), but that is such a high reach that it is probably not worth the effort (there is otherwise no need-based financial aid for out-of-state students). Also, the UC deadline has passed anyway.
He applied at UCSD and UCSC (loved the campus and location), and Cal Poly SLO. I just can't imagine being able to afford any of them. For an undecided student, I just don't think any undergraduate degree is worth a mountain of debt.
I talked with a friend who said his son (good stat student) got a good package from LMU which made it close in price to attending the UW. I am wondering whether there may be some good hidden value schools worth looking into.
WWU, WSU?
Gonzaga, SU, UPS, PLU, Whitworth, SPU,...
Seems like you should have told him what the price limit was before he made the application list and applied to unaffordable schools (basically wasted applications). CPSLO is about $43k for non-residents, while UCSD is $62k and UCSC is $64k.
A private school (Gonzaga, Whitman, PSU) would never be referred to as the flagship.
It really doesn't matter what other people call the flagship. Pick the school that is best for him. Personally, I'd go for WWU since you don't want UW, and it is in such a lovely place. Why California? You said you don't want him in a big university, yet all he applied to are pretty big California schools. Big and expensive. Even the travel to UCSB is pretty expensive. Why California?
CA colleges are costly, merit is scarce except for very high stats kids, and as noted, the schools he likes there are large.
For the poster above, SCU does not meet full need. They have upped their need based aid awards, but don’t meet full need. The school is costly.
USD is a possibility, but they also don’t meet full need, and the school is expensive.
Some big schools do an awesome job of supporting students despite their size.
The state flagship is usually one of the most selective or prestigious state schools, but is not necessarily the largest. For example, in Florida, UCF and FIU are larger than UF.
Why? If he gets in, what will you tell him about attending, if you don’t have the money to pay $65K a year, plus flights and expenses.
Did your family do any research on the schools where he applied?
-Is he prepared to do the quarter system? The majority of the UC schools are on the quarter system so he has 10 weeks to prove himself. Our kids’ high school developed a quarter system to match the UC‘s, so the kids were prepared, somewhat, to study in a quarter system.
UCSD is known as University of California for the Socially Dead. They are trying really hard to disassociate themselves from this title, but it’s known locally as just not having a happy campus.
We are local, and my kids avoided applying to this school, but we made them apply; they got in, but were ecstatic when they got into the other state schools. Their friends, who attended this campus, went in, did their classes, and got out as fast as they could. They didn’t like thei environment. This, to me, is just sad.
Housing isn’t guaranteed at UCSD. (I don’t know about Santa Barbara.) They try hard not to have freshman live off campus, but in a recent year, they just didn’t have enough housing.
Housing in the area is $2000 a month. It is in the La Jolla area so add that amount tentatively to your budget. Santa Barbara is in a very expensive community as well.
I attended USD and it was on a scholarship, but I considered myself, at the time, to be very low, low income. I know that they currently meet need, based on their formula for need, so, it will be expensive. They currently run a just under $70,000 a year.
Add all of those flights on Southwest and Alaska and you’re talking about a lot of money to come to school in California.
One of our daughters applied to the University of Washington because she was impressed with how they run their med school programs. She did get in, but we couldn’t afford it with 3 kids in school at the same time. When she later applied to med/pharmacy school she also got in, but she wanted to stay in state. Our pediatrician’s daughter attended Willamette and loved it and is working in the Bay area of California.
You have some great schools in Washington that your son could afford to attend.