Several people here think my estimates are “wrong”, so I’ll post them. Maybe you can see if I’m doing something wrong?
Tuition-8,152
After fees-19,312. (372x30)
FASFA estimate-8,122 (This is with the Pell Grant, which I’m eligible for, and student loans).
I’ll also be working during college, so I should graduate with even less debt than this.
What about housing, books, personal expenses and transportation costs?
@gumbymom That includes books. For housing, I’ll I can split the rent with one or two college students. There’s a website for this, and the rates for LA start as low as $400 monthly. I’ll work, and my mom will also give me money monthly. Since I probably won’t get residence during college, this shouldn’t be a problem. This estimate is still less than NJ colleges. I’ve made a list of my net price for each NJ college, if you’d like to see.
@happy2help This is my net price, with the calculator. I’m from a low-income family, which is probably why it’s much less.
CSULA is not in a great area. I should know, I’m an L. A. native and attended there. So you’ll have a car, right? Gas is over $4 for regular today, insurance perhaps minimum $1000 a year.
Also you need to include the cost of food, on-campus parking, plane fare home for visits and I would be leery about rent at $400/month for a room. Probably not in the nicest of areas.
@Happy2help I’ll have a car very soon, before college. I’m from NJ, so I know about high costs. Average here is 1277-1887 a year. I recently saw NJ is the 2nd most expensive state , & CA the 3rd. I know CA is still very expensive.
Also, I know CSULA isn’t in a great area. I currently live in a “shabby” area, so this wouldn’t bother me.
@gumbymom It was $1600, but shared with 3 others, I think with 2 bedrooms. So I’d have to share, but that’s fine with me. I didn’t know an apartment could be $400 even in a bad area, they certainly aren’t here. Like I’ve said, most likely my parent will move with me. If not, I’d only visit home around twice a year. I know food adds up very fast, but I’d be willing to do a “ramen noodles college budget” if it meant I could go to my dream school.
You mentioned loans. How do you plan to get loans of $20-$25K plus for 4 years?
@happy2help I have some savings, although not near that much. My parent will also help, as I’m an only child, she won’t need much money after I leave. Also, like I said, I’ll work during college.
I’m not trying to sound rude, but I know MANY poor students in my school who go to expensive colleges, without scholarships. Can someone explain to me how they do this? Do they all just end up thousands in debt?
If you’re eligible for a Pell grant then that means you’re low income so how can your family qualify for any loans? I’m sorry but it just doesn’t add up.
I can only guess that those poor students are probably going to be in alot of debt.
You can take out only a total of $5500 Freshman year, $6500 Sophomore year and $7500 Junior/Senior year. The rest would have to come from Parent Plus loans taken out by your Mom. If you are low income, she many not qualify and then you may be given another $4000 in loans. This stlll does not cover all your expenses even if you work and your mother sends you money. Also if your Mom does take out parent plus loans, these loans start acruing interest upon disbursement of the funds.
Many private (expensive) schools have endowments that can be given to lower income students to help subsidize their education. Since you are low income, why are you not using the financial aid links designed to help you find lower cost colleges and scholarships to make some of the NJ schools and east cost schools affordable: http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/financial-aid-scholarships/1678964-links-to-popular-threads-on-scholarships-and-lower-cost-colleges.html#latest
@Happy2help Well, does low-income technically mean we get government assistance? If so, we can’t, in our county anyway. But, yes I am eligible for the Pell Grant, at least with our estimates. Our bank is telling us to come in for student/parent loans, so I’m guessing were eligible. I really don’t know yet.
@gumbymom This number has the student loan subtracted for it. I know you can only take a certain amount, although I thought I read our bank offers more loans to students. What exactly would “low income” be? We don’t receive any government assistance. I have a list of my NJ school estimates, which I’ve already said, and they’re much more than CSULA. Even my CC is 13,000 for a sub-par education.
I’m not sure how happy I’d be in Alabama or Wyoming…I’ll check for northeastern schools. Thanks for the link, though.
Everyone, I’m not expecting to graduate with no debt. Most people do, the national average is 28,400. I know I’ll have to work hard for a while, but I’m willing to. So, please, stop making every post about money (except this one). I’m most likely visiting CA soon, & I’m applying to Montclair and CA colleges. I’m asking for students’ experiences, not financial judgments. I understand your opinions, but the other questions didn’t start out as financial questions.
I believe Pell Grant income qualification is less than $50K. Will a bank be willing to loan you and/or your mom enough for you to come to CA for school? It will be a stretch to support your need of ~$20K+ per year.
What are your stats? Will you meet the a-g requirements? The eligibility index is higher for nonresidents as you know.
I see many posts here just like yours, whether your numbers seem right, but I’m afraid I cannot recall many success stories of OOS students handling that much debt. You initially asked about finances in this thread, which parents can better answer.
@Happy2Help I thought it would be lower, thank you. Wouldn’t it just be around 13.5K, as stated above? (Without any student loans, although that still adds up). Wells Fargo (my bank) has some info online. It says there’s a six month grace period. It’s a 15 year payment plan, with low monthly rates. They offer up to 120K per student, and a cosigner will probably be needed (I know that’s not always a good idea). I’m 100K under the limit, so hopefully that’ll increase my chances. ln either state, I’m still going to need some financial aid. At NJ schools (except Montclair) I’ll need much more than 13K.
Also, I created this thread because some stated I wasn’t adding fees correctly. Nobody has said that, so I guess I’m doing okay!
From the Cal State LA website: http://www.calstatela.edu/financialaid/2014-2015-cost-attendance
Undergraduate > Non-Resident Students
Commuter On-Campus Off-Campus
Tuition and Fees* $ 15,271 $15,271 $15,271
Books and Supplies $1,809 $ 1,809 $ 1,809
Room and Board $ 4,599 $12,627 $13,050
Miscellaneous/Personal
$1,365 $1,389 $1,365
Transportation $1,494 $1,389 $1,455
TOTAL $24,538 $32,461 $32,950
Expect to pay for minimum Student Medical Insurance fees that are pretty difficult to waive at ~$2000 per year. Most of the time, they aren’t listed in the initial estimates. They tend to add them “surprisingly” to the bill at the beginning of the semester which is what happened for two of my kids this past year. Be prepared. We were fortunate that our insurance company was the insurer at my daughter’s school, so we were able to waive that for her, but not for our son’s school.
Additionally, since you are “underage” for California drivers’ insurance (under the age of 25 in California is a high risk group) expect to pay around $2500 to $3000 per year to be insured in California.
I guess the difference is in the housing costs for you. $400 x 12 months would cut your housing costs significantly, but that probably doesn’t include: water, electric, trash, cable, laundry costs and required renter’s insurance. Get ready for some insane electric bills from PG&E. Square footage for a place for $400 a month will be really tiny. It is LA.
You’ve picked a very diverse campus. (I just returned from LA this weekend. ) Be prepared for lots of construction on the freeways for a couple of years. It’s not in the best area of town, so really be prepared.
Cal State LA is a very interesting mixture of cultures and second language speakers. It has a really large Latino student population that mirrors the state ,which is very cool. It also has an “older” student population which CSULA prides themselves upon because it makes the campus more diverse, with older students who have transitioned from the CC’s.
We are very expensive in California, especially in LA, so try to stay within your budget. The OOS students have a mountain of debt because they start off with high fees and run themselves ragged trying to manage work and school with heavy debt. Keep to a strict budget. My kids’ “parent plus” loans began accruing interest the minute they were disbursed. We try to pay them off within the semester so that our kids don’t have debt.
Good luck!!
I always learn from @“aunt bea” and @GumbyMom.
Good luck to you!
@happy2help I just noticed you asked for my stats, I’m sorry. A 3.4/3.5 GPA, & 1410 SAT. I’m going to retake it after tutoring, aiming for a 1500-1600+. Although for CSULA, the 75th percent tile is about 1490. I have the classes required, plus a third year of Spanish. I’ll also be taking sociology or psychology this year.
^^ https://secure.csumentor.edu/planning/high_school/elig_index_calculator.asp
Uhh definitely apply, but don’t fall in love with the school just yet. Despite being withing CSU LA’s test score avgs…From the formula on the CSU site, your CSU eligibility index is 3570. As an oos student, your index needs to be at least 3502 to be considered. You meet the minimum requirements, but likely there’s plenty of kids (both in-state and oos) applying with 4000+ indexes. Remember that this is not a holistic process; they literally have a computer stack the indexes of all applicants in order from highest to lowest & admit from top to bottom till seats are full. Not trying to be pessimistic, just realistic. Good luck.
@Liliana330 How did you get a 3570? It says multiply GPA (3.4) by 800, for a total of 2270. Plus SAT (1410) for a total of 4,130. If I earn my goal SAT scores, it should be around 4200/4300!