<p>Remember that aside from the tuition and fees, everything in the COA is estimated. The housing estimate for on campus living looks to be roughly based off of a double room in an apartment with a 7 day meal plan. I was always told it’s based off of a double dorm and a 7 day meal plan, but whatever. The rest can easily be reduced if you’re frugal (books, transportation, personal expenses).</p>
<p>And it’s not almost $10k in loans, it’s $6,750 in loans. $4,049 of which is subsidized (these loans will not accrue interest until a set amount of time after you graduate as the government is currently paying the interest).</p>
<p>As for the buses and shuttles, that has nothing to do with the estimated transportation cost. Yes, there are TAPS shuttles to get around campus and there are Metro buses as well. The latter requires your Slug Card to ride for “free.” You do not pay for the Metro buses directly, however, the school does pay a fee per student. So it is best to save these for when you need to go off campus to get around Santa Cruz County. Plus, these buses are needed by students who live off campus so taking up space could be preventing one of them from getting home.</p>
<p>That said, if all the shuttles are consistently full and you can’t get on, do not feel guilty about taking a Metro bus when you have to. Also remember that if we do not use the Metro buses at all, the program may be cut from the school because Santa Cruz Metro will not be making enough money off of students to justify it. However, if we don’t use the shuttles enough, the program could be cut there or number of shuttles reduced. It’s a balance that needs to be found.</p>
<p>Good rule of thumb: if going around campus, take a shuttle. If going off campus, take a Metro. If you haven’t been able to get on the last couple shuttles because they were too full, take a Metro.</p>
<p>Anywho, there is a breakdown of all of this if you look at the financial aid page in your portal. From the financial aid website (estimated fees for 2010-2011, they are subject to change):</p>
<p>On Campus
Fees: $12,732
Food and Housing: $14,172
Books and Supplies: $1,404
Transportation: $870
Personal Expenses: $1,524</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>[UC</a> Santa Cruz - Financial Aid - Welcome!](<a href=“http://www2.ucsc.edu/fin-aid/ugradbudget1011.shtml]UC”>http://www2.ucsc.edu/fin-aid/ugradbudget1011.shtml)</p>
<p>If you have insurance through your parents, you can get that campus health insurance waived. However, if you have Kaiser, I more than highly recommend getting campus insurance. The closest Kaiser is in San Jose and trust me, if you are that sick you need to visit the doctor, getting over 17 is just not going to happen. The campus health center is awesome and I honestly pay a lot less for campus health insurance than I was paying for my individual plan (and receiving better benefits).</p>
<p>Housing
Double Dorm/7 day: $13,581
Triple Dorm/7 day: $11,664
Quad Dorm/7 day: $11,385</p>
<p>[UC</a> Santa Cruz - Housing and Dining Rates](<a href=“http://www.housing.ucsc.edu/rates/rates10-11.html]UC”>http://www.housing.ucsc.edu/rates/rates10-11.html)</p>
<p>So let’s guess that the fees are locked in for now and you are given a double dorm. Let’s also assume you keep that health insurance. Your required cost would be $26,313.</p>
<p>This leaves you with an estimated **$4,389<a href=“%5BB%5D$3,798%5B/B%5D%20if%20you%20simply%20add%20up%20the%20remaining%20estimated%20fees%20instead%20of%20subtracting%20the%20required%20cost%20from%20above%20from%20the%20estimated%20cost%20of%20attendance”>/B</a>. Since these fees are related to books, supplies, transportation, and personal expenses, you can reduce these quite easily. Buy your books online, don’t go out a lot, don’t go home much, etc.</p>
<p>There really is nothing too terribly wrong with loans. Especially the ones you have. You could probably get away with only accepting the subsidized stafford and the perkins (also subsidized) and ignoring the parent and unsubsidized loan.</p>
<p>Really, the package you have is incredibly good, better than most get. And if you’re smart and frugal, you can make it work for you without any issue at all. Quite honestly, I would not commute during any of your years if your financial aid is going to remain like this. Living on campus makes getting to classes much easier and your grades will thank you for it. But that’s something you’ll need decide later.</p>