Yes he would be on the track team at Cal as a recruited walk on. So he would be have the same treatment and athlete perks as all the other members of the program. Including all the academic support and tutoring and other things.
HELP ----Is Cal Berkeley Worth 60k-70k in Student Debt VS No loans or Debt at a Lower School ? ? ? ?
First of all, that’s assuming an absurd level of salary growth. If you start at $70K straight out of Haas (and let’s be real - the median is around $60-70K, so let’s assume a starting salary around the top end of the median range rather than something in the top 5%), someone would have to double their salary in 10 years to get to $150K. And we’re claiming that will be their minimum salary? Unlikely, unless he goes back to grad school or something. According to Payscale, college graduate see abut 60% salary growth before age 30. And even that seems a bit high;
I know lots of people who work at those companies and did not borrow $60-70K for undergrad. If the OP’s son truly is an ambitious kid, as you said, he can end up at a good company making a good salary without borrowing the debt. At the very least he can save the borrowing for his MBA.
The much bigger risk is if the kid doesn’t end up at one of those places and struggles to repay his loan.
Without a doubt it is worth it. 60-70k is almost nothing compared to the Cal connections and reputation.
Ok then, being a Cal athlete has a status of its own and the perks including tutoring, good athlete meals and other support - and with the difference being 25k between the two schools, I would go Cal and try to find ways to reduce that debt over the four years - summer jobs or whatever he can do. As an athlete he will get priority scheduling as well, which is a big help at the big UCs. Is the Cal coach solid? That relationship can be very important to your son. I would think the confidence and pride he would feel being a Cal student and athlete would be great for him…depending on how you answer the next question…
Is he up to the challenge? Cal is more of a pressure cooker and they have very different demographics than CSF - does he want to be at Cal?