<p>Ok I’m going to UC Santa Barbara for fall 2010 for computer science and i just got my financial aid which includes 20386 in just grants and scholarships for my first year and that amount can reduce to 19000 for my second year. But what i’m concern about is that i have to get 8,000 dollars in just loans and that amount can increase for the next year. i’m going to probably have a debt of more than 40,000 by the time i graduate. Is that normal for a UC student to have a debt of that amount?
I was expecting a little more of help from the Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan (I’m a low income student), but according to financial aid office that help comes with my Cal Grant (10,302). So I guess i will join the ROTC program to help pay for it (if that’s possible) or is that a bad idea?</p>
<p>8,000 a year in loans isn’t the worst case scenario - but whatever happened to summer work and working during the school year? An industrious student can make easily 4K in a summer and another 2 - 4K during the school year if not more. Even if you are low-income, colleges often expect students to have been saving up money from summer work and parents to kick in a few thousand as well.</p>
<p>If you can avoid the UNSubsidized loan, that is best. You should be able to earn the difference with part time work.</p>
<p>Don’t join the ROTC if you don’t want to be hitched to military service! You may be able to earn similar amounts of money with part-time work instead.</p>
<p>Was work study a part of your financial aid package?</p>
<p>Yes, unfortunately that’s a typical UC package. I just hate that they do that.</p>
<p>Your COA shouldn’t be that high after your first year if you aren’t living in the dorms anymore, right? I mean for me, I’ll be living in an on-campus ap’t sharing a room with 2 other ppl, rent per person will only be $320, + ~$40 utils? So my CoA at UCI will definitely be less than $20k. Things might be different for UCSB though.</p>
<p>OP, You can’t just “join” ROTC. You have to compete for scholarships. And ROTC is mostly interested in the hard sciences for majors (engineering, etc).</p>
<p>Well work study is already included in financial package, and i have 1000 saved for college, my parents told me from the beginning of my senior year that they were not going to help me pay for college. That is why i was planing to join the ROTC. Isn’t computer science considered an engineering major?</p>