<p>How much do you pay out of pocket to attend UCLA? I’ve been paying full freight (all $30,000) without any financial aid, and it’s been pretty tough. I was just wondering how it was for other students.</p>
<p>I paid full tuition for the first two years, but during my first year, my dad died, and since he made like 70% of our family income, I then become dirt poor and have received full tuition (aid for school only - like 12k) for this year. Kinda sucks because he died late in 2009 and he basically worked a full year and the FAFSA utilizes previous years income.</p>
<p>I’m a first-year OOS but I got a generous financial aid offer this year for tuition: I paid 3717 for the whole year, although Housing is a pain in the b*tt, (12000 a year).</p>
<p>I pay nothing for tuition per Blue & Gold/Calgrant/whatever. I’m an LA resident. But since i essentially live on the other side of town, and couldn’t drive last year, i ended up living in Westwood which cost 7k. Now that i have my license, i’m just commuting to school (and saving around 2k per quarter in housing loans)</p>
<p>^^^ Beyphy, where do you commute from? I commute from just a little east of the Rose Bowl.</p>
<p>I commute from South LA. My house is roughly 3 miles south of USC. Now that gas prices are so expensive, it’s really a huge pain to commute, but i suppose there are worse things out there lol.</p>
<p>I have Blue & Gold and commute also. My real costs are just UCSHIP, textbooks, and food.</p>
<p>Hey Binks, sorry to hear about your dad. How are you commuting from the Rose Bowl? I live near the Rose Bowl and when I commuted over the summer it took a long time because of all the traffic on the freeway.</p>
<p>I don’t get any financial aid but I don’t pay anything out of pocket because my parents started a separate college savings account for me when I was born.</p>
<p>Be good parents! Do this for your children!</p>
<p>I’m another Blue & Gold commuter (stayed in the dorms my first two years). I also have a scholarship so I pretty much get the full “official” cost of attendance for commuters. Since my personal expenses are less than what they budget, I can pocket about $1k per quarter. If I were still in the dorms I think I would need a $4k loan for the year.</p>
<p>It’s not that bad, you just have to know plenty of time-saving routes. For example, you can EASILY save 15 minutes by getting off the 101 at Sepulveda and taking Sepulveda south for 4 blocks or so to get on the 405 instead of just getting onto the 405 from the 101. It’s really not that bad, until I tell you how much I drive. Oh and FYI, I work in the City of Commerce (near Vernon, East of Downtown, think 710/5 interchange).</p>
<p>Here’s a general schedule of my life this quarter.
Monday / Wednesday - leave at 715, drive for 1.45 hours, class @ 930, leave @ 11, home by 1145 (80 miles round trip)
Tuesday / Thursday - leave at 5.15 to start work at 6, work till 11, split and drive an hour to school for class from 12.30 to 3.15, leave at 330 home by 445. (100 miles round trip)
Friday - leave at 5.15 to start work at 6, usually split at 1 or 2 and am home in 45 minutes. (50 miles round trip)</p>
<p>So MW = 2.5 hours of driving a day
TR = 3 hours of driving a day
F - 1.5 hours of driving a day.</p>
<p>Yeah, so M-F I spend like 12.5 hours in my truck and easily rack up 400+ miles a week.</p>