<p>I have lived and worked in California for the last 5 years. However my son and his mother do not-- we are divorced and I do not have custody. I have heard that he can be eligible for instate tuition for the UCs but I’m not sure whether or not this is myth. Can anyone confirm and/or guide me? I’d really like to see him go to Cal if he gets in tomorrow.</p>
<p>Another student posted the other day with the same issue. It’s unclear if he’ll get instate. </p>
<p>The main problem will be that even if he gets instate, he won’t qualify for the generous need-based aid that students who graduate from Calif HSs get. so, you’d be paying full freight…about $33k per year. </p>
<p>His instate options in his own state may be cheaper.</p>
<p>We’ve come to a consensus that 33k for Cal is a better choice than 15k for UMD. However, the 55k or so that oos costs is likely out of reach.</p>
<p>UMD…is that Maryland? </p>
<p>It’s up to you whether you think Cal is worth twice the cost of Maryland. Many would not.</p>
<p>S is doing engineering, he wants to go and I think it would be best for his career. Cost is not so much the issue as whether or not instate tuition is possible. He’s been accepted to UCLA and others already so there are alternatives. I’m only asking because in order for us to even consider this, instate must be possible. If not, then this will be crossed off the list of options.</p>
<p>Have you called these schools and asked? </p>
<p>On the other thread, someone posted something about the fact that the student has to move to Calif before his 18th bday in situations like yours (NCP living in Calif).</p>
<p>When will your son turn 18?</p>
<p>Yes I’ve read that he has to live there 8 months before the semester that he wishes to attend. If you are correct, however, I’d be delighted because he won’t be 18 until mid August.</p>
<p>Pragmatically, I see this happening all of the time. The custody is not the issue most of the time. You do need to go to the website of the particular school and read how they look at it. Then you have to find out how closely it is enforced.</p>
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<p>As a working engineer, I will specifically disagree that the university that he goes to will have significant influence on his career as an engineer. Unlike some other majors, as long as he graduates from an ABET-accredited school, he will have a world of opportunities regardless of which ABET-accredited 4 year college he graduates from.</p>
<p>Yes, I’m saying someone who graduates with a ME degree from University of North Dakota has just as good of chances at an interesting and rewarding engineering career as someone who graduates from UCLA.</p>
<p>You may like having your son closer to you, and he may like being in California, but frankly, I’d suggest that both of you take a long hard look at what else you could use that $72,000 for that you are thinking to pay so that your son can get a UCLA degree. Even if he were to find a “better” job right out of college, how many years will he have to work to recover that added cost?</p>
<p>As for whether or not your son is eligible for in-state status, that can be answered with one quick phone call to UCLA.</p>
<p>can’t help saying that Cal is Berkeley, not UCLA. :)</p>
<p>^^^</p>
<p>Right, but the student has been accepted to UCLA…Cal is unknown at this point. </p>
<p>And engineer4life is right…graduating from Cal or UCLA in eng’g won’t matter much…certainly not worth $80k…unless that’s easy money for you. UM-CP engineering isn’t crappy.</p>
<p>I disagree with the statements that there’s no difference in the college attended as far as opportunities go. I think there’s a difference including in the companies specifically recruiting from certain colleges as well as recognition of particular colleges/programs among particular hiring managers. This is especially true in getting a job in particular geographical areas. For example, I think a Cal or UCLA engineering grad has a much better shot in California (and many other locales) among a wider variety of companies than the grad of some other colleges. Besides being better recognized the employer knows that there’s already a healthy initial cut due to the high selectivity to even enter the engineering programs at Cal and UCLA compared to some other colleges and even more of a weeding being done while there. Whether it’s worth whatever the differential would be would depend on a lot of factors.</p>
<p>But that isn’t what the OP asked about.</p>
<p>OP - I suggest you do 2 things - read the websites of the colleges you’re interested in (Cal, UCLA) in this regard and also call the financial offices of each campus and ask the question. Make sure you do both colleges (or any college being considered) because even though they’re both UCs, I’ve heard they may have their own variations of requirements in this area.</p>
<p>I couldn’t help myself:</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.ucop.edu/ogc/documents/uc-residence-policy.pdf[/url]”>http://www.ucop.edu/ogc/documents/uc-residence-policy.pdf</a></p>
<p>*</p>
<ol>
<li>Permanent Separation or Divorce of Parents</li>
</ol>
<p>If a minor student’s parents are separated or divorced, the residence of the parent with whom the minor maintains his principal place of abode will be considered the residence of the minor.</p>
<p>The principal place of abode is typically the residence of the parent with whom the student spends the majority of his time. Thus, the principal place of abode for a student who spends the school year with one parent and summers with the other would be the home of the parent with whom the student lives during the school year.</p>
<p>A minor student will derive residence through a California-resident parent only if s/he begins living with the California parent prior to attaining majority (18th birthday). In this case, the student is not required to fulfill the 366-day physical presence requirement; however, the California parent must satisfy the University’s requirements for residence for tuition purposes. The burden is on the student to provide clear and convincing evidence that s/he actually changed their domicile to their California- resident parent’s home prior to the student’s 18th birthday. The parent has the burden of providing clear and convincing evidence that California has been their primary home for 366 days and that s/he has severed ties to his former out-of-state home.*</p>
<p>I disagree with the statements that there’s no difference in the college attended as far as opportunities go. I think there</p>
<p>Nobody said that. What was said that a student doesn’t have to go to UCB or UCLA over UM-CP for engineering…and it’s not worth that much money.</p>
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<p>However, on-campus recruiting for one’s internships and one’s first job at graduation is likely to be better at more well known schools for engineering, and schools local to employers. A student at UND would likely have to be much more aggressive at finding companies to apply to for internships and first job at graduation than a student at Berkeley, UCLA, or UMCP. This would likely involve much more research than applying to just the most obvious companies that everyone in the major applies to (e.g. computer science and engineering majors applying to just Google, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft).</p>
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mom2collegekids - Yes, that was essentially what was said. I was referring to the following statement which is essentially what I stated in my post - </p>
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<p>The University of Maryland actually has quite a good engineering school and is located in a part of the country that has been less affected than most by the economic downturn. There are quite a lot of jobs in Maryland/DC/Northern Virginia, many of them with companies that recruit heavily at the University of Maryland. </p>
<p>So if he does end up going to College Park, things should turn out pretty well.</p>
<p>[Full disclosure: My son went to UMCP, majored in computer science, and had a good experience there. But he moved to California immediately after graduation, first to go to grad school at UCSD and later to work in Silicon Valley.]</p>
<p>When I talked about engineering career (as well as the OP), I wasn’t referring to internship + first job out of college. I think that an engineering career is composed of many years of work. I’m ten years out of college now, and I can honestly say I’d be working in my exat position regardless of which college that I graduated from. </p>
<p>So I’m saying in 10 or 15 years down the road, I don’t think he’ll think it made one bit a different as to which college he went to.</p>
<p>I’d take the $50k and use it as a down payment on a house rather than hope that it will lead to a better job.</p>
<p>Also, 6 in 10 prospective engineers don’t end up with engineering degrees anyway, but that is a different thread.</p>
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<p>Assuming,* arguendo*, that your 6 in 10 figure is correct, I should think that would be an argument for choosing UC Berkeley over U Maryland, since the former is stronger in more fields.</p>