<p>@TitanAPBioTchr – it was my understanding that UCSC switched to the traditional grading system after 2001, and currently uses that with NES at the professors discretion. (NES = Narrative Evaluation System). So students get a letter grade, and an evaluation if the professors feels like writing one. </p>
<p>UCSC is located in one of the best beach communities in California. It is more rugged than So Cal beaches, but not as much as the beaches further north. There is a quaint town, rather busy these days, with a combination of mom & pop stores, as well as larger chain stores. They have been building a lot more upscale condos along the beach in recent years, but you also see a lot of older, quaint houses. Lots of surfers, sea lions, and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk is very close by. The school is up on a hill, so it has some fantastic ocean views, but also lovely wooded areas (redwoods!) The student body does tend to be more…I don’t know… casual? You will see diversity of a different kind there – in addition to the standard ethnic diversity, there is also more social diversity. Basically what TitanAPBioTchr said, students that did not fit into the mainstream niches in HS, will more likely fit right in at UCSC. </p>
<p>And the Banana Slug – D14 just loves him, but that’s not a surprise, since she is a character artist, and loves doing animal characters. And yes, she could care less about sports.</p>
<p>@eyemamom – I struggle with a lot of them too, especially the midwest and east coast ones. And some are the same as schools on the west coast (like USC - for me always means Univ. So. Cal - but on the east coast it could mean Univ. of So. Carolina, I think??). </p>
<p>@staceyneil – I think we have similar constraints in our financial lives, although we aren’t in a wealthy community at all, and our kids still don’t have all the stuff many kids here do either. Even if we had the funds, I don’t think they would. We know families whose kids have the latest ipad, phone, and laptop, but their home was foreclosed on – we just prefer to focus on other priorities. But, knowing that she doesn’t have to economize on food is important to both of us. I don’t want her feeling guilty because she wanted desert one day, or worried that her funds will run out too soon and we don’t have the money to send. And the meal plan for unlimited at UCSC is only $300 per year more than the cost based plan at UCSD. The Resident Life tour guide at UCSD (UC San Diego for any who don’t know that acronym) was telling us about how she ran out of funds before the end of term and had to live on ramen noodles. We’ll take a pass on that!</p>
<p>@eyemamom Me, too! Around here? USD-University of South Dakota. SDSU-South Dakota State University. USF - University of Sioux Falls. UW- University of Wisconsin (not Washington). UI - University of Iowa. Some of the private college acronyms? I am just lost. </p>
<p>@my2sonsfromca --it’s a newer school, and a lot of people think the acronym is somehow referencing UC Irvine. I think it opened about 10-12 years ago, and is starting to build a nice reputation. Students who attend there seem to be very happy. For a CSU, it also has the advantage of not being impacted, due to being less well known.</p>
<p>We live a couple of miles from the Channel Islands Campus. It is on the site of the old Camarillo State Mental Hospital that closed down years ago, and all of the original buildings have been revamped for the school. It is in a very beautiful little valley about 2 miles out of town and gets the ocean breezes from the beach which is also pretty close. It is very small still but is acquiring a good reputation as many top-notch professors moved here for the atmosphere. My kids would never have considered it- too small and too close to home- but it is really a boost for the area. </p>
<p>PetraElise- my son is at UCSD and his dining dollars were gone by the end of the 2nd quarter. Students can buy unused dining dollars from other students, so he just bought $500 worth of dining dollars from someone for $250. I told him it had better get him through to the end of this quarter! I also put some money on his Triton card which can be used in the dining halls with a 10% discount. I think most of the boys he knows at UCSD are going thru their dining dollars quickly, while most of the girls seem to manage better. I do have to say my son is eating a LOT these days and has had almost a 2"growth spurt since starting in Sept. Hopefully his apetite will slow soon!</p>
<p>Yesterday D and I ran into a young man who was a senior at D’s high school when she was a freshman. They did the school musical together, and he is now majoring in the same thing she is planning - vocal performance. He is now a college junior at a local private school & he told us that about halfway through his sophomore year, he saw the balance on his student loans & started to feel the stress of it. He said it has just gotten worse over time as the balance just grows & grows. He is obviously very concientious & aware of his situation, but it brought home just what a burden those loans are & will continue to be for many years. He is having great success with his singing, but this is not a high-paying career for any but the very top in this area. Hoping for the best for him!</p>
<p>@takeitallin – exactly what we don’t want to have to deal with-- escpecially since in so many ways UCSC is a better fit for D14. The crazy thing about the UCSD thing is that if you’re short, you have to buy more, but if you have extra left over, you lose it unless you can find someone to buy it before the end of term. Too much hassle. I like being able to know the budget is what it is, and will carry her through the entire school year with no stress.</p>
<p>@GertrudeMcFuzz – as D14 is an art major, we are also quite insistent about keeping loans down as much as possible. Part of the reason UCSC is a good fit outside of academics is that she got a scholarship there that will reduce her loan amount. Haven’t received the FA info yet, but it should be better than UCSD with that scholarship. She will probably be looking at $4000 in loans for her freshman year. And if any of the other scholarships she has applied for come thru, then it will be even less.</p>
<p>@PetraElisa - agreed. At first D thought she might major in Chemistry & then we might have been OK with her taking out a small amount in loans. But once she decided on music, we were fairly insistent that she only go places that were affordable without loans. She was fully on board with that, & has pretty much disregarded any school above our affordability threshold without a backward glance. Luckily she has a couple good ones in the target zone.</p>
<p>@PetraElise, I think it is difficult to know exactly how many meal points to purchase. My daughter used to buy goodies (mugs etc.) from the campus store using left over meal points. </p>
<p>it’s official D chose Quinnipiac University for nursing and is in the Honors Program! we actually put a deposit down last week and then she got an unexpected acceptance to TCNJs nursing program which is a good 10k cheaper. we visited today and loved it but Quinnipiac just feels like home. so now I can put the sticker on the back of my car!</p>
<p>@ljmom – that’s why we love the UCSC dining plan so much – it’s a flat fee for unlimited and you can choose 5 day or 7 day. We are used to a very tight budget, and the unlimited plan will allow her to just enjoy that aspect of college – she will only need extra spending money for in town outings with friends, which is perfect and she can manage that comfortably with her allowance. And if she’s spent too much of her discretionary funds, then she knows she just has to eat in the dining hall, but won’t have to scimp.</p>
<p>@cakeisgreat --Congrats! Please let us know how she likes it – that is one of the schools D15 is looking at for OOS options.</p>
<p>@ordinarylives My kid doesn’t have a decision AND I can’t play the “Where are you going?” game either! What is this craziness about college talk being banned? I did tell him he needed to apply to the Residential College at Michigan now- not wait until he’s made a decision. He’s doing that. I just wish he was so excited about his potential school that he it was super obvious where he would decide to go. </p>
<p>Can someone verify for me? We went out to dinner with our friends the other night and we got to discussing “lottery winners” choices. Friend insists the mom believe they are waiting merit from Princeton, Harvard and Stanford. I told her I believe they ONLY give FA, not merit at Princeton and Harvard, but I have no idea about Stanford. She seemed to believe the girl was getting a good package from Princeton. The parents are decently paid professionals - in your opinion what is the income threshold to get aid from an ivy?</p>
<p>@eyemamom. No merit for Ivies/S/M, only need-based aid.</p>
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<p>This is what I found out using their NPC when I was researching:
Harvard/Princeton/Stanford will still give you about $5K to $10K even if HH (pre-tax) income is about $225K
Penn/Yale/Columbia might give you work study or the most $5K if you reach $200K.
Cornell/Brown/Darmouth, once you reach $200K (could be lower depending on savings), you’re full pay.</p>
<p>Lo and behold, Cornell didn’t give us anything. I was hoping that maybe at least $2K and/or work study.</p>
<p>Our scholarships are based entirely on need, not merit. </p>
<p>** There are several hundred families earning more than $200,000 who are receiving scholarship aid based on extenuating financial circumstances.</p>
<p>A graph shows families earning <20K-200K receiving aid. The link is below so you can get a better idea of the number of families getting aid.</p>