-Texas public high school
-underrepresented minority
-not legacy
-income below $30k
-not first gen
-UW GPA: 3.16
-SAT: 1220
-Rank: 233/707
-APs: 8
-Honors: 2
-Dual Cred: 1
-ECs: Orchestra, dance team, leadership position in 4 clubs currently (5 total)
-intended major: business
-Californian schools I’m considering applying to: USC, UCD, UCM, UCR
Are my chances of getting accepted into any of these really low?
Unfortunately all UC colleges will be unaffordable and you don’t have the grades needed to be a viable candidate at USC.
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UCD, UCR and UCM offer no financial aid to out of state students. As a low income student, $75K/year to attend a UC is unaffordable so I would remove them from your list.
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Why California?
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you might have a shot at Merced, but chances of the others are zero. But yes, you will expected to be full pay.
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A lot of my relatives live out there
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The Cal State system (rather than the UC system) may be more of a possibility both in terms of stats and tuition, even for out of state.
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Unfortunately, California may be the most expensive state for non-resident college costs. In addition to the Cal State schools already mentioned, there’s University of Redlands, which caps tuition at $25k for non-residents with a 3.0+GPA in core classes in grades 10-12. But that still leaves you with a total bill over $40k/yr when you factor in room, board, books, etc.
Since you’re in Texas, what about a school like Stephen F. Austin? With the Purple Promise Guarantee, you’d get free tuition as long as your family income remains below $80k. That would still leave costs for room and board if you aren’t close enough to commute from home, but at least you’d be borrowing far less money than with most other 4-year options.
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I imagine your in-state publics would give you the best chance at an affordable four year college.
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With your stats, you might have a chance at UCM. But, as others have said, it will likely be unaffordable for you based on family income, unfortunately.
Your state has phenomenal schools that are also public schools that are supported by your parents.
I don’t know if you know this but, the UCs and CSUs are large schools supported by the public taxpayers of California.
That means that if you live in, and graduate from high school in California, you get the in-state rates.
If you live out of state, it means your parents haven’t been paying to the State of California, so you have to pay the full price.
It doesn’t matter if you’re low income because the State cannot afford to fund people that are not paying residents of California. You probably qualify for federal funds but that’s only $6000 a year.
You would have to find $69,000 a year to go to UC school (or $36,000 a year to a CSU).
If you were thinking of living with your relatives and becoming a resident, that won’t work. You would have a Texas transcript from your high school.
The California schools know that trick. You would still pay full fees even if you live with your relatives. You couldn’t live on your own in California Because our cost of living is so high. Rents are about $3000 for a one bedroom, per month. And you would have to work for at least a year and live in California without any financial support from anyone.
Your GPA is a 3.16. Out-of-state residents must have a minimum of a 3.4. That means your GPA would automatically disqualify you from admission.
The State of California has thousands of underrepresented students. California has a law that says they cannot look at race during admissions. So even as a URM they can’t use that information to admit you.
I’m sorry that’s not what you wanted to hear, but before you spend money on a UC or CSU application you need to know that it’s just too expensive for you to attend a UC or a CSU in California.
Your guidance counselor should have mentioned that to you.
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It’s everywhere…not just CA.
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I completely agree with the analysis in this comment, but just to give some context to OP’s situation, it is extremely unlikely that a guidance counselor at OP’s Texas public school has any idea about college admissions in California, or any state other than Texas (and even that isn’t a given). Indeed, speaking as a parent of kids attending a well-regarded public school in a relatively prosperous part of Texas, I feel very confident that my kids’ counselor does not know this and would not have the time or inclination to research it. Unless you are in one of a small handful of extremely affluent districts, there are typically just too many kids with too many other needs for high school counseling staffs to drill down on any particular student’s college search.
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If this is indeed the case, please realize that Merced, Davis, Riverside and Los Angeles are all quite far from each other. The communities and cultures are also very different at those schools. Can you share a little more about what you are looking for in a college?
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The differences between the UCs is a moot point as they will all be unaffordable for the OP.
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Please understand…the CA public universities do not give state funded financial aid to out of state students. You would still get whatever amount you qualify for the Pell Grant and the federally funded Direct loan. But together, those are about $12,000 which won’t fund any public college for you in California.
Please consider other options beside public universities in CA.
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What about some Cal State Schools? The price is closer to your tuition cap and it is easier to get into a good CSU school than the UCs you list. They may be target/reaches. What major or field of study are you interested in? Many CSU schools are very good in areas of business including accounting, and have good engineering programs at some schools as well. Maybe look into Cal State Fullerton, Cal Poly Pomona, CSUN, or San Jose State to name a few.
The CSUs also do not offer financial aid to non- California residents.
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I think you misread the OP. The family “income” is in the $30,000 range. That is not what they can pay for college. With a family income of $30,000, this student’s family can’t pay for college costs likely at all (unless they have some huge savings account someplace).
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Yes. It looks like out of state pays something like an additional $444/unit. So at 24 units, annually, the minimum full time number of units, that’s an additional $10,656. Tuition is currently $6450/annually. That comes out to be $17,106 annual tuition before room and board for out of state.