<p>@calmom I absolutely agree. My parents have dealt with the financial aspect of this experience quite poorly, and that can probably be attributed to the fact that they are immigrants who never attended college, and also Middle Eastern parents who historically carry a lot of pride and have difficulty disclosing the reality of their funds to anyone. They broke the “news” that Barnard is unaffordable to me while we were in the financial aid office of Barnard itself. Just as I was getting misty eyed and emotional about the beauty of both Barnard and Columbia, I received the bad news. I’m still not happy with my “decision”, or the one that has basically been made for me. I do plan on studying something to do with legal studies or film, and I know that NYC and Barnard provide the ideal learning environments for these two interests. The students I met at Barnard and Columbia were driven, ambitious, both street and academically intelligent, and generally the kind of people I knew would be conducive to my personal growth. I can’t with any clear conscience assume that much debt for an undergraduate degree, and also cannot assume that I will go into a field of law (or law at all, for that matter) that will make the $50k in debt reasonable to pay off. The $100k is in savings, but since my parents are both unsupportive of Barnard and hope to build interest on the $50k, they are only willing to expend that much to me. A combination of one or two years at UCSB and one or two at USC would likely amount to about $110-115k total versus about $150-160k. I could go to Barnard and work summers and during the year, but I’m afraid my GPA would suffer. I could also afford Barnard with some ease if I became an RA for three years, but I am hesitant to rely on something I’ve heard is competitive. I don’t see much of a choice here, and I guess I can only hope to make my time at UCSB both brief and cost-effective. </p>