Why is UCR's COA higher than UCSD's COA?

Paying for College
1

So UCSD gave me $20k in gift aid and UCR gives me $29k in gift aid. However, UCSD says the COA is $30k and UCR says the COA of attendance is $36k.

Is UCSD lowballing the amount or is UCR overestimating?

Thanks.

2

The COA will be published on each school’s website. What do those numbers say? Different schools will have different COAs.

3

For UCR

Cost of Attendance

Tuition and Fees        $15,451
Room and Board      $16,400
Books and Supplies      $1,700
Transportation      $900
Personal Costs      $2,000
Highlander Orientation Fee      $270

Total Cost of Attendance        $36,721

For UCSD

Tuition and Fees $13,974
Housing and Meals $12,477
Books and Supplies $1,542
Transportation $814
Other Education Costs $1,686

Estimated Cost of Attendance $30,493 / yr

4

I know that UCR puts the required Health Insurance cost in its number for tuition and fees. UCSD doesn’t appear to have included it anywhere. It can be waived if you already have insurance. Not sure why UCSD Room and Board is so low - all of the UCs I’ve seen are @ $15,000. Maybe UCSD assumes you will be in a triple room? And I know there are cheaper R&B options on campus at UCR. Perhaps they put the highest cost dorm in their COA.

5

Well, if UCR net price is $36k - $29k = $7k and UCSD net price is $30k - $20k = $10k, then UCR starts out cheaper – and if UCR’s budget includes more “slack” to cut costs from, the price difference may be even larger.

6

@ucbalumnus UCSD is a better school than UCR and was hoping it really is that cheaper at UCSD. But I checked and @calmom2016 is right, health insurance is not part of the tuition/fees part in UCSD.

I did find out that a triple room with meals costs only $10,800. Which is cheaper than $12,477.

Also, UCSD is giving my $2,900 of work study and UCR is giving me $1500 work study.

7

A lot of schools really increased their COA this year. Why? Because some athletes at D1 schools now get a stipend for the COA-billed costs. Schools also now have an instate COA and and OOS one, mostly to show a difference in travel costs. Some have includes that extra insurance fee, some have updated the fees as the costs of books soar higher and higher.

Break it down and make sure you are comparing the same things like tuition v tuition, room v room charges. After you compare the direct bill stuff, the rest is usually within your control as to how much you spend on travel and books and incidentals.

8

You should think of it this way: UCSD is giving you the opportunity to earn $2,900 from work study and UCR is giving you the opportunity to earn $1,500 from work study. At both schools you would have to find a work study job first and then work the hours before you see a dime from work study. If the most you will be able to work is 150 hours at $10/hour because of school and other obligations, it doesn’t matter that UCSD is offering more work study money; you’ll never see it.

9

Okay, I just called the financial aid office again and they said that if I enroll in health care coverage plan, additional financial aid (grant money) would be available to cover the whole thing. Which is a BIG plus for me, haha.

I also saw the UCSD dorms are way cheaper than UCR dorms. A double room costs $10,968 with meals at UCSD and at UCR, a double with meals costs a whooping $15,750.

So I really do think that UCSD costs less on a whole than UCR.

10

UCSD is also the better of the two. Go there if you can. Beautiful campus and the college system is a major plus.