Last night was College Information Night – here’s what we learned:
California’s college system was designed to offer a multi-tiered program.
UC Schools
The ten UC schools educate the top 10% of California’s high school graduates.
- Incoming freshmen at UCSD averaged a 4.07 GPA this year.
- The average SAT score was 1991.
- The total cost (tuition, room & board, and books) is approx $31,500/yr.
- 67% of the UCSD incoming freshmen are from California.
Ninety percent of the overall UC student population is from California.
At UCSD, the most popular majors chosen by this freshman class are biology, economics, computer science and engineering, chemistry, and mechanical and aerospace engineering.
California State Universities
The 23 CSUs are for the next 30% of high-schoolers.
- Incoming freshmen at SDSU averaged a 3.79 GPA this year
- Their average SAT score was 1144, and average ACT was 25.
- The total cost is approx $25,500 per year.
California Community Colleges System
There are 112 community colleges for the remaining high school graduates, and completing a two-year program there and transferring to a four-year college is a viable alternative.
Send the kids to the local JC for their GE requirements while living at home, then ship them to a UC or CSU as a junior transfer and save $$$. Student debt is slavery.
What about the fraternity keggers though?
Haha trust me they’ll still find them.
I made mine work part time and save while in JC which offset the expensive last two years. Don’t let the published price of a college education turn you off – the “total cost” numbers are probably 75% living expenses which can mitigated. The hard costs of tuition and books are in my opinion still very very cheap for the personal and professional lifetime benefit.
UC costs breakdown given last night:
$13,200 Tuition
$13,500 Room & Board (on-campus)
$1,500 Books
$1,300 Health
$2,000 Miscellaneous (parking, etc)
$31,500 total
Fraternity keggers: priceless!
Jeebus $14.7k for tuition and books. Mine went to CSU’s, the last one just graduated last June from CSULB, and her tuition was $2700 ish per semester and books were nowhere near $1500 since she always rented, sold back, or went electronic where available. Share an apartment, ride a bike, and eat Ramen and they’ll get educated cheap and still have $$ left over for keggers and medical weed.
I looked up the community-college rate – $36 per unit, or $540 for five classes.
An additional vote for Community College (CC): a student who could not get in to UC or CSU out of high school has a better chance getting in from your local CC. And statistically CC students have higher final GPA’s and shorter time to degree finishing rates. We are lucky that MiraCosta is our local CC (district is coastal from Carmel Valley to Oceanside). It has the best transfer rate in Southern California and faculty to student ratios are very low (typical class 1:30). All of that said – if your kid (or more to the point: you) are one who needs the “experience” of going away to college then the CC does not fit the bill. Parents typically will ignore that their children are not emotionally or academically ready because especially where we live very few kids attend the CC and transfer and that is somehow seen as a failure when everyone else is doing it. Finally, faculty at the CC are there solely because they want to teach undergrads. This is almost never true at UC and rarely true at CSU. At the end of the day when you have your diploma a student who went to UCSD straight out of high school and compare it to the one who transferred from MiraCosta they both say exactly the same thing. The big difference is that the student who went to the CC may or may not have had less of a social experience though perhaps matured more in different ways as result (ie working at the same time, living at home, being involved in the Honors or Student Ambassador Programs, etc) but saved $60,000. A huge misconception is that as Jim lists above, the CC is for the “remaining” graduates – that is not true: it is a viable option in the right case for even the top 10%. It is a surprise to many that the quality of the teaching and the top students in a Introductory Genetics class at MiraCosta is of equal caliber to UCSD. Personally I am saving for the final 2 years of college for my kids. I am hopeful that they will choose their first two years be at a CC and then transfer.
I’m just the messenger on this one.
Jim, makes sense. I was referring to the collective “you” – it’s unfortunate that the community college isn’t a more popular option. While its tuition has remained affordable (a wise investment from the state’s perspective given what studies have shown the positive economic impact it creates on business and job growth is), in general insane increases in tuition far beyond inflation represent their own bubble. UC/CSU will be under increasing pressure to show the value of spending all four (usually five or six) years that corresponds with eventual outcomes (I would argue there is the same outcome (except for the fraternity keggers)) starting out at CC and transferring.
The reason CC’s are considered for “the remaining high school graduates” is that it has something like a 70% dropout rate – CA law mandates that community colleges exist and a lot of kids who will never finish college take classes there and their failure to take it seriously affects the perception. I agree that going to CC for the first 2 years and then transferring into a UC or CS school is a great way to go – you get the same education and the same diploma in the end and save a ton of money doing so.
If the consensus is to graduate from the best college possible, does it make sense to send kids to an average high school where it would be easier to get a 4.0?
Try that one on for size!
It seems instead that everyone’s goal is to buy a home in the best school district, and load up on the extra-curricular activities.
We over-burden these kids early, and then bury them in college with debt and addiction to caffeine. Then they find out that the real world only wants to pay them peanuts, relatively.
From education slaves to corporate slaves.
Depends on what you want out of the undergraduate experience, and the learning style of the kid. Some kids thrive at a small college (Pomona), medium university (CalTech), or huge Uni (UCB or UCSD), but might become slackers if surrounded by the other 80% at CC who aren’t serious.
And is their goal an 4 year terminal degree, like accounting or business? Teaching? Then a CC followed by a UC or CSU is probably a great way to go.
But speaking as one who is involved in graduate and medical school admissions, if you want your kid to go to a top graduate/professional school, don’t go the CC or CSU route.
Know this forum is now old but wanted to make a last post on this after seeing the comments. It is a myth that 80% of those who go to CC are slackers. Go sit in on any GE IGETC level class at MiraCosta and you will see it is comparable to the UC level. I am involved in the process too and completely discount the notion that if you want your kid to go to a top graduate or professional school that they should not go to a CC. Instead I would say if that is your goal and you can’t get in to a top UC out of high school don’t go to a CSU, instead go to a CC and transfer to a top UC. First hand experience: my college roommate went to a CC, transferred to UCSD, then went to UCLA where he earned his PhD in Microbiology. The girl I dated in the transfer dorm next door when to a CC, transferred to UCSD, then went to UOP Dental School and UCLA Post Grad and now is a Pediatric Specialist Dentist. My best friend in high school, the validictorian, went to Revelle at UCSD as a freshman and was on academic probation and lost his national merit scholarship and took 7 years to graduate. I went to a CC, transferred to UCSD two years later, and graduated in 4. Many parents discount the option because of the image, but it is a great choice for the right kid regardless of their goal. It’s not for every kid but for the right kid it is a better option than many realize.