Everyone knows, college is expensive. Tuition and fees at UC Riverside, for example, are about $14,000 a year. Cal State San Bernardino is a relative bargain at $6,900. Private schools are much more expensive. Tuition alone at USC is about $57,000; CalTech is about $52,000; Stanford is about $53,000. Then you have to add on another $15-$20,000 for living expenses unless your student lives at home.
According to Calmatters.com, “Undergraduate fees at UC grew at nearly five times the rate of inflation between 1977 and 2018; at the height of the most recent recession, the university raised them by 32% in a single year. California State University tuition has grown by about 900% in the last four decades, adjusted for inflation—and that doesn’t include additional fees imposed by individual campuses.”
Fortunately, the state of California is doing more than most to temper the costs of a college education.
The best deal in town are the state’s community colleges, where tuition is free for the first two years for kids who graduate from a California high school and are first-time, full-time students. Previously, only the first year’s tuition was free, but California Governor Gavin Newsom just signed a new budget that covers the cost of the second year of tuition as well. The program is known as the California College Promise Grant, and the application is here: https://home.cccapply.org/money/california-college-promise-grant. In-state community colleges charge $46 /unit, which works out to about $1,380 a year for a full-time student. At College of the Desert these grants fund the plEDGE program, that guarantees two years of free tuition to kids who graduate from a local high school, attend a short mandatory summer prep program, and agree to stay at C.O.D. for two years.
Pam Ramont, from Indio, has two college-age kids. Her daughter works for Disneyland and attends community college in Orange County as part of a program sponsored by Disney. Ramont’s 20-year-old son had the grades to go to a four-year college right out of high school, but chose to spend two years at College of the Desert, live at home and take advantage of the free tuition program. This semester he enrolled at UC Irvine, majoring in history with an eye on law school. Ramont says. “It’s a huge benefit to go to a community college. The kids that pay for four years, they’re so much more in debt because they’re paying for two extra years. We need to get rid of the stigma that it is negative to go to C.O.D., because it’s really a positive.”
Sky Valley mom Kim Marianowits’ daughter started at College of the Desert and then did a lateral transfer to Mount San Jacinto Community College. She has taken advantage of the free tuition deal and has not had to take out loans thus far. She is now attending Azusa Pacific University – and is getting a good chunk of her expenses reimbursed by the company she works for: Starbucks.
Marianowits oldest son is doing the plEDGE program at C.O.D. She says where there’s a will, there’s a way – so parents should not despair about the cost of a college education – and never give up. “Never, there’s always money out there. You just have to find it. Scholarships are a great route. It’s best if kids start figuring it out as early as a freshman in high school. And take advantage of the different career tracks in high school such as theater, engineering, ROTC, health care and hospitality.”
Another option, of course, is trade school. According to thesimpledollar.com, the average cost of a trade school degree is $33,000, compared to $127,000 for a four-year university degree. Usually the programs take two years or less to complete. There is a huge shortage of workers in many of the trades these days, so salaries have improved and many companies will help pay for a student’s schooling.
With unemployment so low, more and more companies these days are trying to attract employees by offering tuition assistance to work there and go to college part-time.
The state does have a system of grants and scholarships to help pay for college. The best known option is the Cal Grant, which does not have to be paid back. Cal Grants are need-based and can cover up to $12,570 per year for four years. They require a minimum G-P-A. The deadline to apply for a Cal Grant is March 2nd.
Students who are undocumented will need to use the California Dream Act application, which is different from the application for the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. DACA recipients are encouraged to apply for state-based aid and are not eligible for federal aid.
Fernando Vera, of Indio, is currently sending two kids to college. His older daughter is at Cal State Bakersfield. She got a Cal Grant – and then got a partial athletic scholarship because she was a high jumper with Palm Desert High School. She only started jumping as a junior, so Vera contacted some of the college level coaches and made sure she was on their radar. He advises parents and students to consider taking up a sport that is underrepresented at the college level. He says, “Golf is something that they have a lot of scholarships for, and there’s a lot of golf courses out here. Track and field is another sport where they give a lot of scholarships. Because it is hard to find specialized athletes in college. There’s other sports that are much more difficult like football and baseball because there are so many athletes in California with the great weather, it makes it much more difficult to get those types of athletic scholarships.”
Vera’s younger daughter chose to attend a private school – Point Loma Nazarene University – where tuition is $47,000 a year, with living expenses on top of that. She received a Cal Grant and some scholarships, so she only had to pay $12,000 during the first year and $24,000 for the second year, and will be taking out substantial loans.
The California Student Aid Commission is a wealth of information about various state and college-based aid. They offer hundreds of financial aid workshops each year at high schools across the state. For more information on that, go to https://www.cash4college.csac.ca.gov/.
California also has a Middle Class Scholarship, (https://www.csac.ca.gov/middle-class-scholarship) that helps families that have incomes and assets up to $177,000 pay for undergraduate tuition to a University of California or Cal State University campus. The scholarships cover between 10-40% of the cost of tuition and can be renewed for four years.
If a student has spent any time in foster care between the ages of 16-18, it is worth checking out the Chafee Grant at https://chafee.csac.ca.gov/ Foster kids with financial need can get up to $5,000 per year that does not have to be paid back and can be used for tuition, books, transportation, rent or child care while the person is in school.
According to a recent article in Forbes.com there are 75 colleges that offer free or reduced tuition. Many require the student to work part-time and ask for a parental contribution.
The federal government also has a number of grant and loan programs – and the gateway to that is the all-important Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Current and prospective college students in the United States should complete the FAFSA to see if they qualify for grants, scholarships, federal work-study and federal student loans. The FAFSA application opens each year on October 1st, and closes June 30th. The earlier you apply, the more likely you are to receive funding.
To apply for federal student aid, you have to meet a few criteria. For example, male students between 18 and 25 have to register with the Selective Service System. You also have to be a U.S. citizen, a U.S. national or an eligible non-citizen, you need a valid social security number, and must have graduated high school or passed the G.E.D. Also, you can’t have any drug convictions or be in default on a federal student loan. Once you are in college you have to keep your grades up and maintain enrollment, known as Satisfactory Academic Progress. You must reapply each year that you are in college.
There is also the CSS Profile, which is also required by some colleges. The CSS is a fee-based product of the College Board and usually used by colleges to distribute their own institutional funding rather than federal or state.
The federal tax code has a number of provisions to help parents pay for college. The American Opportunity Credit lets you claim $2,500 a year on your taxes during your child’s first four years in college. The Lifetime Learning Credit give you a tax credit of $2,000 per student per year for tuition, fees, books and supplies.
Three is also help in saving up for college. A Coverdell Education Savings Account allows up to $2,000 a year to be put aside for a student’s education expenses (elementary, secondary, or college or career school). Each state has a qualified tuition plan, known as aa 529 plan, named after the tax code provision. California’s plan is called ScholarShare but you don’t have to be from the Golden State to use it and you don’t have to send your child to a school in California; anyone can invest in the 529 plan from any state and send the student to an accredited school in any other state.
Prepaid tuition plans allow you to lock in a tuition rate and put money toward it ahead of time. However only 11 states offer such a program, and alas California is not one of them. Most of them require you to be a resident of the state and then send your child to a qualified school in that state. According to Investopedia.com, “The states that still offer prepaid tuition include Virginia, Maryland, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Florida and Washington. These states guarantee their prepaid plans. Michigan, Nevada, Illinois, Pennsylvania and Texas also offer prepaid tuition plans, but without any guarantee. (Meaning, they can terminate or change the plans at any time without obligation to investors).”
The IRS also offers a $2,500 tax deduction for the interest paid on student loans for you, your husband or wife, and your dependent. Also, if you withdraw from an IRA to pay higher education expenses you will still owe federal income tax on what you take out but you can avoid the penalty for early withdrawal.
Dulci Gonzalez, a single mom in her 30’s from La Quinta, recently went back to school at College of the Desert and is working toward a degree in accounting. As a single mom, she was able to go through the Cal Works program, saying, “They set you up with a plan to go to school and work. I got financial aid through FAFSA. I got the max amount of Pell Grant and I was hired through the federal work study program to work at the school. I work 20 hours a week at the school and it does not count against my school aid.”
Gonzalez is taking more than a full load – 14 units – working and going to school 4 days a week, using the other 3 days for homework errands and household chores. She says she thought about it for years before deciding to take the plunge, saying “It is a lot of work but it’s worth it.” She advises adults looking for a change of career to think big, and explore their options. She adds, “There are resources out there; you just have to look for them. And you’ve got to have the support of good friends and family. There are so many scholarships and grants. Just check with the school counseling office.”
One final local resource to investigate is alumni clubs. Lots of universities have alumni clubs that may help your child apply and attend. For example, (The local club for people who attended UC Berkeley, called Cal Bears in the Desert) gives out small scholarships that help low-income students afford to travel to the school and purchase supplies for their freshman year dorm room.
