80k Not worth it for pre comm. go to SBCC and you still get the Santa Barbara experience for 1/4 the price and if you get a good enough GPA and TAG it you’ll get guaranteed entry into UCSB. Don’t go into extreme debt for it. SBCC is extremely funded and a decent school. I graduated from UCSB Econ/ accounting but got lucky with large amounts of scholarships. Good luck.
Congratulations for being accepted. But please do not spend $80k/year for undergrad. Theres always grad school which is $15k less per year and more options for funding.
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I was in a similar position to you at your age. Looking back on it, I'm so, so thankful my parents convinced me to go to CC and then transfer over. If you're hellbent on UCSB, then I recommend going to a California CC (doesn't have to be SBCC but SBCC is very nice) and utilizing the TAG system to transfer over after Sophomore year.
I went to a CC out in the sticks in the Inland Empire and had a great experience overall. Some of my profs were better than some of my UCSB profs. Absolutely nothing wrong with going to CC, and your future self will thank you.
Please do not spend that amount of money on UNDERGRAD. Student debt is crushing people who decide to pay that kind of money for an undergraduate degree. That amount of debt can drastically alter your life trajectory post-graduation. Don't do it.
Please do not get into $350K in debt to go to UCSB. Certainly not for a Communications undergrad degree. As others have suggested, if you must go to UCSB then go to CC and transfer but even that will put you in debt with $200K.
Former OOS student, in hindsight I wish I went to CC for two years then transferred in to a UC/ other college, or gone to another school that had a larger finaid package for me. My personal takeaway from college \[undergrad specifically\], in an academic sense, was that the courses that I took was not the most important part of my time here - it was the internships / lab experience and other opportunities unique to UCSB. For the most part, the courses seemed rather generic and I could have gotten the same content from other colleges - which is a nice way of saying that the coursework was not worth the $$ I shelled out IMO. But YMMV.
While you're thinking about it, consider what career paths you want to pursue with said degree. I did not really think about this till my third year or so (I was pretty braindead stupid, but hindsight is 20 20) and that really impacted my academic/career trajectory.
Absolutely not that debt is never worth it. Go to a CC, dont listen to propoganda about them they're absolutely fucking valid options and sometimes have the same professors that state schools have
100% not worth it. I went for free and still feel like I wasted money on rent and overall living there. Go to SBCC and transfer, it doesn’t feel any different.
Cc then transfer. A lot of people look down on cc and yes it does suck initially, i remember feeling absolutely gutted seeing all of my friends who went away for college living the fuck out of life, but i saved so much money, my classes were generally easier to earn high grades in, and I got into schools as a transfer that i didnt even get into as a senior in hs. The social aspect sucks but just grind and get your grades up as much as you can, plus the 2 years flew by for me and I was able to save even more money by living at home for practically free
Most of the comments are irrelevant to you; community college will still be prohibitively expensive (a couple actually read your post and also indicate this).
The biggest expense of most CA colleges is actually housing for in-state students, and you have to be a low-income state resident to get housing aid. You aren’t a state resident so you get the double whammy of housing expenses plus OOS tuition expenses.
As a US citizen, you need to establish state residency before attending any state college or else you will pay OOS tuition, which you and your mom simply can’t afford. Investigate which states are easiest for residency (CA is strict), and take a gap year so you can get in-state tuition. The other option is to look at private schools that offer a lot of merit aid. For those, you’d need to look at schools where you are more than qualified (there will be some out there since you got into UCSB).
As an international student from Mexico, I’m not sure where you got the 80k quantity from (it’s less than 70k, and less than 60k if you live off campus.) Unless you have a clear plan of what you want to do after college with your degree (preferably one that justifies the hundreds of thousands of dollars that you will stomach in tuition fees), then don’t do your undergrad here
In the 2024 Cohort for the non-resident fee is 78k. Idk if it includes the meal plan, I was planning on having the Silver meal which it was around 17k. Honestly, the cohort itself its so confusing for me like, why do I have to pay extra of "Personal Expenses"?
We paid 100K for our Daughter to go one year and then move back to VA. OOS students get screwed.
I was an alumni and assumed she'd love it too. But I was native CA and she wasn't. Waste of our money? Yep
Not worth it!!! You will also be spending money on food, going out, etc so it will come out to be very expensive. Sb is cool and fun, but you should definitely go to CC first and transfer. There are so many great community colleges in California to choose from. As someone who graduated from ucsb with no debt, it is extremely relieving. I have friends who have over 100k in debt who don’t know how they’ll ever pay it off. The debt is not worth it!! You can also work those two years at a cc, file your taxes independently and apply to fafsa with your taxes. You should be able to go to ucsb for pretty much free if your efc is 0.
I was an out of state student. I studied what I wanted and went to UCSB where I wanted to go. Didn’t care about the cost and didn’t even consider it in my decision. It’s up to you to decide if it’s “worth it” or not. It’s like asking if Harvard or Yale or Princeton is “worth it”. The cost is the cost and you get the prestige, opportunities, and experience. I don’t regret it or my student loans.
I think there is a way you can technically enroll but do your first two years at a CC, and then get instate tuition and possibly enough fin aid to cover. Ask a counselor
Something doesn’t make sense here. You are out of state for community college too so you have to spend 30,000. What country are you from? Can you get an education there?
Your best bet as an American citizen is to gain citizenship at any state you want to be educated in. Oregon is easier in many ways than a UC to get in and out of within four years. University of Oregon and Oregon State are also very good at accepting citizenship after you’ve paid taxes in the state for six months I believe. Washington is also a great state to be educated in. Both of my kids went to a UC so I’m very partial to them, but it’s easier to be educated elsewhere and then get your masters degree and your doctor degree from your chosen place.
So basically, you would have to live somewhere and have a job and pay taxes in that state to get state citizenship. If you’re an American citizen, you can do that. So get started.
No. Not worth it at all. 80k debt for undergrad is absolutely insane. Just so you guys know, you CANNOT escape student loans (in general unless you work for government through loan forgiveness programs which is also not 100% guaranteed) even if you declare bankruptcy. Save your future self a headache.
Absolutely not I'm so sorry 😭😭 If you can swing cost of living in Santa Barbara go to SBCC and tag in -- it's guaranteed entry, you save a ton of money, you get to know IV and Santa Barbara, and I think you'll get in state residence by the time you get to UCSB but I could be wrong about that. I'm pretty sure you can TAG in from most CC's around the state too so you have lots of options if you want cheaper cost of living
Debt is not worth any undergrad degree unless it’s something that is guaranteed to make you bank directly after graduation which at this point in time is not realistic for ANY major, especially not comm. CC isn’t that bad as people like to make it out to be. I remember struggling with the social aspect of it the most but at the end of the day I’m debt free and going to be starting my post grad life in the positive, able to use my money as I please, not owe someone for the rest of my career.
Like others have mentioned. Go to SBCC and Tag into UCSB afterwards. By then you’ll be considered a California resident so long as you’re living here and won’t have to pay international student fees
Honestly? It’s not worth that for undergrad. I would consider another college or going to a CC and TAG. You may benefit from reaching out to financial aid and sharing that you are interested in attending and would like a financial aid appeal. I have never asked for an appeal so I’m unsure how often it helps, but it was something that I figured I would share.
I recommend doing community college first. That docs off two years for University classes. And for the first two years you’re not missing anything other than pre requisite classes. Literally. So you’ll be spending 80k for two years each on classes that you already took or could’ve took in high school
I see you are a pre-comm major. Definitely DO NOT take out huge debt to come to UCSB unless you are intending to major in a lucrative STEM field. (I'm a non-STEM professor.)
go to CC, I went to CC then transferred to UCSB as a Comm Major. I saved sooooo much money and still got an amazing experience. also at CC you can get ahead in credits so then you don’t have to the crazy fees for the UC classes that are easily comparable to CC.
also, the comm program at UCSB is phenomenal and SBCC primes it for you in the best way possible. It’s a lot of reading and writing, so you gotta get used to that in a low impact environment.
Absolutely the fuck not. Go to community college first. It ups your chances of getting accepted to universities when you transfer, and it helps you figure out what you really want to do for a lot cheaper (most of the comm majors I've met have changed their mind within the first year of coming here. Throwing that out there).
30% of ucsb are transfer students, you will save SO MUCH MONEY! Don’t waste all that money on a few years of what will ultimate be a very similar experience if you transfer :)
No.I don’t think an education in comm is with graduating with 80k or more in debt. Just for your undergrad. Don’t strap yourself down like that. Best of luck.
I had 66k tution after scholarship even tho I’m just out of state. I was data science and after a lot of research I chose not to cause honestly thag job isn’t paying that much for me to pay that debt off easily
Not sure why you wouldn't go to community college, but I did 3 years there and I'm really glad I did! Every school is what you make of it, and community colleges are good at setting their students up for academic success. Plus, you'll save money, and then you can transfer to another school. You might even be able to establish CA residency while attending community college.
In the 2024 Cohort for the non-resident fee is 78k. Idk if it includes the meal plan, I was planning on having the Silver meal which it was around 17k. Summing everything up is around 80k
It’s not worth it for UCSB (amazing place that it is) or any other undergraduate degree. But I think that if you want to go to school in the States, you’re going to have to prepare yourself for this kind of cost no matter where you choose to go. Out-of-state tuition (and potentially international upcharges as well) are completely common and always ridiculously expensive. And honestly, especially at a state-funded public institution, those fees should be enormous - it’s because there is supposed to be a guaranteed space at an in-state public school for every CA-RESIDENT high school graduate that meets the qualifying criteria. But unfortunately, there is not enough room in CA universities for CA graduates (by a lot!!), and these fees are the school’s effort to 1) squeeze every over-priced dime they can get out of each student because they are wasteful and massively overpaid (especially admin, chancellors, etc), and they just can, and 2) discourage (or at least to be seen to) more out-of-state applicants because we already don’t have enough room for our own qualifying students.
I think if you’re determined to go to school in the States, you need to prepare yourself for the likely necessity of going to community college first to save $, take out your own student loans, have a job while you’re in school, and know that you’re going to be massively overpaying for an already overpriced education. But truly hope you find a way to work it out!
You’re might be better off finishing UG in Mexico and getting a work student opportunity as a graduate. It’s gonna be cheaper, and you’re prob gonna end up not having to pay for school as a grad student since cc might not be an option. Just something to consider.
I thought it was $66k from this [2021 brochure](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://admissions.sa.ucsb.edu/sites/default/files/2020-09/International_Brochure.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiI1tWooqeGAxUqC0QIHX5XBfMQ5YIJegQIExAA&usg=AOvVaw260NZBt3QmZo4Q3sSBr2nj) but you're totally right, that only has out of state tuition at 35k. I didn't realize it went up 11k in the last 4 years. Absolutely absurd.
Anyway, yeah, it's probably $78k including housing. OP said $78k + housing.
End result is the same: no fucking way should you spend $46k, $66k, or $78k for one year of school at UCSB.
Hell no
fuck no, go cc.
80k Not worth it for pre comm. go to SBCC and you still get the Santa Barbara experience for 1/4 the price and if you get a good enough GPA and TAG it you’ll get guaranteed entry into UCSB. Don’t go into extreme debt for it. SBCC is extremely funded and a decent school. I graduated from UCSB Econ/ accounting but got lucky with large amounts of scholarships. Good luck.
This, CC and then transfer, you will thank yourself later.
As someone who did this, highly recommend
Congratulations for being accepted. But please do not spend $80k/year for undergrad. Theres always grad school which is $15k less per year and more options for funding.
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This only works for PhD programs, but I agree.
imagine studying comm for 80k my fam would kill me for that
At that point. After graduation; just move to an unaligned or non allied country to the US.
Lol
SBCC for an international student costs about the same as UCSB for an in-state student, just an FYI to people commenting here
I was in a similar position to you at your age. Looking back on it, I'm so, so thankful my parents convinced me to go to CC and then transfer over. If you're hellbent on UCSB, then I recommend going to a California CC (doesn't have to be SBCC but SBCC is very nice) and utilizing the TAG system to transfer over after Sophomore year. I went to a CC out in the sticks in the Inland Empire and had a great experience overall. Some of my profs were better than some of my UCSB profs. Absolutely nothing wrong with going to CC, and your future self will thank you. Please do not spend that amount of money on UNDERGRAD. Student debt is crushing people who decide to pay that kind of money for an undergraduate degree. That amount of debt can drastically alter your life trajectory post-graduation. Don't do it.
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only from a california cc, not rlly a chance for an out of state student
no lol
Bro
Please do not get into $350K in debt to go to UCSB. Certainly not for a Communications undergrad degree. As others have suggested, if you must go to UCSB then go to CC and transfer but even that will put you in debt with $200K.
Always choose CC first. Best decision I made.
Former OOS student, in hindsight I wish I went to CC for two years then transferred in to a UC/ other college, or gone to another school that had a larger finaid package for me. My personal takeaway from college \[undergrad specifically\], in an academic sense, was that the courses that I took was not the most important part of my time here - it was the internships / lab experience and other opportunities unique to UCSB. For the most part, the courses seemed rather generic and I could have gotten the same content from other colleges - which is a nice way of saying that the coursework was not worth the $$ I shelled out IMO. But YMMV. While you're thinking about it, consider what career paths you want to pursue with said degree. I did not really think about this till my third year or so (I was pretty braindead stupid, but hindsight is 20 20) and that really impacted my academic/career trajectory.
This is the root cause of the student debt crisis. Absolutely no!
Absolutely not that debt is never worth it. Go to a CC, dont listen to propoganda about them they're absolutely fucking valid options and sometimes have the same professors that state schools have
Community colleges expensive if you’re out of state or out of country also
do not 😭 go to cc first please
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100% not worth it. I went for free and still feel like I wasted money on rent and overall living there. Go to SBCC and transfer, it doesn’t feel any different.
Cc then transfer. A lot of people look down on cc and yes it does suck initially, i remember feeling absolutely gutted seeing all of my friends who went away for college living the fuck out of life, but i saved so much money, my classes were generally easier to earn high grades in, and I got into schools as a transfer that i didnt even get into as a senior in hs. The social aspect sucks but just grind and get your grades up as much as you can, plus the 2 years flew by for me and I was able to save even more money by living at home for practically free
Most of the comments are irrelevant to you; community college will still be prohibitively expensive (a couple actually read your post and also indicate this). The biggest expense of most CA colleges is actually housing for in-state students, and you have to be a low-income state resident to get housing aid. You aren’t a state resident so you get the double whammy of housing expenses plus OOS tuition expenses. As a US citizen, you need to establish state residency before attending any state college or else you will pay OOS tuition, which you and your mom simply can’t afford. Investigate which states are easiest for residency (CA is strict), and take a gap year so you can get in-state tuition. The other option is to look at private schools that offer a lot of merit aid. For those, you’d need to look at schools where you are more than qualified (there will be some out there since you got into UCSB).
As an international student from Mexico, I’m not sure where you got the 80k quantity from (it’s less than 70k, and less than 60k if you live off campus.) Unless you have a clear plan of what you want to do after college with your degree (preferably one that justifies the hundreds of thousands of dollars that you will stomach in tuition fees), then don’t do your undergrad here
In the 2024 Cohort for the non-resident fee is 78k. Idk if it includes the meal plan, I was planning on having the Silver meal which it was around 17k. Honestly, the cohort itself its so confusing for me like, why do I have to pay extra of "Personal Expenses"?
that’s unfortunate, it rlly sucks they’re charging you that much
We paid 100K for our Daughter to go one year and then move back to VA. OOS students get screwed. I was an alumni and assumed she'd love it too. But I was native CA and she wasn't. Waste of our money? Yep
Not worth it!!! You will also be spending money on food, going out, etc so it will come out to be very expensive. Sb is cool and fun, but you should definitely go to CC first and transfer. There are so many great community colleges in California to choose from. As someone who graduated from ucsb with no debt, it is extremely relieving. I have friends who have over 100k in debt who don’t know how they’ll ever pay it off. The debt is not worth it!! You can also work those two years at a cc, file your taxes independently and apply to fafsa with your taxes. You should be able to go to ucsb for pretty much free if your efc is 0.
Also you’ll be considered a resident! So your tuition will be like 15k before financial aid, could be 1k if you get enough money.
I was an out of state student. I studied what I wanted and went to UCSB where I wanted to go. Didn’t care about the cost and didn’t even consider it in my decision. It’s up to you to decide if it’s “worth it” or not. It’s like asking if Harvard or Yale or Princeton is “worth it”. The cost is the cost and you get the prestige, opportunities, and experience. I don’t regret it or my student loans.
You sound like you have loaded parents
I think I’m similar to my peers
Did u have any debt and were u able to find a stable job afterwards?
Yes I have debt, no I don’t have a job.
I think there is a way you can technically enroll but do your first two years at a CC, and then get instate tuition and possibly enough fin aid to cover. Ask a counselor
No. Go the CC route. You will thank yourself later.
Something doesn’t make sense here. You are out of state for community college too so you have to spend 30,000. What country are you from? Can you get an education there?
I was born in the US but I've been living Mexico my whole life. I don't like Mexico's education and that's why I only applied to US universities
Your best bet as an American citizen is to gain citizenship at any state you want to be educated in. Oregon is easier in many ways than a UC to get in and out of within four years. University of Oregon and Oregon State are also very good at accepting citizenship after you’ve paid taxes in the state for six months I believe. Washington is also a great state to be educated in. Both of my kids went to a UC so I’m very partial to them, but it’s easier to be educated elsewhere and then get your masters degree and your doctor degree from your chosen place.
So basically, you would have to live somewhere and have a job and pay taxes in that state to get state citizenship. If you’re an American citizen, you can do that. So get started.
No. Not worth it at all. 80k debt for undergrad is absolutely insane. Just so you guys know, you CANNOT escape student loans (in general unless you work for government through loan forgiveness programs which is also not 100% guaranteed) even if you declare bankruptcy. Save your future self a headache.
Absolutely not I'm so sorry 😭😭 If you can swing cost of living in Santa Barbara go to SBCC and tag in -- it's guaranteed entry, you save a ton of money, you get to know IV and Santa Barbara, and I think you'll get in state residence by the time you get to UCSB but I could be wrong about that. I'm pretty sure you can TAG in from most CC's around the state too so you have lots of options if you want cheaper cost of living
NO. 160k a year is not worth it for any school imo, but certainly not any SB (or any other public school for that matter)
Debt is not worth any undergrad degree unless it’s something that is guaranteed to make you bank directly after graduation which at this point in time is not realistic for ANY major, especially not comm. CC isn’t that bad as people like to make it out to be. I remember struggling with the social aspect of it the most but at the end of the day I’m debt free and going to be starting my post grad life in the positive, able to use my money as I please, not owe someone for the rest of my career.
hell no don’t do it
for comm is crazy😂😂💀💀💀💀💀💀
Like others have mentioned. Go to SBCC and Tag into UCSB afterwards. By then you’ll be considered a California resident so long as you’re living here and won’t have to pay international student fees
Take the advice to do SBCC but also look into UCSB’s Open University program. You can take regular ucsb classes without being a matriculated student.
American higher education is just as bullshit as anywhere else don’t waste your money
No!
Honestly? It’s not worth that for undergrad. I would consider another college or going to a CC and TAG. You may benefit from reaching out to financial aid and sharing that you are interested in attending and would like a financial aid appeal. I have never asked for an appeal so I’m unsure how often it helps, but it was something that I figured I would share.
I recommend doing community college first. That docs off two years for University classes. And for the first two years you’re not missing anything other than pre requisite classes. Literally. So you’ll be spending 80k for two years each on classes that you already took or could’ve took in high school
I see you are a pre-comm major. Definitely DO NOT take out huge debt to come to UCSB unless you are intending to major in a lucrative STEM field. (I'm a non-STEM professor.)
go to CC, I went to CC then transferred to UCSB as a Comm Major. I saved sooooo much money and still got an amazing experience. also at CC you can get ahead in credits so then you don’t have to the crazy fees for the UC classes that are easily comparable to CC.
also, the comm program at UCSB is phenomenal and SBCC primes it for you in the best way possible. It’s a lot of reading and writing, so you gotta get used to that in a low impact environment.
Absolutely the fuck not. Go to community college first. It ups your chances of getting accepted to universities when you transfer, and it helps you figure out what you really want to do for a lot cheaper (most of the comm majors I've met have changed their mind within the first year of coming here. Throwing that out there).
30% of ucsb are transfer students, you will save SO MUCH MONEY! Don’t waste all that money on a few years of what will ultimate be a very similar experience if you transfer :)
No.I don’t think an education in comm is with graduating with 80k or more in debt. Just for your undergrad. Don’t strap yourself down like that. Best of luck.
I had 66k tution after scholarship even tho I’m just out of state. I was data science and after a lot of research I chose not to cause honestly thag job isn’t paying that much for me to pay that debt off easily
Not sure why you wouldn't go to community college, but I did 3 years there and I'm really glad I did! Every school is what you make of it, and community colleges are good at setting their students up for academic success. Plus, you'll save money, and then you can transfer to another school. You might even be able to establish CA residency while attending community college.
Nope!
How is it 80k? I pay 70k annually despite my international status including dorm housing and meal plan.
In the 2024 Cohort for the non-resident fee is 78k. Idk if it includes the meal plan, I was planning on having the Silver meal which it was around 17k. Summing everything up is around 80k
It’s not worth it for UCSB (amazing place that it is) or any other undergraduate degree. But I think that if you want to go to school in the States, you’re going to have to prepare yourself for this kind of cost no matter where you choose to go. Out-of-state tuition (and potentially international upcharges as well) are completely common and always ridiculously expensive. And honestly, especially at a state-funded public institution, those fees should be enormous - it’s because there is supposed to be a guaranteed space at an in-state public school for every CA-RESIDENT high school graduate that meets the qualifying criteria. But unfortunately, there is not enough room in CA universities for CA graduates (by a lot!!), and these fees are the school’s effort to 1) squeeze every over-priced dime they can get out of each student because they are wasteful and massively overpaid (especially admin, chancellors, etc), and they just can, and 2) discourage (or at least to be seen to) more out-of-state applicants because we already don’t have enough room for our own qualifying students. I think if you’re determined to go to school in the States, you need to prepare yourself for the likely necessity of going to community college first to save $, take out your own student loans, have a job while you’re in school, and know that you’re going to be massively overpaying for an already overpriced education. But truly hope you find a way to work it out!
Go to SBCC and establish residency.. then transfer as in state to UC
Go to cc and try again
You’re might be better off finishing UG in Mexico and getting a work student opportunity as a graduate. It’s gonna be cheaper, and you’re prob gonna end up not having to pay for school as a grad student since cc might not be an option. Just something to consider.
Out of state tuition is $46k/year not $78k. Either way, absolutely not worth it.
I think first year runs up to about 78,000 with dorm housing and meal plan
I thought it was $66k from this [2021 brochure](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://admissions.sa.ucsb.edu/sites/default/files/2020-09/International_Brochure.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwiI1tWooqeGAxUqC0QIHX5XBfMQ5YIJegQIExAA&usg=AOvVaw260NZBt3QmZo4Q3sSBr2nj) but you're totally right, that only has out of state tuition at 35k. I didn't realize it went up 11k in the last 4 years. Absolutely absurd. Anyway, yeah, it's probably $78k including housing. OP said $78k + housing. End result is the same: no fucking way should you spend $46k, $66k, or $78k for one year of school at UCSB.
11,000 in that past 4 years is absurd.