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Suarez Kassandra

Mr. Solis

Honors Economics Block: 2

13 November 2018

College Plan Comparative Analysis Essay

My whole life I never really knew what college I wanted to attend, I just knew that I

wanted to attend college and further my education. I had to choose two colleges and conduct

research on them. This process has helped me better understand all the factors that really go into

choosing a “dream college”. I learned that I had to consider all the cost of attending college, the

surroundings of the college, and all the crime in the area. I didn’t realize how unprepared I was

for college and doing this research has helped me get a real glimpse of how much I should expect

to spend when I am in college. Doing this project has prepared me more because my research has

helped me decide what college I would like to attend. This research has strengthen my choice to

attend California State University Fullerton.

In comparing both colleges and based on all the research and data I collected. I have

decided to make Cal State Fullerton my first choice over Cal State Northridge because of the

location, demographics, and the resources surrounding the school. CSUF has a higher tuition rate

of $6,870 and CSUN’s tuition rate is $6,582, CSUF tuition is more expensive by $288. The

overall expenses of supplies for school are the same both schools. The most expensive school

supply that I would not necessarily need to buy but will buy is a MacBook, this applies to both

colleges. I already own a laptop but I would need a better one with more memory space so, I

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would purchase a new and I thankfully I already own a printer and will not be purchasing one.

My overall budget is more expensive at CSUF because of the tuition, parking, and student fees,

but I still chose CSUF as my first choice. I know that CSUF would benefit me more.

On conducting more research on both colleges, I looked at their demographics and found

out that more women apply to CSUN than to CSUF 41.6% of applicants to CSUF are women

and 54.1% of CSUN applicants are women. That would mean that it would most likely be harder

to get into CSUN since they have such a high female applicant rate. The diversity at both schools

are wide but at CSUN 45.7% of students who attend are hispanic and at CSUF 41.7% of the

students are hispanic. Since, there are more hispanic students at CSUN it would be more

challenging to get in. I also looked at the crime rates on campus for each school and found out

that CSUN has a high on campus crime rate of, 96.4%. The on campus crime rate at CSUF is,

89%. Both colleges have a high on campus crime rate, but CSUF has a lower rate compared to

CSUN. Knowing these demographics helped me decide that CSUF was a better choice because

the crime rate was lower and I can have a better chance to get accepted.

I personally do not plan to live on campus but if I were to live on campus it would be

more expensive at CSUF because room and board at CSUF is $15,898 and at CSUN it is

$10,272. For other people this might have been a deal breaker but not for me, I would rather

commute to college than to live on the campus. Commuting to college would save me money

and I could use that money to buy a car. If I had to live on campus I would not mind having to

pay that $15,898 to dorm at CSUF. The area of CSUF also interested me more than CSUN

because I liked the food places and the hangout around CSUF more than CSUN. Food places are

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very important to me because I am a very picky eater. CSUF would be a shorter commute from

my house than CSUN, so this also helped me choose CSUF over CSUN.

Through this experience I learned that college is no joke, money wise. I always knew

college was expensive but after going through all the expenses it made me realise truly how

expensive it was. I also learned that although college is expensive there are many ways that you

can pay for it whether it be through grants, scholarships, or even loans. This has taught me that I

need to start applying for FAFSA as soon as possible so I can make sure I get all the money I

possibly can for college.