can you take the next semester off, try to find a job, and establish yourself as a resident of oregon (usually takes 1 year of living in a state to become a resident - research the requirements for your state).  i think i had to get a driver's license in the state, register to vote, couldn't leave the state for more than 2 weeks at a time, etc.

then re-start the program as an in-state student paying in-state tuition.

even if you pay big money this year, won't you get in-state rates next year?  unless you're going home for the summer or stuff like that ..

Well... this question would have been more opportune a year or so ago before you ended up in an out of state school, but you already know this luckily.   My friend has 150k in debt from going to an out of state, state school.  Not an ivy or anything.  You don't want to end up like that.

This is what I would recommend you do:

Finish up your current year in Oregon, do the best work you can do, and DOCUMENT your academic work in a portfolio.  

Starting right now, get on the horn with some good CA state schools, explain your situation, send them portfolios of your academic work, and see if they can help you get in next year as a 2nd year so you don't have to repeat 1st year.

Cal Poly SLO and Cal Poly Pomona are the cheapest options for B.Arch; UCLA and Berkeley to my knowledge only offer the 4 year B.S in Architecture.  Plus they're a bit pricier.

FRaC: I've definitely looked into establishing residency to lower my tuition, but it seems that the system is designed so it's very difficult for someone like me to do that. However, I am determined to persevere through any difficulty; I just wish I had someone who has done it to talk to. I don't imagine a financial counselor at the university would encourage me to do something like this.

Lackey: Thank you for this advice. I didn't realize how much out-of-state schools favor residents, as opposed to non-residents. I would hope that they can make some kind of exception as long as I am determined and obviously in need of special arrangements. When you say academic portfolio, do you mean work I have done in studio along with grades in the courses I took during the year?

Well you don't need to document your grades; those are covered by transcripts and whatnot.  I was referring to studio work, that's going to be very important if you try to transfer to another school.

Dunno about Oregon, but in Ca you only had to live there a year, work, and you would become a resident.  So I became one while still in school at UCLA - first year was out of state, 2-3 in state.  All I had to do was not go back home for the summers and work in LA.

You might look into that, esp since you are almost through the expensive portion.

You are right on about the residency issue - once you start at any Oregon school as a non-resident, the only way to get residency is to drop out and reapply after working for 1 (maybe 2) years. There is no "resident-after-a-year" deal - they are very specific that if you move to Oregon for school, you are going to pay NR tuition for the whole time.

The "financial counselors" at the UO will encourage you to fully fund your education with debt. Direct experience.

The education you are getting at UO AAA is not worth $100,000 in debt. Period. The program is solid, but it's not stellar. In any case, I don't know if there's any architecture program that's worth that...

If you can't get a scholarship or other non-debt funding, get out while you can. Even in the best of times, a $100,000 architecture education does not make sense.

Find your other interests and get out of the
Arch program. That $100,000 debt that you are currently pursuing is going to leave you with, as Kurt Vonnegut would say, with Doodly Squat.

Feel free to email me and I'll give you the REAL low down.

beinganimpluvium,

What do your parents say? I would listen to them for any advice.

DO NOT graduate with $100K in debt.  Do whatever it tales to NOT find yourself in that situation.

Forty-thousand or so is a lot, but manageable. One hundred thousand is not.