My son applied for USC. In common app, he indicated no for financial aid. but he still received a letter about financial aid.
here is what is says"Additional information or action is required to process your application for 2023-2024 financial aid"
question 1: how do you indicate that you don’t need financial aid?
question 2: my son is National Merit scholarship semifinalist. I heard that USC gives pretty good merit based scholarships because of that. How do you ‘apply’ for that?
Did you do a FAFSA? You should.
You can email and note that you said no aid and ask what additional materials are required.
From he USC website:
If you are National Merit Finalist who has been admitted to USC and you designate USC as your first choice by the May 31 deadline, you will receive USC’s half-tuition Presidential Scholarship.
Additionally, the National Merit Scholarship Corporation offers scholarships that are sponsored by colleges or corporations. Students will receive either a college sponsored scholarship or a corporate sponsored scholarship. Students offered a corporate sponsored scholarship, are not eligible for a college sponsored scholarship. Those decisions are made by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. If you have questions about the type of scholarship you are receiving, please visit the National Merit Scholarship Corporation, or call (847) 866-5100.
Once you designate USC as your first choice, we will update your award summary within four weeks. The award notification will provide additional information regarding how the new scholarship will affect your other scholarships and/or financial aid.
Contact USC and ask if you MUST complete a FAFSA for merit aid consideration. Ask yourself…I believe it isn’t required. But call financial aid and ask yourself.
So…if you don’t want to do the FAFSA, and it’s not required for merit consideration,you don’t have to do it. IF your child wants the federally funded Direct Loan, they can complete a FAFSA after acceptance for eligibility for the Direct Loan.
We received the same urgent message. Sent a message to the USC portal indicating we are full pay. I will NOT fill out a FAFSA. It isn’t necessary since we are full pay and would not qualify.
and that’s fair - but I would do what you did - ask - what am I missing.
It could be that without whatever they are asking for, your application won’t move ahead.
Or it could be a generic thing that everyone gets that means little and won’t stop the application. There’s just no way to know until the question is answered.
It’s a choice whether or not to do FAFSA - I agree. But basically, you need to find out - what they are seeking - and it sounds like you’ve asked. OP needs to do the same.
I personally filled it out, even with a six figure EFC - just covering the bases (plus I did the CSS to no avail) - but as Kiplinger states in the attached - Fill Out a FAFSA No Matter What.
I figure since they are money experts - I’ll go with them 
But mainly my note is to ask USC - what am I missing? and it sounds like you’ve done so and OP should too.
And then i put the info on the NMF. I didn’t have one (an NMF student). However, all colleges seem to say similar - note us as your top choice.
our EFC is very high. I even started FAFSA process. but my son’s advisor say not to use FAFSA as it may hurt his chance of admission. his advisor said each school split applicants into two piles (one needing aid and one that doesn’t). not sure if this is true. both my son and his Mom/my wife are concerned about this and said not to submit FAFSA/CSS to USC.
my older son who is in a private college with full pay didn’t have FAFSA/CSS either.
I disagree with your counselor.
If a school is need blind, the amount of aid needed will not factor in.
If a school is need aware, the amount of aid needed will factor in - but at $0, there’s nothing to factor in. Applying for aid will in no way impact you because so many people file for FAFSA - they couldn’t put them all in a crap pile. And some want to take the government loan - and the FAFSA is required.
USC, btw, is need blind - so your counselor is not correct (IMHO).
Thanks
This was just posted recently on the USC Class of 2027 Discussion thread:
The Financial Aid Office responded this morning with: “Please ignore the required documents if you do not plan on applying for financial aid. If you do not submit the documents we will not process your financial aid.”
So no need to do anything.
USC is need-blind in its admission process . Ability to pay, or a student’s interest in financial aid, has no bearing on admission decisions.
This is from their page.
His advisor is NOT totally correct.
There are some colleges that are need aware for admissions. This means the student financial need might be considered when the application for admission is considered. I don’t think they make two piles….but at these schools…higher need might affect admissions.
Most colleges are need blind for admissions. This means that your financial need isn’t known at all by the office of admissions when they review your application for admission.
If your family contribution is VERY high, then the college financial liability to fund you is lower. Right? Plus most colleges don’t meet full need anyway.
Where did your advisor get this information?
I agree the counselor is incorrect, which is unfortunate.
USC AOs may or may not see that a student applied for financial aid, but they wouldn’t know if the applicant has any need (some full pays do file FAFSA to take out the student loans), or how much.
Hello. Several on the USC Class of 2027 thread posted about this same email from the FA office sent over the weekend. We also received this email requesting “additional information” but we are not applying for financial aid. My son emailed the financial aid office and this was the reply: “Please ignore the required documents if you do not plan on applying for financial aid. If you do not submit the documents we will not process your financial aid.” So no need to do anything if you are not applying for financial aid. I can’t comment on the process for National Merit since I am not familiar with that. Good luck to your son.
This topic will come up much closer to the time of admissions. USC financial aid and admissions work independent of each other.
USC financial aid does not know which students will be accepted or not. They will ask for documents clarifying one’s ability to pay (or not to pay) up until the day that admissions decisions are announced. The goal is to get the aid packages ready for the student as soon as possible. Even with all of the nagging for documents, many feel that it takes too long after acceptance to receive their financial aid package.
Likewise, USC admissions does not know which students qualify for need based financial aid.
Merit aid is different and is determined based off of the student’s application for admission.
If a student is accepted (EA or deferred to RD) and is a National Merit Finalist, they will receive a half tuition Presidential scholarship. No additional application is needed. In order to see the half tuition scholarship on the financial aid portal, one must notify NMSC that USC is their first choice. Since May 1 is the SIR deadline, most students notify NMSC that USC is their first choice long before the May 31 drop-dead deadline. Note that the half-tuition scholarship does not include room, food, student health insurance or campus/administrative fees. It is good for 8 semesters up to 18 units per semester.