Anyone get a lot of financial aid for USC?

<p>i heard if there's 2 kids in college, they split the fin aid. is that true?</p>

<p>just got my finaid package, USC is amazingly generous!!!! but does anyone know why theres no cal grants? (i qualify for cal grant A and B)</p>

<p>What is a cal grant? Is it only for taxpayers of the state of California?</p>

<p>^^^ good question.. i want to know too!</p>

<p>I DID! I got a ton!</p>

<p>Wow, it seems like not a lot of people have to take out loans. If I go to USC, I have to take out $3500 in loans, and my parents have to pay ~25K.</p>

<p>I have to borrow about $6,000 in loans ($4,000 if I did work study), and my parents must contribute about $2,000. So roughly around $8,000 a year. Not bad eh?</p>

<p>A Cal Grant is a grant only Californians are eligible to receive. The award you get is based on your GPA from 10-11th grade. Since I had a 4.0 from 10-11th, I received Cal Grant A for private schools, which gives me $9708 a year.</p>

<p>NICE... wow.. wait does it matter if you go out of state or in?</p>

<p>Aw, yes it does. You must attend a university/college in California along with being a California resident.</p>

<p>its not like you guys don't have stanford, caltech, berk, UCLA, and USC...</p>

<p>HAHA yeah XD California rules.</p>

<p>Going to UCLA would be cheaper for me, since it would cost about $6,000 a year for me to attend. Not too shabby, $2,000 cheaper than USC. I've already visited both campuses and such. Both are nice campuses, although the surrounding area around USC isn't very...appealing...at all.</p>

<p>omg, i dont know what to. i have to pay the basically the exact time whether i choose usc or ucla, give or take about 2 hundred dollars. i was hoping that finaid was going to help with my decision a little more, but its not.
<em>sigh</em></p>

<p>Trojans > Bruins.</p>

<p>There's your answer.</p>

<p>^^ the sad part is.. hyakku is right</p>

<p>I read this in the USC FAQs Site:
"How is the expected family contribution calculated?
USC awards federal and state aid based on the federal methodology, a formula that takes into consideration family income, assets, unusual expenses (triggered by serious medical problems, unemployment, etc.), the number of children, the number of children in college and the age of the older parent (how close he or she is to retirement).</p>

<p>USC awards institutional aid based on the institutional methodology, which adds other assets, including home equity."</p>

<p>I am a little concerned about the last part, "USC awards institutional aid based on the institutional methodology, which adds other assets, <b>including home equity</b>"</p>

<p>I am afraid that the equity in my parents home of around 60,000 or more may greatly dimminish my aid from USC. Is this possible? When I calculated my aid for the year I will be attending with a FAFSA EFC Calculator, it gave me an EFC of 8912. I am under the impression that USC would then subtract the "Self-Help" portion, like Work-Study, and then award me the rest, is this right?</p>

<p>I just used College Board's EFC Calculator for Federal Methodology and Institutional Methodology using a home equity of $100,000 and this is what the results were:</p>

<p>Federal Methodology (FM) Results
Parents' Contribution for Student = $ 10,620
Student's Contribution = $ 323 </p>

<p>Total Estimated FM Contribution = $ 10,943 </p>

<p>Institutional Methodology (IM) Results
Parents' Contribution for Student = $ 8,799
Student's Contribution = $ 1,555 </p>

<p>Total Estimated IM Contribution = $ 10,354</p>

<p>this may be a stupid question, but the university grant part of it, does that go only for tuition, or can we use it for other things? what i mean is, do we basically get the money, so we can use some on outside rent (married)?</p>

<p>i read that it goes directly into the student account. but i didn't know what that exactly meant. can we draw money from the student account? or can it all be direct deposited into our bank account?</p>

<p>any help would greatly be appreciated. thanks!</p>

<p>All financial aid is applied as a credit against your bill from USC first. </p>

<p>Example, in one month you have USC charges of $20,000 (not unusual when tuition for one semester is charged) and financial aid of $19,000 credited, you only owe $1000. </p>

<p>If by chance in that month financial aid of $21,000 is credited (like when a loan is received), then you have a credit balance (USC owes you) $1000. You can let that credit balance ride for future charges, or go to the cashier and get a check for the balance. If you do the latter, you can spend the money however you see fit.</p>

<p>So, to answer your question, there is no flag or tag on any particular item of financial aid as to how it is to be used. It just goes in the big pot as a credit on your account.</p>

<p>How much aid would one get if the family income is about $100,000 for an OOS student?</p>