<p>It depends on your family's mix of income and assets. Try one of the calculators discussed in the messages above yours. Federal methodology is usually less realistic than institutional methodology if you have assets (like home equity) that are counted in the institutional methodology. Just FYI, USC is a private university, so "OOS" won't make any difference in what you are awarded.</p>
<p>I would like to suggest that prospective students and parents take a realistic (and not idealistic) view of Financial Aid at USC. I gurantee that 'some' of you will be dissapointed, to the point of being upset, if you 'assume' that USC is going to give you large grants. </p>
<p>We did not receive a generous financial aid package. I have seen posts on this website (in other threads), and I have exhanged emails with other parents who did not receive generous financial aid packages. </p>
<p>There does not seem to be any easily defined method or formula to determine who does well, and who does not. (I know that USC uses both FAFSA/EFC, as well as the CSS - via the collegeboard.org website. But where they draw the line is not easily distinguishable). </p>
<p>I think we can assume both extremes are true. Families who are very wealthy probably do not any financial aid. On the flip side, families who are poor, to tend to receive very good financial aid packages. The area in the middle (not rich, not poor) is where it is weird, and unpredictable.</p>
<p>My best analysis of those in the middle (not rich, not poor) is the higher your EFC, the lower your chances of receiving much financial aid. (I realize that this is obvious at the high end, so don't read into my post that I am naive about the situation). To clairfy and to elaborate: as i have read the posts during the last 3-4 years (class of 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011), those who have an EFC lower than 10,000, in general, seem to receive very good packages. Those whose EFC is higher than 20,000 rarely seem to receive good financial aid packages. This it not 100% though. I have seen posts where some people with an EFC over 20,000 did receive a generous offer. (Probably someone will respond to my post, that they are in that category. I commend those families. I say "great for you", and I truly mean it.).</p>
<p>I took it quite literally, when people posted that USC is very generous with their Financial Aid. This is NOT literally true. There are many families whose children were accepted, yet went elsewhere due to not being able to affort the cost (since they did not receive much financial aid). There are many families whose children were accepted, and whose children did enroll, and who are still attending, but who are bearing a much larger burden than they ever imagined. </p>
<p>When you receive your Financial Aid package, you will have one of 3 responses. Absolute joy and excitement if you receive a very generous package. Mild frustration - if the package provides some assistance, but not as much as you expected, and felt that you needed to make things doable. Lastly, some of you will feel shocked and upset, at how little USC will offer you. </p>
<p>If you have a subsequent one on one meeting with a USC Financial Aid officer, you will realize that they are not as receptive to your situation as you expected them to be. </p>
<p>I say this not to criticize USC. I love the school. We are thrilled that our son is attending. However, you parents and students need to hear this perspective - because some of you WILL be dissapointed. </p>
<p>In my opinion, the proper perspective to take, regarding Financial Aid, is to (1) Hope for the best, hope for a great package, (2) expect something less than you need, (3) plan your path forward based on both #1 and #2. </p>
<p>If you make your plans bases on a lessor F/A package, then when you receive the F/A package, you will not be dissapointed. If, when you receive your package, and it is very generous, then you will be pleasantly surprised. However, if you 'expect' to receive a great package, and then you do not, you WILL be dissapointed. It can create considerable strain within your family. The joy of being accepted may be spoiled by not being able to afford the education. </p>
<p>For what it is worth. I am not rich. I make less than 100,000. </p>
<p>Best wishes to all. Please, please, take a realistic approach to Financial Aid.</p>
<p>Just remember that home equity counts as an asset on Profile and is expected by USC to be tapped like any other asset. I remember from last year lovetocamp that you were surprised by that and sore because you were ambushed and couldn't possibly have known.</p>
<p>USC publicly and prominently promises to meet 100% per cent of need. Need is calculated using Profile. Including home equity. I have not heard anyone say that USC failed to live up to that promise.</p>
<p>Let's just say that financial aid awards are about as predictable as admissions decisions: families should hope for the best & prepare for the worst.</p>
<p>Let's not just say that. This is not Wheel of Fortune. </p>
<p>Profile and the Institutional Method formula are well publicized. There are online calculators. </p>
<p>USC promises to meet 100% of "need as determined by USC" which must be by way of Profile because that is all they have to go on. In my personal experience having been through 5 cycles with 2 students USC has been very generous and met our need completely. Other parents should expect the same absent some evidence to the contrary.</p>
<p>dt123- </p>
<p>I am not quite sure how to read your post, the intent of it. I can't tell if you are being sympathetic to my situation, or if you are poking fun at my displeasure with the situation.</p>
<p>You mention that you recall reading my post from last year. You neglected to include the fact I mentioned that I was told by an Admissions Officer that home equity is NOT expected to be tapped. Was it reasonable or unreasonable for me to believe the individual from the Admissions Office? I was new to the school, and to college finances. He had been with USC for many years. Seems like I should have been able to rely on his information. You agree, or disagree?</p>
<p>With regards to your comment about "USC publicly and prominently promises to meet 100% per cent of need". That is so vague, and very misleading. It implies that USC will meet the needs of what a family can not afford. </p>
<p>In reality, the crux of the issue is the definition of the term "need". </p>
<p>If I understand your point, then USC is really saying that it [USC] will meet any needs AFTER a family has spent all of their home equity. </p>
<p>Not only was I bothered by USC expecting home equity to be tapped (after being told the opposite by an Admissions Officer). But an argument can be made that USC is punishing people for being responsible. </p>
<p>Two families: Assume for discussion that both families earn the same annual salaries.</p>
<p>Family-1 saves for several years for the down-payment on a home, purchases a house. They forego many luxeries for the sake of owing a home. The forego expensive vacations, they do not buy new cars, nor big screen TVs, nor any of the other luxeries advertised every night on TV. Instead, the skimp and save, and slowly over a period of years, they finally build up some equtiy in their home.</p>
<p>Family-2 decides not to save for a house payment. They choose to rent. With the added income that did not go into a down payment, they are able to buy new cars (more often than family-1), they are able to take expensive vacations, go skiing during the winter, purchase large screen TVs, go on cruises, etc. Meanwhile, they did not build up the home equity (that family-1 did). </p>
<p>Fast foward, and both families apply to USC. Family-1 is denied Financial Aid, and is required to take the money out of their home equity. Family-2 does not have a home (therefore no home equity), so USC offers them a huge grant to assist them with their child's education. </p>
<p>You tell me if that about sums it up?
Does that seem fair to you?</p>
<p>For what it is worth, i have no ill feelings towads people who choose to rent, nor do I resent people who choose to spend their income on luxeries and a fun lifestyle. I have co-workers who fit this category.</p>
<p>However, I should not be penalized for having home equity.</p>
<p>dt123 - Do you believe that a family should spend all of their home equity in order to pay for their child's college education? I bet that most parents who read this thread do not agree with that premise (that they should be expected to spend all of their home equity for their child's education). </p>
<p>Let's just say that you and i can 'agree to disagree' on whether we have heard people comment about USC failing go live up to that promise. I have exchanged emails with parents who feel that their need was not met by USC. </p>
<p>Regards,</p>
<p>To lovetocamp: I am sorry to hear about your situation as you sound disappointed with the financial aid situation. I don't know the people on this forum, but I am sure that no one is "poking fun at you". I find CC people very supportive and only want to help others. From what I heard of FAFSA, home equity does not count as an asset. I don't know anything about the USC formula, but I wonder what happened with FAFSA in your situation given that you say you earn less than 100k.
I got the impression from your earlier e-mail that you cannot afford the tuition on your salary but USC found other assets which should be able to pay the tuition bill.
It does not sound like you either want or are able to pay the full tuition without financial aid. Did you ask USC to clarify any misunderstanding about financial aid? Since it sounds like you want your child to attend USC, given your situation, I suggest that you consider sending your child to a less expensive community college or state school, save money on the first two years of tuition, and then apply for transfer. Perhaps your child can get a part time job the next two years and apply for the many scholarship opportunities available on FASTWEB and other sources.</p>
<p>Lovetocamp,
My family is experiencing that same problem right now! It's so frustrating because my family is by no means "rich" but we have been fortunate and fiscally responsible throughout the years. Now it seems like we're almost being punished for it. With the amount of money we're going to have to pay to USC it'll be my mother's ENTIRE salary leaving my family to live off my dad's, however if she didn't work USC would probably give us more aid.</p>
<p>Our home equity has also dropped a significant amount-- $85,000--this year because of the economy, but USC's website said they will not consider changes in assets with financial aid appeals. So if USC is expecting us to tap into our home equity (which I personally don't believe is a reasonable expectation), I don't think it's fair thatthey are refusing to re-calculate need as the market fluxuates.</p>
<p>It seems as if the families like us have slipped between the cracks in the system.</p>
<p>I was just pointing out that lovetocamp says she (female if I remember correctly) says she did not know home equity was included in assets for EFC and was lied to about that by a USC FA official. I have no reason to dispute this account, but it is sufficiently unusual that I feel it has little application to other parents other than as a caution to be alert that home equity is included.</p>
<p>I'm not here to debate whether it is fair or not to assess home equity in the FA formula. As a resident of fly-over country, my home was not that valuable to start with and has not bubbled-up in value like those on the coasts, so any contribution to EFC in my case is pretty small and I don't have a dog in that fight.</p>
<p>What I am here to say is that USC has lived up to its promise to meet 100% of need "as determined by USC" in my experience, as a counterbalance to some of the more negative reports. This may be a situation where hardly anyone is ever happy with their FA award, anywhere. Like those who say you can never be too rich or too thin, maybe you can never have too much financial aid.</p>
<p>I thought that FAFSA makes it clear that home equity does not count towards tabulating the expected parent contribution. However, many other assets do count towards the expected parent contribution. I wonder if there is a misunderstanding going on--that some parents have enough assets (for example, stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc.) not to qualify for financial aid (even with less than 100k annual income) and if the message was you have enough assets to pay for the USC bills. If you don't want to use your assets to pay the bills, then you can (as one possible option and as an alternative to costly loans which are not tax deductible) take out a home equity loan (which is tax deductible unless the law has changed about that). Parents should be saving for their kids college education from the time they are born, so there should be some assets saved up, although maybe not enough to pay the entire bill.</p>
<p>FAFSA-only schools do not consider home equity, but most private schools (including USC) use the CSS/Profile as well and DO consider home equity. USC distributes federal aid using the FAFSA, and distributes USC aid using a combination of the Profile, FAFSA, and their own formula.</p>
<p>For comparison, D received aid offers from four universities that use the CSS/Profile with FAFSA and from three that use FAFSA-only. USC and one other (also a Profile+FAFSA school) presented the most generous offers. (Better than our in-state public.) </p>
<p>I understand lovetocamp's frustration - during the college search and application process the one question I wanted answered was "HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?" and that was the one question none of the universities would answer until after application and acceptance. The fear that we were setting up our D for a huge disappointment if it turned out that we could not afford the university she was accepted to was very stressful. It would be great if we could get real numbers much earlier in the process.</p>
<p>For parents and students just starting the application process, remember that "University determined need" has no real relationship to the amount of money you will actually NEED. Financial aid will not make college "affordable," its only intent is to make college possible - and it will still be very expensive whatever your income level.</p>
<p>cdcissp - USC does require that parents to fill out FAFSA, but they do not use the FAFSA data as their sole basis for their financial aid calculations. Therefore, even though FAFSA does not take into account home equity, USC does. </p>
<p>The derived EFC, as determined by FAFSA, is often posted on this website, as a basis for comparison. My analysis of USC F/A awards (under 10k, and over 20k) was based "in part" on the EFC that parents/students have volunteered in these threads. If someone posts an "EFC" value, prior to receiving their USC F/A letter, you can almost be certain that the value is posted is directly from their FAFSA report. </p>
<p>USC does not (typically) use the term "EFC" except when referring to the FAFSA value. (from the USC Financial Aid terminology website): "Expected Family Contribution (EFC) - The amount that is used to determine your eligibility for federal student financial aid. The EFC is based on the financial information about your family that you provided in your FAFSA". </p>
<p>USC does use the concept<a href="in%20lower%20case,%20and%20spelled%20out">/u</a> 'expected family contribution' when referring to what a family is expected to pay. (I realize that some may say I am splitting hairs, but I am only pointing out that there are two different Official terms, and the two should not be used interchangably.). </p>
<p>USC more often uses the term "USC Need" or "Demonstrated Financial Need". And USC defines this as follows: "Demonstrated financial need - The difference between the Cost of Attendance and the Expected Family Contribution". </p>
<p>The tricky part is (as others have pointed out) that USC takes into account other financial information (above and beyond the FAFSA information). This information is provided to USC via the CSS Profile (via collegeboard.org) and via the Tax Returns of both the student and parents. This is surely not news (to those who have applied for Financial Aid) but the CSS Profile worksheet is about 15 pages long. I am looking at a copy of our 2006 CSS Profile, and it included such questions as (q#4) "Where is the computer the family is using to complete the PROFILE Applicationon? (home, father's work, mother's work, high school, college, library, community center, friend of relative's home, other). I probably don't need to communicate my opinion on the importance of that question, and others. :-)</p>
<p>Some have expressed the valid point that parents need to save money for their childrens' education. I will state that we did save money for our children's education. However, I will concede that I did not save approx $200,000.00 for college expenses. Did any of save the full $200,000 for your child to attend USC? I guess to be fair, I did not save as much as USC felt that I should have. We received no money in grants. I am guessing that some who are 'very' supportive of USC's F/A policy, either saved a lot more than I did, or they received a generous grant. (care to share which it is?) </p>
<p>For what it is worth, since we did not receive any grants, we have taken over $50,000 out of our home equity. (Are there others who have taken out similar amounts from their home equity?). Maybe I was naive, but I did not expect to exhaust the equity in my home, to pay for a USC education. In my view, (and based on what the Admissions Officer told us), when I hear the quote "USC promises to meet 100% per cent of need", to me it sounded like USC might actually help with some of the expense. As I inidicated, I make less than $100,00 per year, and my wife works part time, less than 20 hours/week (we felt that it was important that she be at home, to raise our children). </p>
<p>To those who may think that I am bitter; if you were to take the time to read my posts, you will see that i have always included that we are THRILLED to have our son enrolled in USC, and attending USC. I would not want it any other way. </p>
<p>Two things upset me. First, I feel that USC mispresented their policiy with regards to meeting the "need" of families. (This goes beyond the false information that the Admissions Officer told us). To me, it is misleading to say "USC promises to meet 100% per cent of need" - and not include the details about home equity and other very relevant information, within the context of the 100% quote. </p>
<p>You have probably seen the commercial on TV for Vonage, and how inexpensive their prices are for unlimited phone service. I have a neighbor who signed up for their service. It was until later that he was told "oh, by the way, it only works if you have existing high speed internet access". So he needed to subscribe to either broadband cable, or subsribe to DSL via his phone company. What sounded so wonderful, at face value, turned out not to be so wonderful, once he encountered the details. </p>
<p>I do not have (saved) the content of USC webpage related to Financial Aid when our son first applied. I do not recall seeing anywhere, the mention of home equity being included. (It is now listed on the FAQ for Financial Aid). Maybe it was there, way back when we applied. I do not believe it was. At this point, it does not matter. It is water under the bridge. I maintain that it should be more prominently displayed. </p>
<p>What is ironic, is that those who have not had to use a substantial portion of their home equity - probably do not see a problem with it. It is kind of like "yes, let's tax the rich" (and the definition of rich is always "anyone who makes 10,000 more than I do").</p>
<p>lovetocamp - There's really no good answer to your frustration, and I think it's great that you're cautioning people who are looking at USC: "meets full need" should not be taken at face value! </p>
<p>I will point out that this is a perennial topic on many CC forums, because every college that promises to meet full need is going to determine that need based on its own formula. For a middle class family where both parents work and have some home equity, the news is often pretty surprising. Our family certainly didn't receive any good news about need-based aid, because we had lived frugally and accumulated savings and equity. Without merit based aid (with which USC is very generous, IMO), my entire salary would be used for college expenses. By the time child #2 is in college, it will take more than my salary. That's not a fun thing, but it also is old news, really. I remember my mom starting to work when I was 7, to start putting her 5 kids through our State U. College was lots cheaper then, but teachers were paid next to nothing, too.</p>
<p>Anyone serious about applying for need-based aid should study the topic before making any assumptions. I recommend a book that I found through CC: Paying for College Without Going Broke. It clears up a lot of the mysteries around the CSS Profile vs. FAFSA methods, and would help a lot of people understand that one can't rely on FAFSA to determine expected need-based aid from a private college.</p>
<p>I second FauxNom's advice to get the most recent edition of Paying For College Without Going Broke. (From The Princeton Review series) It really helps give a realistic estimate of what to expect, and gives practical, legal and ethical ways to increase your aid eligibility. I think one reason we were so pleased with D's aid package (though our family contribution is in 5 figures) is because we knew - thanks to the book - the approximate amount and were not surprised.</p>
<p>alamemom, fauxnom, Thanks for the helpful posts. Hopefully, all who are considering USC will give this thread some thought, and get a copy of the book you mention. (Actually, the date to commit has passed, so most have already made their decisions. Maybe some students, next year, will read this thread. It will assist them to make an educated decision.</p>
<p>I wish that I had read the book a few years ago. I also wish that someone has posted similar posts (to mine, and to yours) a few years ago. </p>
<p>Our contribution, like yours, is also 5 figures (and then some), each year. </p>
<p>USC is a great school. Our son turned down UCLA, and UCSD, UCD, and other UCs, in order to attend USC. We have supported him through the entire venture. The Profs are all excellent, helpful, and available. The housing is excellent. The food (well, it is a college, right). He has met many wonderful people from all over the country. Great academics, great weather, lots to do, awesome football team, etc. (it just happens to cost a lot).</p>
<p>Fight On.</p>
<p>To lovetocamp: Have you spoken with USC financial aid about your concerns with depleting your home equity to pay for your child's education? Since you said you are paying in the 5 figures, are you paying for more than one child?
I don't know about USC, but I heard of another private university which gives some discount if you enroll more than one child.</p>