USC offered me the Mork Family Scholarship. In addition to the scholarship, I received $2,000 in USC gift aid plus $5815 in Federal Pell Grant. No work study (I’m still wondering why there is no work-study.) My estimated net cost is $5,806 per year. While I am SUPER blessed to have drastically minimized the cost of attendance, I can’t help but wanting to appeal my financial aid. The University of Pennsylvania has given me a full ride thanks to its no-loan, all-grant policy. How should I communicate my concern to USC? Will it appear to USC that I am an arrogant student if I give off the “Penn offered me this, can you do better?” image?
“Will it appear to USC that I am an arrogant student if I give off the “Penn offered me this, can you do better?” image?”
yes.
IN addition, do you realize there are only 5 Mork SCHOLARS at USC and only 180 MORK scholars in the entire US?? And that you will be treated like GOLD at USC??
Being able to put USC MORK Scholar on the top of your CVis going to give you instant recognition and open MANY more doors for you when you graduate than just being another Penn grad.
Wow! Well, I totally disagree with these people - I think you should ask.There is NO harm in asking at all! They are not going to think you are arrogant; give me a break. You need to couch it in terms of that your preferred school is USC but it is a difficult decision because of the more financially viable option you have with Penn.
Ya, sorry, I try to take a positive approach, but to be honest, ungrateful is the first thing that came to my mind… :-S
But then, you are on a very pro-USC forum, thousands (and many that read these threads) would love to be able to pay even the full amount to go, but didn’t get in, even with fabulous stats. Others got in, but can’t afford it and didn’t get merit. So it is probably hard to find compassion here. Too soon.
But I will take try a different bend here - For that tiny amount or basically nothing, why are you asking? It seems the Mork thing doesn’t mean that much to you…so shouldn’t you be going to the school you really want to be at? Doesn’t one feel better to you?
I’m very grateful for the extremely generous financial package. My only intentions were to alleviate the financial burden my mother would have, seeing how she only makes 19k a year.
Perhaps I shouldn’t mention Penn’s financial aid in a formal letter? Then again, I want to demonstrate my interest in USC. I’m turning down Penn to attend my dream school, and I think that shows a lot. Any opinions? @CADREAMIN
Look, nobody is in your shoes or your financial situation. Frankly I think the reactions are because most people would give their eyeteeth to have that Mork scholarship. You should mention Penn, and you should mention your mom and the financial burden it will be on her. Finally, you should talk about why you want to go to USC over Penn if it can be as affordable. Obviously your EFC must be zero, so I think you have a VERY strong case.
@TommyD36 It is certainly ok to ask, but I would not mention that someone else is giving you more, that comes off like a threat. Focus it on your situation and tell them you loooove USC, but being extremely low income, you could use some more help and ask if they have any suggestions on how to make this work. They may offer some work study which would seem reasonable for you to do and get. Or perhaps they may tell you to get a summer job, which may be reasonable as well. But no, don’t mention someone else’s offer is better or you will likely get the reply you got here, which is peace out, good luck. When you say that you are saying they are just as good as USC, you want them to know you believe USC is best, but debt concerns you. Best to do it from a collaborative perspective, you want to go and need advice on how to do it. You have some incredible offers, you must be astounding. Congrats!
post edit - and @menloparkmom is spot on - that scholarship is very prestigious and worth a lot more than the money they are giving you. Honestly, you should be willing to take on that amount no matter what.
This isn’t consistent with advice I’ve seen in many other threads which say to go ahead and mention another more competitive offer that you’ve gotten as long as the schools are at a comparable level. Why is it any different in this situation? I understand that this Mork scholarship is such a rare and prestigious honor, but that doesn’t mean you should ignore this discrepancy. With your family’s low income, it’s still going to be a big financial strain and you should not hesitate to appeal. I don’t know who is reading these financial aid appeals that would actually stand in judgment of you, a Mork recipient, asking for a more financially feasible package.
You can try to appeal, though don’t expect anything. I have never heard of anyone getting below the floor of $11k cost of attendance before loans. Paying $5806 is the lowest I have ever heard of, ever. Your financial aid must have some unique interaction with the Mork’s scholarship.
Be realistic. Even though your mother makes $19k, you’re hardly expecting her to set aside a $5806 chunk of her income for you immediately. Take out the remaining on interest free loans and pay it off yourself. Why can’t you do work study? Maybe a paid internship? If you were qualified to get into Penn and get a full ride at USC, then I’m certain you won’t be lacking outside scholarship opportunities. $5806 is a very small amount in the scheme of most other people getting into 6 figure debt regardless of the college they go to. I spend almost that much on parking and car insurance to commute to school.
I don’t get it. What difference does it make if a student’s parents make $19,000 or $1 million when in the later case, the parents may want their kid to pay their own way through college anyway? There are students that receive less financial assistance from their parents that you do, and they graduate with $250,000 in debt to pay off by themselves. You’re worried that $5806 will set you back relative to them just because your parents are poor, yet that should have no influence on your own earning potential when you graduate. It really confuses me that you think that a $64k grant wasn’t enough in the first place.
Appeal your FA. You may not get anything out of it, but you definitely have nothing to lose. Any further posts telling you not to do it should specify exactly what the downsides are. Because I haven’t seen anything believable along those lines except vague implications that someone will think you’re “ungrateful.”
OP,
just take out the maximum amount of a student loan. USC probably did not offer you a work/study option in order to allow you to take advantage of your time there without having to work during the school year.
There are other ways to cut down on your expenses- books can be bought online for very little $$ instead of paying for them at the bookstore.
Where do you live?
“Focus it on your situation and tell them you loooove USC, but being extremely low income, you could use some more help and ask if they have any suggestions on how to make this work. They may offer some work study which would seem reasonable for you to do and get. Or perhaps they may tell you to get a summer job, which may be reasonable as well.”
^^^^ this is the way to “appeal” a financial aid award.
Just chiming in that work-study in one’s FA package is just a suggested amount the student could/should earn to pay for their COA and they are qualified to get campus jobs set aside for Fed Work Study. There are other ways to earn income during the school year and some pay significantly more than work study jobs to boot. One student at USC (undergrad-2nd semester freshman) got a paid research job that paid about $3000/semester and kept it for all years, and the hours were quite flexible. So if USC is your dream, I second the advice to go ahead and appeal to FA if you like–it can’t hurt, and keep your expectations realistic. They are not likely to find more $ for you. Mentioning Penn will not hurt nor help your case with USC FA, who do not compare or offer to match other school’s FA. Bottom line for you will be if you want to take the ~$23K debt for 4 years at USC or if you need to take the free ride. Good luck.
OP, your appeal isn’t likely to work because USC does use loans to meet need. If you add in the Stafford loan, your leftover cost is like $300. USC has met your need as they define it.
Basically it comes down to whether you wanna take on the Stafford loans (a reasonable amount of debt) to attend USC, or graduate debt-free at Penn. Both are great choices, so it’s up to you.
@CaliDad2020 I did appeal, but they were not able to offer me any more aid. 23K, honestly speaking, is not that bad. I’ll work during the summers to pay it off.