Billing and payment questions

<p>Hi,</p>

<p>I'm in the middle of preparing all necessary info for my parents regarding finances, so that they know exactly when to pay, how much, and how. Given the massive amount of information on the Student Financial Services website, I must confess I feel a bit overwhelmed. So I was hoping some parents here might help me clarify some things:</p>

<ul>
<li>According to the e.pay message, all spring charges are due by 1/9/2009. Then why doesn't spring tuition show up on my account balance?</li>
<li>If I have understood correctly, tuition needs to be paid in full for a whole term. But the USC Payment Plan would allow my parents to pay monthly, right? If so, how do I sign up? The link on OASIS doesn't seem to work, it tells me I'm not authorized to access the site.</li>
</ul>

<p>That's it. I hope somebody finds a little time to answer these questions. Thanks!</p>

<p>have you registered yet? if not, then tuition doesn't show up on your account.</p>

<p>my understanding is the payment plan would allow you to pay monthly. If your link isn't working, perhaps you should contact them. I am not sure whether you have to have registered for courses before you can sign up for the payment plan. With my son, being an international, his Oasis account wasn't working and he couldn't fill in certain forms until he contacted them about it.</p>

<p>The USC Payment Plan allows for making 5 installments of tuition, housing, meal plans, and other fees per term during the Fall and Spring term of each year.
Payments for the 5 installments are due on the 1st of each month. When you enroll you will see a schedule of payments with the amount for each payment. If you enroll after the 1st payment is due you must pay the 1st installment along with the enrollment fee.</p>

<p>Eligibility for the USC Payment Plan is based on the following requirements:</p>

<ol>
<li>You have completed registration for the upcoming term for which you wish to use the USC Payment Plan.</li>
</ol>

<p>It looks like you have to have registered first, but you might want to double check that.</p>

<p>Thank you so much for your answers, bmom! I really appeciate it. Yeah, I read the same; I assume by "registered" they mean registered for classes, right? Anyway, I sent them a mail to be sure. I'll let you know if I find anything out.</p>

<p>when do you register, awelex?</p>

<p>I believe at orientation, which would be the 7th.</p>

<p>Ok, so here's the deal: tuition and fees don't show up on the student account until you are registered. That does NOT mean, however, you don't have to pay them by January 7th. Payment deadline is still January 9th, even if you haven't gotten any bills yet (which, quite frankly, I find incredibly stupid). Basically, what you have to do is take the best estimate of how much you have to pay by looking at the Schedule of Classes, which lists tuition and all fees. Whether that is accurate, however, I don't know; after all, I don't know about any additional fees, such as lab fees, until after I've registered. Oh well. I just wish USC had communicated that a bit better. I hope it helps some other spring admits.</p>

<p>awelex, I think it might be easier just to talk to someone in the financial office.
I had to call regarding something about my D's fees, and they were helpful in clearing it up. (213) 740 1111
Even if fees show up on your account as soon as you are registered (7th), it still seems a bit short if the deadline is 2 days later. Setting up the payment plan includes an application too, and that might take a couple of days to finalize. </p>

<p>I hope this works out for you, I'd really call them.</p>

<p>it was like that for us in the summer also, registration on Aug 19 and payment due Aug 22. And of course move-in day on Aug 20 so we were running around opening bank accounts (and long wait there), trying to figure out why the scholarship didn't get posted onto his account, and also his transcripts didn't get credited to his file either, lots of little minor things.
awelex, are you bringing your own cell phone or are you getting one in LA? I would recommend that you take the Dash bus to downtown AT&T instead of going to RadioShack at the University village. I don't know if you read my posts on how they lied to us about a lot of things, the latest was telling us that my son can suspend service for the time that he's away from the US but of course when my son contacted AT&T, there is no such thing.</p>

<p>@Sequoia: Thanks, I called them (although the number you gave me is financial aid ;) ). Apparently, you really have to pay everything by January 9th, even if you're not registered yet. That being said, they know that international wires can take some time, so if you can show them that you started the transaction before the deadline, they can usually remove the late fees, although they review each case separately.
@bmom: Thanks for the info. I'm bringing my cell phone but I obviously need a new provider, so I appreciate your recommendation.</p>

<p>Credit card payments at USC are the deal of the century, assuming that one has the money saved and pays off the credit card bill each month.</p>

<p>True Groovy - especially if you get airline miles for every dollar spent. For any international students, it might make sense to get a US credit card on your airline of choice, and you'll get miles for both the USC fees and a big chunk of bonus miles for signing up (20-30k is normal). I don't know if you can pay with a non-US card, but that's also worth looking into.</p>

<p>Does anyone know how to reach the financial aid office? I have a pressing issue but it seems they're all out for the holidays, but I really need to get this taken care of</p>

<p>Probably you may need to wait until tomorrow, Monday, Jan 5, when it seems like many will be back on campus to get a live person to speak with. If that fails, continue trying until you get someone. For sure everything will be open on the 7th, which is when they have transfer orientation & the 8th is move in day.</p>