Can less than an $800 income serioursly mean paying thousands more for college?

Paying for College
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<p>“In most cases, we allow outside scholarships to reduce the student loans or Federal Work-Study in your financial aid package.”</p>

<p>Perhaps @thesportsman24 can discuss this section of USC’s financial aid policy with his financial aid advisor to gain clearer understanding of how this was considered in his situation.</p>

82

<p>Well…it says in MOST cases…not in ALL cases. </p>

<p>The student said he had $30k in scholarships (don’t know if that was one year or all four). But if one year, that FAR exceeds the amount of Direct Loans that would have been included in the need based aid package.</p>

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<p>The $31k total included one or more multi-year awards.</p>

84

<p>USC (and the UCs) do take a lot of CA CC transfers. Not sure about the particular school in USC, though.</p>

<p>If USC is unaffordable, finding a CC and saving money for the last 2 years may be the only option.</p>

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<p>Basically they took away work study and lowered my estimated cost by an additional $6k, but after that, USC has done nothing but taken grant money. My family would still have to pay about $15k out of pocket.</p>

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<p>Well…it appears that there is something on your Profile that is adding to the calculation for your family contribution.,this could be home equity, other assets, etc. but it is NOT the $800 you had in income.</p>

<p>Did you have a Direct Loan in your package $5500? If not, you can request that. But that will still leave you with a gap of $10,000.</p>

<p>USC reduced a self help portion…your work study. Then they went into Grant money. That is correct…if you had no loans!</p>

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<p>@thesportsman24‌ Also keep in mind the income tax effect on your 1040 of any grants and scholarships used to pay for non qualified education expenses. See IRS Publication 970.</p>

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<p>But now that you don’t have work study, you can still work those hours at a regular job and earn $2-3000 (whatever your WS was) and if you can get the loan of $5500, you are a good way toward $15000.</p>

<p>There are things you can do that you would enjoy. At my daughter’s school, they just advertised for a student to work the ticket booth on game days, and there are many jobs listed in the athletic departments and rec center, both WS and non-WS positions.</p>