Current TROJANS taking questions

<p>I'm sorry--why are deposits difficult with the USC Credit Union? We live in HI & there is no BofAm nor branch of USC Credit Union, tho I'm a member of the HI State Federal Credit Union. At this point, my son mainly just uses cash & has never opened a checking account. He does have a joint credit card with me & the bill comes to our home, to be used for educational expenses & whatever we agree upon; there is a $3000 limit on the account.</p>

<p>^ Actually, in my area the nearest Credit Union ATM for withdrawals is in the shopping center near my house. But the ATMs do not accept deposits; I have to go to a branch which is a half-hr's drive away to make a deposit.</p>

<p>Do credit unions have cooperative agreements with other credit unions in other states so you can make a deposit in say the Hawaii State Employee's Federal Credit Union & have it transferred to the USCCredit Union? This is all pretty new to me at this point.</p>

<p>^ Yeah, it's called the Co-Op network. It's supposed to be the largest network of Credit Unions. If your CU is a member of Co-Op (which the USCCU is), then you can use the ATM of an other Co-Op member CU. Although deposits must be done at certain branches of another member CU. In my area, I use the ATMs of the Navy Federal Credit Union, although Navy Federal's nearest branch is far, as I said earlier.</p>

<p>There's info at this site: <a href="http://www.co-opnetwork.org/%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.co-opnetwork.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I was wondering what USC's policy was on 2nd semester grades? I couldn't find any specific info for that. if my 1st semester gpa 4.4 drops to a 4.0 in a worst case scenario 2nd sem. that would still be ok right? do they look more at letter grades than the gpa?</p>

<p>I would think that they focus on letter grades. If you don't have any Ds or Fs, you should be fine. If you have just one D or F, then it could prompt some contact asking for an explanation, but I don't think that's a red flag for admissions. I don't know what to say if you had more than that.</p>

<p>as to discretionary account - it's the <em>best</em> financial service at USC. It's safer than cash (if you card is lost or stolen just deactivate immediately), quicker(because you get to use special lines for discretionary-only) and since you have to pull out your student ID anyway...(for sales tax exemption)</p>

<p>plus it can send a reminder note to your parents when it runs low :)</p>

<p>and, discretionary is the ONLY form of payment accepted in some places on campus, particularly the computer labs for printouts etc.</p>

<p>Is it easy to put discresh on your card? Also, does it rollover?</p>

<p>^ do you have to sign up for discretionary account or do you automatically get one in the beginning of the year?</p>

<p>As long as you have a USCard (aka your student ID) then you can have discresh. All you have to do is put money on the card. </p>

<p>For overall info on discresh, visit the USCard website: <a href="http://www.usc.edu/uscard%5B/url%5D"&gt;www.usc.edu/uscard&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p>

<p>The following link gives you the specific page as to depositing funds into discresh: <a href="http://www.usc.edu/bus-affairs/admin_serv/uscard_serv/students/depositing_funds.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.usc.edu/bus-affairs/admin_serv/uscard_serv/students/depositing_funds.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>A discretionary account is automatically created when you are issued your USCard, but I do not think you start out with any money. The cash does roll over from year to year. (I believe dining dollars expire.) Adding money is very easy, and can be done online or at pay stations.
<a href="http://www.usc.edu/bus-affairs/admin_serv/uscard_serv/students/depositing_funds.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.usc.edu/bus-affairs/admin_serv/uscard_serv/students/depositing_funds.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>For the engineering students:</p>

<p>In which areas do you believe Viterbi is the strongest? Does it have any particular specialties-EE or compsci for example? I'm asking on behalf of several friends of mine-who are heading off to FIRST Robotics National competitions at 5 in the morning tomorrow-who are interested in mechanical and aeronautical engineering. Are there a lot of women in the engineering classes?</p>

<p>"are there a lot of women in engineering classes?"</p>

<p>depends on the major and the class-
bme, chem e, and prolly ise have an <em>okay</em> amount of girls, but me, ae, cs prolly don't...although that's just a for-the-most-part-true generalization.</p>

<p>chem and bio classes will have a good amount of girls, calc classes surprisingly don't (well at least in my class), physics has very few girls</p>

<p>
[quote]
In which areas do you believe Viterbi is the strongest? Does it have any particular specialties-EE or compsci for example?

[/quote]
</p>

<p>Ok, so this answer is probably sort've biased, since I'm a BME here, but I think BME is one of their stronger programs. Though it's one of VSC's newer majors (30 years old), it's one of the fastest growing majors and the most popular engineering major here (unfortunately also one of the most popular majors to drop out of because of the rigorous work). I base my opinion mainly on the fact that it has a close connection to the Keck School of Medicine and USC Hospital, one of the largest research hospitals and medical schools in the United States. The breakthroughs in BME have also been recently featured on a number of different publications, the more well-known being Popular Science and TechTV. Redirecting you away from the technical jargon of the webpages of these research projects, take a look at this VSC news bit: <a href="http://viterbi.usc.edu/news/news/2006/news_2006040630324.htm%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://viterbi.usc.edu/news/news/2006/news_2006040630324.htm&lt;/a>
The bottom section focuses on what USC specifically has been working on.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the info & the site about credit unions. It is helpful. The info about the safety of the USCard discreesh & ability to stop it if it's lost/stolen + info about the tax benefits of using it & shorter lines will all appeal to my son. :)
Two of my friends were BMEs & both enjoyed the program. During the admitted students' reception, USC engineering dept mentioned that BME is a popular route for pre-med too.</p>

<p>According to a form I have, there is a nominal $5 one-time set up for for the discreesh account. Not sure if you could opt out of having a discreesh account, but it sounds like something well worth having in any case, much better than having large sums of cash around. You could just limit how much you fund the account.</p>

<p>By the way, do places near campus not run by USC also take the USCard discreesh or only USC owned/operated businesses?</p>

<p>Redski (or anyone) could you clarify about state tax exemption with student ID & the advantage of the USCard discreesh for this? Never read about this before.</p>

<p>I think you have the form for replacement card. I don't remember paying any setup fee.</p>

<p>Sales tax exemption is complicated, will leave someone else to explain as I am dashing to class, but basically you save roughly 8% on food purchases and maybe some other stuff.</p>

<p>There is some state sales tax exemption for students buying food. A native Californian may have to explain the details.</p>

<p>You have to present your student ID at the register to qualify, so that is why using your discretionary funds is faster. Your USCard acts as an ID and form of payment, and it's just a quick swipe.</p>

<p>I don't know about area businesses accepting the card. I have only used it on campus. However, there are student discouts at some restaurants and theaters if you show your ID.</p>

<p>HImom, there shouldn't be a fee for using the discresh account. I never was charged one, I'm sure of that.</p>

<p>The sales tax exemption only applies to food products purchased on campus, I'm afraid. You need your USCard to show proof of student status, but you can still pay for items with cash, dining dollars, or discresh. Every TrojanHospitality facility does have a sign regarding the tax exemption on every cash register; I can't find any info online, but if I do later I will post it here.</p>

<p>Thanks, Redski. It's not important--if there is any fee involved in the USCard discreesh account, it MAY be a one-time set-up fee, or as was posted by someone else, it may just be the fee imposed for a replacement (in case of loss or theft). In any case, it's only $5, which is pretty small in the scheme of things, particularly when annual costs are topping $47,000!</p>

<p>Great to know the USCard discreesh is so handy & widely used & even gets you out of having to pay the >8% sales tax on campus food. I'm sure my son will love it.</p>