I was recently named a Presidential scholarship finalist at USC (half-tuition), and invited to interview next month.
However, I am also a National Merit Semifinalist, and will be named a Finalist soon. If I am awarded Finalist, I will receive the NMF Presidential scholarship anyways (also, half tuition).
It is my understanding that the scholarships don’t stack. So, if I don’t go to USC to interview, I’ll still receive the same amount of merit money as I would if I go to interview, am awarded the scholarship, and am named a NMF.
Is all of this correct?
LA is a 6 hour $350+ flight from where I live. It seems kind of pointless to visit for 2 days and interview if I’ll get the same amount of money even if I don’t go.
What do you think about my thought process on this??! There’s no way I won’t get the 1/2 tuition, and no way I could be awarded any more than that!
A quick search on this forum would answer these questions (as they have been asked and answered many times). Scholarships like Pres/Trustee and NM Pres don’t stack with other large scholarships. So you will only get one Presidential scholarship (whether regular or NM). You may, as others have, receive a smaller additional University scholarship along with your major one. These small ones DO stack.
A couple reasons why some people choose to do the interview are: possibility of being bumped up to higher scholarship (possible but who knows how rare) and opportunity to get more information about USC to make a decision. At least these were the things that made my D do it back in the day
Our son received the NM scholarship of ½ tuition at USC. That would have been $20K and we would have to pay the other $20K plus housing/board. This school was not really our son’s first choice, so he chose not to go there. It would have been too expensive. Now that the fees are over $72K I don’t know if your awards would combine to make a dent in the COA.
Congratulations on your scholarship, @jackrabbit14 ! Note that USC offers a stipend to cover part of your airfare.
Have you visited USC before? If not, I recommend going to the interview. USC really knows how to roll out the red carpet to its scholars, and my guess is that you’ll leave being very excited about your admission. As camomof3 notes, there’s also the chance of getting bumped up to Trustee, and awardees have noted the addition of extra smaller scholarships to their FA package.
Please go through the scholarship threads pinned at the top of the USC forum to learn more.
Just keep a level head on what your family can afford or not afford before you get too emotionally invested on USC. 1/2 tuition is great being around $24k, but it still leaves a giant chunk of change when COA is $70K. Students should go into the process knowing how much is is acceptable to pay and/or borrow for them and their parents.
There is a possibility of being bumped up to a full tuition scholarship- My DS was in exactly the same position as you, but he made the flight, had a great interview and to our great surprise had his 1/2 tuition scholarship revised upward to Trustee’s .
So the $64,000 question is - is taking flight to have a chance at winning an additional $96,000 worth it?
Agree about keeping a level head–and that’s true no matter which schools you decide among, whether public (often the least expensive choice by list price) and private (which is often much more expensive list price). In Los Angeles, for instance, USC COA this year is ~$67K. When you subtract NMF Presidential (~$26K), a student is responsible for $41K. Leaving aside the possibility of additional need based FA (and if/how grant differs between the public school and private) you can compare that $41K to the current COA at UCLA which is ~$33K.
The $8000 differential is workable and worth it for some families. It’s really a personal family decision how much of a role cost needs to play, and in the case I suggested, how the fit of each school and/or the value of a particular program/major or even the assurance of finishing in 4 years factors in. 4 years at USC (not adjusted for increases) = $164K, while 5 years at UCLA (in state) = $165K, plus the lost income by not working during that last year.
But these are still staggeringly large costs. For NMFs who want the lowest cost possible, there are still schools that offer full-tuition or even full-rides.
