<p>GREAT package, Arctic92! Absolutely wonderful. You are one lucky kid! 
If we had received that award, my daughter wouldn’t even bother taking out loans. It would be easy to pay that out of pocket. That’s a huge scholarship!! And renewable, I take it? (if you keep your grades up.) Best wishes to you at USC! Fight on!</p>
<p>Hi, I’m currently transitioning out the Marine Corps and will be discharged on July 30th, 2010. I am applying as a transfer student and have submitted my CSS profile and FAFSA and have two questions:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I qualify for independent status, and was wondering how much more financial aid does one get over a dependent status student?</p></li>
<li><p>After July 31st I will no longer be employed, so how would I notify USC about this to adjust the amount of aid I receive?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you.</p>
<p>Welcome back to civilian life!</p>
<p>1) Having independent status in itself doesn’t qualify you for more aid, it is that in many cases a college student does not have as much income as their parents. The lower income numbers used in calculating need may result in more aid than if you had used your parental information.</p>
<p>The downside is that a higher percentage of your income and assets are considered available for your own education. The College Board has an institutional method calculator that might give you a general idea of what you might be expected to contribute at a Profile school. [EFC</a> Calculator: How Much Money for College Will You Be Expected to Contribute?](<a href=“http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp]EFC”>http://apps.collegeboard.com/fincalc/efc_welcome.jsp) Be sure to use the institutional method, not federal methodology.</p>
<p>2) One of the quirks of financial aid is that they use 2009 income and asset information for the 2010-2011 school year, not current information. So a lower income in 2010 may result in more aid for 2011-2012, but might not be considered in 2010. It can’t hurt to ask for consideration, though. If you did not mention that on the Profile in the “additional information” section, you can send a letter to financial aid, and there is always the possibility they will make an adjustment. The other possibilty is that they will assure you they will reconsider your aid each year, but not make an adjustment until the reduced income is a part of your aid application for next year.</p>
<p>*If you haven’t already, be sure to investigate the military benefits available to you for education. I don’t know anything about those benefits, other than that they exist. [Welcome</a> to the GI Bill Web Site | The Home for All Educational Benefits Provided by the Department of Veterans Affairs](<a href=“http://www.gibill.va.gov/]Welcome”>http://www.gibill.va.gov/)</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>When do we get our FA packages? I’m a spring admit and I have yet to receive mine and I live no NorCal too =/.</p>
<p>Is it possible for USC to determine that my family is unable to contribute anything to my college education and provide me with financial aid equal to the cost of attending?</p>
<p>
Even if USC determines that your family cannot contribute**, all students are expected to contribute to the cost of their own education. At minimum, you will be expected to work during the summers and use your income toward your costs of attendance, take out subsidized loans, and/or work about 10-12 hours per week (Federal work/study) during the school year. </p>
<p>**Remember, your family’s contribution will not be based on what your family *wants to pay *, *is willing to pay *or feels they can pay, it will be based on the information from the CSS/Profile. Please use the institutional method calculator on the College Board website to get a rough estimate of your expected contribution.</p>
<p>Your **FAFSA EFC is only used to determine your eligibilty for Federal aid **and should not be considered an indication of how much a CSS/Profile school will expect you to contribute. </p>
<p>Please see page one of this <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/839970-faq-usc-financial-aid-2010-a.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/university-southern-california/839970-faq-usc-financial-aid-2010-a.html</a> thread for more information on loan amounts year-to-year, and read <a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/private/docs/0809/PayingforUSC2009.pdf[/url]”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/private/docs/0809/PayingforUSC2009.pdf</a> for details on USC financial aid.</p>
<p>We are still waiting for our aid package. We got everything in on time and quickly sent any document they asked for.</p>
<p>alamemom…Thank you for the information!</p>
<p>Send them an e-mail & call them 1st thing on Monday! Good luck!</p>
<p>So I received my financial aid package and it consisted of basically around 42,000 in free money aka 29,000 Grant, 10,000 Deans Scholarship, and 2,500 in University Scholarship. </p>
<p>USC gave me about 5,500 in loans. They expect me to pay 9,000 a year, which I understand is extremely cheap, but with the 5,500 per year loan, it is not as cheap as I once thought. My EFC was around 3,500 and I know CSS is accounted as well, causing me to lose some money because we own a house. </p>
<p>My main question is if there is anyway I can request USC to give me a few extra dollars in help? I really want to attend USC and would truly attend it if the 9,000 + loan was limited to around 7,000 or less since only one parent will be paying for college</p>
<p>Be happy with your package. Yes, it may seem expensive now but once you find a job it will be so easy to pay off those loans! 36k would be nothing if you find a job that pays like 70k+ a year (and I’m quite sure you will). USC is a private school…of course it is more expensive than a public one. My dad has been unemployed for 7 months and my mom is a homemaker, but I still have to be 10.5k a year for USC. pumpfake, you are a lot better off than most people. Be happy with what you have =]</p>
<p>pumpfake, you can always ask - the worst they can do is say “no.”</p>
<p>Part of the $9,000 for you and your family to pay assumes that you will get a full-time job this summer (and subsequent summers), earn $2,000 - $3,000, and use that money to help pay your cost of attendance, so your family’s contribution is $6,000 - $7,000.</p>
<p>You can reduce some of the cost by purchasing used books online (you can easily save $400 - $700 this way) and limiting your personal expenses.</p>
<p>If you have any outside scholarships you can request that they replace all or part of your subs Stafford.</p>
<p>If you were not awarded work/study, ask if you can also have a work/study award in addition to the aid already awarded. If they say “no,” ask if you can exchange $2,000 of your subs Stafford for work/study. That would keep the same amount of aid, but reduce your eventual debt.</p>
<p>Your parents can apply for PLUS loans for the family contribution. If they are turned down for PLUS loans, you are eligible for an additional $4,000 in unsubs Stafford.</p>
<p>If you feel you have special circumstances (see below for circumstances that are considered) write to the financial aid office detailing those circumstances. Be prepared to document any special circumstances you list. Here is what USC says about appealing:
<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/private/docs/0809/PayingforUSC2009.pdf[/url]”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/private/docs/0809/PayingforUSC2009.pdf</a></p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>If we ask to be awarded work study in addition to our offered package, would we have to send them additional information like in an appeal? Or is it okay to just simply ask?</p>
<p>We have asked for adjustments in emails to <a href=“mailto:fao@usc.edu”>fao@usc.edu</a> . </p>
<p>Remember, to qualify for work/study you must show need by the Federal formula:</p>
<p>COA - EFC = need</p>
<p>If you do not have need, you will not be offered work/study.</p>
<p>If you do have need but they will not add to your package, you might have success exchanging $2,000 or so of your subsidized Stafford for work/study. If you were not offered a subsidized Stafford, they will unfortunately not be willing to exchange an unsubsidized Stafford for work/study due to federal regulations.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>My D is still waiting patiently for her FA packet. Our income last year was $60k but my husband is getting laid off on April 30th. My house is in pre foreclosure status (in default) and we are applying for loan modi. FA office asked for foreclosure doc and unemployment doc but I do not have them yet but it is coming (foreclosure date is set on july and we can apply for unemployment after 4/30) Now my income is $1500 a month if we do not get unemployment. My D did not apply for scholarship. (we do not have any asset but $20-$30K home equity) . </p>
<p>Alamemom, do you have any idea what kind of package we might get? I am so very desperate…</p>
<p>Have you seen similar cases? I know there would be no more merit scholarship if you did not meet 12/1 deadline. I wonder what kind of hope is there for my daughter… </p>
<p>Any input would be appreciated…</p>
<p>I really don’t know what aid will be offered. I do know that they do not generally make adjustments for things that will probably happen in the future.</p>
<p>Your best bet is to ask them to complete your package based on the information you have now. That will give you an idea if USC will be possible. When and if special circumstances become reality, let USC know, provide documentation, and ask for an adjustment.</p>
<p>When your husband becomes unemployed, contact them and ask for an adjustment. If your house does go into forclosure, provide the documents then. If you do not currently have home equity, the forclosure might not have an impact on your aid package.</p>
<p>I am sorry your family is facing all of this. I hope things work out.</p>
<p>Do you have a letter or written notice of the layoff because that could be submitted to the financial aid office.</p>
<p>Federal Work Study: 2500
Estimated ACG- Freshman: 750
Estimated Cal Grant A: 9708
University Grant: 23462
Estimated Federal Pell Grant: 3000
Federal SEOG: 800</p>
<p>Federal Direct Subsidized Stafford Loan: 3500
Federal Direct Unsubsidized Stafford Loan: 2000</p>
<p>Total: 45720 </p>
<p>…is this good? bad ? Assuming that USC costs roughly 54000 a year to attend, does that mean we’ll have to come up with an extra 9 grand to be able to pay for it all? </p>
<p>Help would be most appreciated!</p>
<p>
The answer to that depends on you and your family’s individual circumstances. If that package makes it possible for you to attend USC (and by possible, I mean just barely, and with lots of sacrifices), then it is a “good” package. If there is no way you can attend with that package, then it is “bad.”</p>
<p>Your package assumes that you (the student) will get a full-time job this summer and subsequent summers earning $2,000 - $3,000 each summer, and that you will use that money to help pay for your education. If you work to trim your book budget and personal expenses, you should be able to cut the overall cost to about $53,000. That leaves about $6,000 for your family to cover. That is about what it would cost for them to feed and house you if you were attending a local community college and living with them, so getting a USC education for the same price - including room, board and books - looks like a good deal from my perspective. But there certainly are families for whom paying $6,000/year would be an impossibility, so again, it depends on your family’s circumstance.</p>
<p>I hope it works for your family!</p>
<p>Threetreasurs </p>
<p>Yes I turned in the letter… Thanks for the replies from both of you.</p>