<p>I already posted this in the transfer thread but I figured there was no harm in posting my question here too. I’m so sorry if it’s been repeated!</p>
<p>I got into CLAS as a Psychology major. As excited as I am for all this, I have one concern. On May 10th, I was sent an e-mail from USC Financial Aid asking for more information (income and expense declaration form, investment value declaration, and cash and savings documentation). Is this a good thing or should I take it as I just <em>barely</em> made their financial aid requirements? </p>
<p>Please help me calm down! I’m freaking out a bit LOL.</p>
<p>It isn’t really a “bad” thing or a “good” thing, it is just verification of your information. There is no one level of financial aid requirements that must be met - students can qualify for need-based aid of anything from $1,000 per year to $55,000 per year - so it is more of a sliding scale than a certain requirement.</p>
<p>The requests you list could just be to verify information that can’t be figured out from the CSS/Profile.</p>
<p>The income and expense declaration is sometimes requested in cases where the income you list does not seem sufficient to support the number of family members listed and they would like to know if you have another source of income or support not listed. If your expenses exceed your income you will need to explain how you manage to do that.</p>
<p>The cash and savings documentation is a verification of how much (or how little) you have in savings. Sometimes if your tax return shows more interest or investment income than the amounts listed on the CSS/Profile would reasonably be expected to generate they request verification and/or explanation of from where that interest or investment income came.</p>
<p>So just fill out the verifications and send them in. Double-check your CSS/Profile to be sure there were no errors or omissions. If you find errors send USC the corrected information by FAX. </p>
<p>The verifications are used to be sure they are distributing their need-based aid in as equitable way as possible, so as long as you accurately filled out your financial aid froms it isn’t something to worry about. There were a couple of posters (freshman applicants) who were asked for extensive verifications in April and did not receive their packages until the last week of April - and received amazing financial aid, so it isn’t a “bad” thing, it is just verification.</p>
<p>For continuing students…
I just received an email that our financial aid award was just posted…but it’s for 2009/2010 year.
Why would it not be for the 2010/2011 year? We already have last year’s award.</p>
<p>When I check the “my financial aid” site, and click on 2010/2011 award info box, the “select period” does not show a 2010/2011 award package, only the 2008/2009 and 2009/2010 packages.</p>
<p>Alamemom…would you know? Do you have the same?</p>
<p>Nothing for us under 2010-2011. Did your daughter request exceptional funding? Ours did for summer and they changed the 2009-2010 Presidential Scholarship amount and sent an email (apparently the summer of 2010 falls under the 2009-2010 school year). If she did request exceptional funding, check the award amounts for the tuition scholarship (Trustee or Pres) under 2009-2010 - they may have changed. Otherwise, I don’t know!</p>
<p>Oh - just thought of something else - if she got an additional study abroad scholarship or PURF or SOAR funding, that also might appear on last year’s aid. Daughter had PURF funding for last summer and they put half on the previous year and half on the following year.</p>
<p>I am hoping all of you can help me out. I think it would be helpful for next year’s applicants to have financial aid information BEFORE they apply. Unfortunately this thread will have dropped way out of sight by September and October when 2011 applicants start posting. If enough of you “recommend” this thread, it might be moved to the *Featured Discussions *at the top of the USC forum where new posters will see it.</p>
<p>If you also feel this thread would be of use to next year’s applicants, please go to “Thread Tools” near the top right of this page (just below where the page numbers are displayed) and use the drop down menu to “Recommend This Thread.” Please mention in the message area that you would like it featured on the **USC forum **page.</p>
<p>I had a question. If there are family members who want to contribute to my tuition, could they send a check directly to USC to go directly into my student account?</p>
<p>To be extra sure it gets to your account, you could ask them to write your USC ID# on the check. If you receive need-based aid, contributions from family members may be considered a resource and affect your aid - if so, here are a few ideas to reduce the impact:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>They could wait to give the cash gift as a college graduation present to be used to pay off student loans. At that time, they could make the payment directly to the lender if they want to be sure that is what the money is used for - or just give the money directly to you if they are comfortable with that. If the family members happen to be elderly, they could put the money aside in an informal passbook trust account - commonly called a “totten trust” - with you as the beneficiary. That way if anything happened to them in the meantime, the money in the account would go to you for your college expenses. As long as nothing happens to them the account is considered owned by them, and they can revoke the trust at any time (if you are awarded a huge scholarship or something).</p></li>
<li><p>If it is a one-time gift of cash for this year only, you could ask USC for an increase in your cost of attendance for a one-time purchase of a computer. This will create a “gap” not covered by your aid that you can use the money from relatives for without affecting your need-based aid.</p></li>
<li><p>If you do not receive need-based aid, just have them send the money to USC. What a GREAT gift from your relatives! Congratulations!</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Hello alamemom, I have a few questions regarding my USC financial aid and the potential package I may receive. I know on the first page you said that USC will use the FAFSA EFC along with CSS Profile and its own formula in determining how much I will get in grants. However, my EFC on FAFSA says I have a 1901, which is quite low to my belief and my family does not hold any assets other than our home, which we still owe atleast a $250,000 mortgage to. Some people on the 2010 USC Transfer Forum have had around 5000-7500 EFC and have received University Grants from $30,000-$35,000. Is it safe to say that I may be getting a similar amount, I know that you do not work for USC’s financial aid office, but based on my data do you believe it is feasible that I will receive atleast that much? Also do you know if there is a cap to how much they are willing to give in University Grants? $35,000 seems to be the cap from what I’ve heard in the past.</p>
<p>On my FAFSA Application it says “Based on your EFC of 01901, you may be eligible to receive a Federal Pell Grant of up to $3600 for the 2010-2011 school year” Does this mean I will receive $3600 or can it be possibly less, say around $3400?</p>
<p>Lastly, I recently switched my school of attendance from University of California Riverside (UCR) to USC on my Cal Grant student website and before switching my schools over, I was to receive a Cal Grant for around $10,300 for UCR if I was to attend in Fall 2010, however after submitting my change of school, my Cal Grant dropped to $9708 for USC. I had used device on their website prior to submitting my school change where it let me see how much I would receive in the year 2009-2010 (this currnet school year) if I were to attend USC, I received $7778 for UCR in Cal Grant award this year and when I used to device, it gave me $2000 more totaling to around $9778 for the current school year if I were at USC. What I don’t understand is how I in a sense received less for switching from UCR to USC and didn’t receive a $2000 bump as if I would if I attended USC this 2009-2010 school year. My hypothesis is that the California school system likes its students to stay at the same university they are in and will award more to those who stay, but this is just a misleading presumptuous guess as to why I received less aid for 2010-2011 at USC. </p>
<p>I know I asked quite a hefty load of questions, but I would be truly grateful if you could respond to my post when you have the time. Thank you so much in advance!</p>
<p>I don’t like to guess about how much students might get in FA because I just don’t have the amount of private financial information (nor do I want all the information!) it would take to figure it out. The College Board website has an ***Instituional Method ***calculator that can give a ballpark estimate. But I can answer some of the other questions!
This means that if your information is accurate, that is the Pell grant you will receive. They estimate it at first in case you or a financial aid officer at one of your schools notices an error and makes a correction. The Pell grant also might not be awarded in the full amout if your cost of attendance is lower than the Pell grant amount, but that situation will not be a problem at USC…
This is the correct amount. There have been some changes to Cal Grant. When the UC fees were raised recently, the Cal Grants were increased to cover them. At the same time, Cal Grants to private universities were frozen at the current amout, $9,708. There has been talk (none of it official) about eliminating Cal Grants to private universities entirely. In the past when Cal Grants were in danger of being eliminated, USC assured its students receiving them that if they qualified for need-based aid including the Cal Grant, USC would cover it.
No, there does not seem to be a “cap” on the grant amounts - other than USC’s cost of attendance. There were some freshman applicants who reported USC grants higher than the amounts you mention (which of course does not mean you will get a grant in those amounts - each financial aid applicant will have unique circumstances and will be presented a unique package). </p>
<p>Again, congratulations on your acceptance! Try to relax and enjoy the Memorial Day holiday - just bask in the acceptance for a bit. Pop back in and post when you package is presented to let us know if it makes it possible for you to attend (I think it will )</p>
<p>bbgg - Thanks!
Go to the top right of the page when you are in the thread and look for “Thread Tools” just under where the thread page numbers display. One of the choices is “Recommend this thread.” Choose that one and mention that you think it should be featured on the USC page.</p>
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