<p>for those who are past students....has usc fullfilled your financial aid needs and if i'm comming from a middle class family in nj, how hard do you think (financially) will it be for me to live there? i knw it's kind of broad question and a bit too early tothink about (i havent even been rejected/admitted) but please try your best to answer. thanks so much!</p>
<p>USC's one of the most generous universities out there. If you really need the money, they'll provide the most they can to you. YOu don't even need a scholarship if your efc's low, they'll cover it with grants. They gave me 31K grant a yr, which is close to trustee scholarship amount...</p>
<p>USC pledges to meet 100% of need, but since you are from a middle class family your EFC may be higher than you expect.</p>
<p>wow didn't know USC meets full need..</p>
<p>well it's what they judge to be your need. just because they meet the full need doesn't mean it'll be easy to pay for college.</p>
<p>USC is not very generous, if you ask me.</p>
<p>If you check on collegeboard.com it says:</p>
<p>Scholarships / grants: 63%
Loans / jobs: 37%</p>
<p>thats pretty bad...considering the school costs around 45 thousand, you'll get around 29,000 in grant money and the rest is loans! I have definately seen way more generous schools.</p>
<p>Well taking only that statistic is a bit leading. Other tidbits from the same website:</p>
<ul>
<li>Average financial aid package: $28,371</li>
<li>Average need-based loan: $3,767</li>
<li>Average need-based scholarship or grant award: $18,919</li>
</ul>
<p>Thats an attractive looking finaid package either way. Not the best for sure, but definately better than some other schools out there (cough nyu).</p>
<p>For all the schools you apply to, fill out the financial aid forms: FAFSA, CSS Profile, and whatever else they want. Wait for the offers to come in the spring. Despite the fact that they all got the same information, the offers varied widely in my case - it all depends on the school.</p>
<p>In my case, USC was the most generous! I never thought that would be the case, going into this whole process. My state school (U of W - Seattle) gave me nothing. Nada. So it is costing me about the same to attend an amazing private school like USC as it would have to go to my state school.</p>
<p>It is kind of like buying a car. Yes, there is the sticker price (or tuition rates). But most people do not pay the sticker price - they end up with better deals.</p>
<p>This is my situation for the current school year:</p>
<p>--Presidential Scholarship - $16,657 (1/2 tuition every year for 4 years, as long as I keep my GPA > 3.0. Amount of $ will increase with tuition increases.)</p>
<p>--University Grant - $15,357 (free money - do not have to pay back)</p>
<p>--Fed Work Study - $2500 (optional - easy jobs on campus - I chose not to work in the fall (football!), but I plan to get a job for spring semester)</p>
<p>--Sub Fed Stafford Loan - $2625</p>
<p>that fin aid package is ok ^^ thats one of the better usc packages i have seen, but can u imagine those who dont get the scholarship? = screwed lol</p>
<p>I think USC is pretty generous. A lot of my friends have financial aid, and some of them get pretty much all of room/board + tuition covered</p>
<p>
[quote]
that fin aid package is ok ^^ thats one of the better usc packages i have seen, but can u imagine those who dont get the scholarship? = screwed lol
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Not necessarily. If he didn't get the scholarship, the need-based grant would be bumped up. Remember, USC meets 100% of need. So his grant would be 32,014 instead of 15,537.</p>
<p>Anyway, you mentioned that that financial aid package was "ok." By my calculations, he's paying about 15 grand a year, which is 5k less per year than an in-state UC. That's not just an "ok" package. That's a great package.</p>
<p>btw, I don't mean to single you out Pac10Baby.</p>
<p>Thanks a lot pac10baby for posting your stats an helping out others get an idea of what a good financial package looks like. Congratulations on it too btw.</p>
<p>Does anybody know if you have to fill out both FA profiles ? FAFSA AND CSS ? or will the FAFSA one do ?</p>
<p>USC requires both FAFSA & CSS to be filed by the deadlines listed on their website (often before you even know whether you've been admitted).</p>
<p>
[quote]
Not necessarily. If he didn't get the scholarship, the need-based grant would be bumped up. Remember, USC meets 100% of need. So his grant would be 32,014 instead of 15,537.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Hello! incase you dont know, when a school says that they meet 100% of need, that means that they meet the need with work study, grants AND LOANS. If he didnt get the scholarship, USC would have obviously increased the loans, and probably, increased a bit of the grant money.</p>
<p>USC is very generous. It might not have the resources that Harvard has (who does?), but it's extremely generous compared to other privates. It blows my alma mater out of the water when it comes to aid.</p>
<p>Unless you're in that "middle-class that's borderline upper-middle class" territory, you should be fine. You may take some loans, but if you really want to go to 'SC, it'll be worth it.</p>
<p>Agreed. However, I think we should always consider these things in relative circumstances. Compared to many other privates and schools of USC's stature, USC is quite generous. Of course, your mileage may vary.</p>
<p>
[quote]
Hello! incase you dont know, when a school says that they meet 100% of need, that means that they meet the need with work study, grants AND LOANS. If he didnt get the scholarship, USC would have obviously increased the loans, and probably, increased a bit of the grant money.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>In every single case I've encountered so far, the absolute most I have seen for loans is the Stafford Loan (2.6k-5.5k, depending on yr) and the Work Study(2.5k). The rest they cover with grants. I have not seen or heard of a financial aid package that does not follow these guidelines (though I'm sure they exist.) It is important to note that in later years, the maximum Stafford Loan increases, and peaks at 5.5 in senior year. This fits in well with the average need-based loan figure on the college board website. </p>
<p>From what I gather, the typical USC financial aid process goes as follows.
1. Determine EFC
2. If lower than cost of attendance, close the gap with Stafford Loan
3. If there is still a Gap, grant Work Study.
4. If there is still a Gap, cover the rest with grants.</p>
<p>I'd say in 80-90% of the cases this is the case. I'm not sure whether #2 or #3 comes first, but the idea stays the same.</p>
<p>For someone who has an EFC near zero, the figures would typically be 90% scholarships/grants and 10% Loans. The figure for someone who has an EFC just a few thousand below the cost of attendance would be 0% scholarships/grants and 100% loans.</p>
<p>When everyone and all of their variable EFC's are taken into accout, the average figure comes to 67% grants/scholarship and 33% loans, but this figure cannot be used to extrapolate for all the different possible EFC's. As with any statistic, it has to be taken with a grain of salt and used along with other statistics for any analysis to be valid.</p>
<p>In any case, I'll just let 'SC's financial aid packages stand on their own.</p>
<p>I have an EFC of less than 4,000. If I get accepted will they give me 35,000+ grant ?, that sounds waaayy too good to be true sfgiants...</p>
<p>USC has its own way of calculating EFC, but if it ends up close to that, then yes you can expect a very high grant.</p>
<p>I'm not sure, but I believe that the max grant is the cost of tuition (without room and board included). So it would be something like:</p>
<p>4,000 out of pocket (or thereabouts)
2,625 subsidized Stafford Loan
2,500 Workstudy
~25,000 grant</p>
<p>...I think... Not entirely sure since I don't know whether grants can exceed the cost of tuition. But what I AM sure about is that you'll get a large grant, whether it's 15k or 20k or 25k or something like that.</p>