<p>And it blows, to be frank! Rather pathetic considering NYU (who is known for horrible FA) gave me more... EFC on FAFSA was 14k, but USC expects my family to pay 39k a year (the rest in loans, so technically 47k a year). Granted we have a lot of assets, but with a family of 6 (mom, dad, 3 kids including me and my brother who will be attending college next year, and my grandma that we pay medical fees for) and a household income of 60k, you'd think I'd get a bit more...</p>
<p>Now I guess I'm in that boat where I want to go to USC but family cannot/will not pay for it. I admit this package is probably due to turning my forms in late, but unless I can bring down the COA (MINUS the loans.. parents want no loans whatsoever) down to maybe 25k-30k a year, I'm going to Berkeley instead. Is there any way for me to contest this package and hopefully get more aid?</p>
<p>You’re complaining about your financial aid package even though you turned in your forms late AND have a lot of assets that the CSS/Profile takes into account (which may raise your EFC from what FAFSA gave you)?</p>
<p>I really don’t think you can do anything to change it. You can try explaining the medical bills (if you haven’t already) but otherwise, sorry.</p>
<p>I did everything for all my schools at once (March 5th ish) but didn’t turn in parents’ tax forms til April…</p>
<p>@dream: 40k a year is 2/3 of my parents’ income. My parents’ assets are for their retirement, and most of it is real estate (which has been hit hard by recession). Yes it’s my fault for turning the documents in late, but isn’t it ridiculous to expect us to pay so much per year? I thought worse case scenario would be 30k a year, which I would have been fine taking out loans for, but 40k is outrageous… Plus my brother will be going to college next year, and with such bad financial aid there’s no way they can afford us both.</p>
<p>Would the FA package be better next year if I do everything on time? And how much better? If it could go down to a reasonable sum I may be able to convince my parents…</p>
Retirement money in retirement accounts (IRAs, 401k, etc.) is protected from financial aid calculations, but real estate and other accounts are not. If it was possible to protect assets from financial aid by just saying they are for retirement, we would *all *say that *all of our assets *are designated for retirement.</p>
<p>If you have real estate assets and other assets not in IRAs or other retirement accounts next year, they will be assesed regardless of when you turn in your forms and regardless of what purpose your family has in mind for them. Having a second undergraduate in the family generally greatly increases need-based aid (see page one of FAQ thread), but only while BOTH are undergraduates. Please do the college board calculators to see what effect two undergraduates would have.</p>
<p>Again, I advise all students to do the financial aid calculators available at the FAFSA website and the institutional method calclators at College Board BEFORE they apply. Had you done so, you would have known in advance that your family’s real estate and other assets would be considered in financial aid calculations.</p>
<p>
The due date was February 2nd for the FAFSA and CSS/Profile. You list your location as California, so if you would have been eligible for the Cal Grant, you did not receive it because you missed the March 2nd deadline specified by the State of California. The California Student Aid Commission does not accept late applications. At USC, the Cal Grant is worth $9,708/year, $38,832 over four years. USC will NOT make up the Cal Grant for applicants who missed the Cal Grant deadlines - you will have to cover that amount **in addition **to whatever was determined to be your family contribution. It is not USC’s fault that you missed all of the deadlines.</p>
<p>I turned in my CSS Profile and FAFSA in January using my parents’ 2008 taxes, and sent in updates on the 5th, and I verified my GPA on time for the CalGrant. March 5th was when I sent IDOC the 2009 tax forms, and later for USC. Sorry to defend myself but this is the first time anyone in my family has gone to a 4 year, so I had no help or advice during the process. My parents literally gave me a stack of papers and told me to fill out everythjng myself.</p>
<p>I did use the calculator (several actually) before I applied to any schools back in November and I got an estimated EFC of ~20k for private universities like JHU, which is why I’m confused about the jump to 40k EFC…?</p>
<p>When you did the calculators did you include all of the real estate values and other assets your parents plan to use for retirement? Unless the assets are* in retirement accounts*, they are assesed for financial aid.</p>
<p>What did JHU calculate your contribution to be?</p>
<p>It seems like you are a very strong applicant(accepted by several other really good school) so it is a suprise you got so little. Something must have gone wrong and you should do something about it.</p>
<p>Yes I used all real estate property my parents owned, and I also played around with the numbers in case the property value went up or down and JHU estimated it to be ~22k. The EFC held true for all other private schools I applied to, give or take $5k, and at my financial safety it went down to $7k a year. For USC to estimate it to be $40k… I don’t know what was new since I sent the same tax returns and the FAFSA and CSS Profile was the same. An EFC of $40k without loans is 2/3 of my parents’ income… If they pay for my loans too the COA leaves my family with only $10k-$15k a year to survive… That doesn’t even cover property taxes let alone living expenses for 5 people… And it’s not like my parents can sell their investments and use that as straight cash to pay for school. If I really wanted to attend, my parents won’t cover the COA so I’d be graduating with nearly $200k debt lol</p>
<p>Well you did turn in your forms late, so you can’t really expect anything… Remember the office is now dealing with the other 3 years and calculating the upperclassmen’s aid now. You should definitely contact them and let them know you’re really wanting to go to USC. It might help push them a little.</p>
<p>Also, you wrote that you’re a first year and you did everything yourself - yea, well I did too and I still managed to get in everything on time. So don’t use that as an excuse. It’s kind of lame considering everyone else turned in everything in on time and they’re not all from college graduating families.</p>
<p>cantsaywho, your best bet is to contact USC financial aid by email. Tell them you think there may have been errors in your aid calculation, as other schools determined your need to be much more than USC, and ask if they can reconsider your aid and give you the opportunity to correct any errors.</p>
<p>Scan the financial aid packages from the other schools and attach them. USC does not “match” offers, but if there is such a big discrepancy in need-based aid, it might help if they see that other schools came up with a much different result using the same information. *If those offers were merit aid, they will have no effect. Only need-based aid packages from schools that use the CSS/Profile will be pertinent.</p>
<p>Ask them to detail for you what went into calculating your expected contribution so you can see if there were errors. They are almost always willing to do this, but it may take 3 - 5 days. Sending it tonight would be a good idea.</p>
<p>If a Cal Grant is not listed, tell them the dates you filed your FAFSA and GPA verification (which must have been by March 2nd) and ask why Cal Grant is not included.</p>
<p>I recommend you use a business-like tone and avoid using the terms “it blows!” and “pathetic” in dealing with the financial aid office.</p>
<p>Good luck</p>
<p>By the way, Berkeley is an excellent back-up plan. (I like the idea of Berkeley being a back-up to USC )</p>
<p>I agree with alamemom’s advice. Since you really feel that you have gotten unfair aid compared to what other schools have given you, send them those financial aid packages from the other schools. </p>
<p>I also agree with texasian’s comment. I, too, did everything in the college application/financial aid process myself. ALL the applications were done by me, and I made sure to turn things in on time because I knew it would only be my fault if things turned out badly. I’m also first-generation. And I basically had to educate my parents on everything college-related (much of which I learned from CC :)) so that they’d at least know a few things when my younger siblings reach senior year. So yeah, it’s not really an excuse because you’re not the only one in that situation. However, I’m not trying to add salt to your wounds by admonishing you about this; I just don’t like when people come up with excuses for their own neglect.</p>
<p>My advice is to take alamemom’s advice (she knows EVERYTHING, lol) and GOOD LUCK! But if things don’t work out, Cal is still a wonderful school :)</p>
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