<p>USC is my top choice, and I was ecstatic to have gotten in, but I don't think my parents will be able to pay for it. I have a FAFSA EFC of 25797, and my parents' adjusted gross income on their 2009 return is 57000.</p>
<p>USC only listed a "University Scholarship" of 2000 each semester, totaling 4000 year. I would have to come up with 51,000. I received no grants, federal loan offers, or work study.</p>
<p>Are they good about giving out more money? I am saddened if my decision to attend ultimately came down to money.</p>
<p>If you see only the scholarship, it means that USC isn’t done with your need-based aid offer yet. There’s no way you wouldn’t get the work study and federal loan offers, after all ;)</p>
coppernicus, your FAFSA EFC suggests that your family has relatively high assets in relation to their income. A FAFSA EFC for a family with an income of $57,000 and “typical” assets would generally be in the $12,000 - $15,000 range. Unless there were errors on your FAFSA, that suggests your family had about $300,000 in assets (NOT including home equity) reported on the FAFSA. You would then have to add about 5.6% of assets not reported (such as home equity) to your FAFSA EFC of $25,797 to arrive at the amount USC would expect from your family. </p>
<p>It would be a good idea to call and ask if that is your complete package. If it is, it would seem USC has considered about $250,000 - $300,000 in assets not reported on the FAFSA (such as home equity) in calculating your contribution. If you ask, they can tell you how they arrived at those figures and you can correct any errors.</p>
-The FAFSA gives an EFC
-The CSS/Profile does not give an EFC - where are you getting the $34k figure?
-USC uses the CSS/Profile and their own formula to calculate your USC-determined need. The estimating method I suggest here is just to get a rough idea of how much your family may be expected to contribute. Take your FAFSA EFC and add about 5.6% of assets not reported on the FAFSA like home equity. If you have run a CSS/Profile institutional method calculator to come up with the $34k, that is another good method of estimating your family contribution at a Profile school. You would not add your FAFSA EFC to that number, as those figures are already included in that estimate.</p>
<p>**IMPORTANT NOTE: These estimates just give you a general idea of your contribution! The FAFSA and CSS/Profile contain pages and pages (and pages) of information that go into calculating your need, so for any given individual these estimates may not apply. If you have questions about how USC calculated your need or feel there may have been errors, contact USC financial aid. Email is usually the best way <a href=“mailto:fao@usc.edu”>fao@usc.edu</a> It will take at least two to three days for a response. **</p>
<p>For those of you who would like to understand more about the financial aid process, I highly recommend the book **“Paying for College Without Going Broke” **from the Princeton Review series. Everything is clearly explained, and there are worksheets in back to estimate your contribution by both the Federal methodology (FAFSA) and Institutional methodology (CSS/Profile). It also gives tips on maximizing your aid that might be helpful for filling out your forms next year.</p>
<p>For those with younger siblings, there is great advice on choosing colleges likely to give your family aid. For a family with a lot of home equity ($150,000+) for example, FAFSA-only schools are often a better choice. Families who are able to protect significant assets through the “Simplified needs test” also will receive better aid from a FAFSA-only school.</p>