<p>seriously..this question remains in my head.</p>
<p>is there anyone else who has no financial need yet has to pay for college themselves?</p>
<p>USC financial aid has screwed me because my parents make a good living, and their scholarship somehow managed to screw me with absolutely no money despite 4.25 GPA, 1530 SATs, and having taken college calculus when i was 15....</p>
<p>yet they taunt me by inviting me to the engineering honors program...</p>
<p>so lets see...</p>
<p>USC tuition=45k per year
governor's scholarship for good state test scores=1k
essay contest=500 dollar scholarship money</p>
<p>so where does the other 43.5k come from? </p>
<p>the funny thing is, ive gotten into both Cal and UCLA...which cost half of what USC does, maybe i should go there instead?</p>
<p>I think they are expecting it to come from your parents, as well as from your savings and summer jobs. Can your parents not afford it, or are they unwilling to pay? Do you have no college savings and no part-time or summer work? All those are expected to go toward college.</p>
<p>Bubblekid, what is your EFC? Have you been gapped badly by USC? If that is the case, or if there are situations at home that are not reflected on the financial aid forms, you may want to discuss them with financial aid. Don't try to catch them on the fly; set up a phone appointment with some who will go over your file and perhaps your parents should also be involved. If there is no resolution, count yourself lucky that you have found this out before committing more time, emotion, money, as I have noticed that USC's name comes up often as a school where subsequent year awards do not measure up with the first year "teasers". You can see how much damage that can do to someone who has invested a year at the school and has not made transfer arrangement and finds out the next year's aid is way inadequate.</p>
<p>susantm: I dont know what is able to "afford it" but between the two of them and my dads bonus we have about 300k of income. plenty IMO.</p>
<p>gatorowl: im sorry, but is that sarcasm? cant really tell...</p>
<p>jamimom: I have no idea what my EFC is. in fact, I didn't even apply for financial aid, I just submitted by the scholarship deadline. And I know that was not hte problem because these are the merit based scholarships. You are absolutely right when you said this, "USC's name comes up often as a school where subsequent year awards do not measure up with the first year "teasers"." they are literally handing out scholarships like candy (even though I get screwed of one), yet if you call them and ask about merit based scholarships after 1 year, you will find that they wont give you ****, no matter how flipping well you do. that for me is the saddest part, I could probably eat 1 year of the tuition with small scholarships I can pick up, but even if I was pulling straight As they wouldn't even help me.</p>
<p>blah.</p>
<p>on another note, I want to go to this school. aside from scholarships as I have seen, I can see that the school has a lot to offer as opposed to the UCs</p>
<p>Given your family's income level, you would probably not have qualified for financial aid. The way things work with college is that your family is responsible to pay for your college. It is really an extension of highschool until you are age 24 with few exceptions to this rule. I do not think it is right and this is a favorite vent of mine. But USC is a very selective school, and the competition for scholarships is fierce. To have gotten anything is really quite an achievement and you truly should be congratulated. I am sorry that it is not enough, but it is really an honor. The kids I know here who were accepted were top guns and they did not get a dime. </p>
<p>How does one pay? Well, your parents are front line in this regard, and you should have already had some discussions on college finances. Regardless, you need to sit down and discuss your options and what the family can afford. You need to realistically assess how much you can contribute as well. MY kids worked like maniacs summers and did stash a lot of money away for college expenses. If you have not done that, now is the time to start. Someone smart enough to get into USC and get money is certainly able to figure out some good sources of good income. You then need to decide whether you should borrow, $2500 is a good recommended amount for a freshman, no more than $5000, in general, and PLUS loans are available for parents. This is the last year for a good deal on interest on those so they might consider borrowing as much as possible and stashiing it for future distributions. If you can make it work as a family, then it is a go, but it truly is a family decision. Good luck, and let us know how it works out. With hard work, if you have some savings, some loans and the scholarships, I figure you can come up with about 20-30% of the cost . If your parents can pay for about half of the cost out of income, they may consider borrowing the rest if it causes a cash flow problem.</p>
<p>jamimom: you may have missed it but I got absolutely nothing from them! (well i didnt apply for financial aid) but that was the most they said they could give me in a LOAN. grrr</p>
<p>I just quit my job I had since september which I worked 17 hours each weekend at at 8.50 an hour. this summer I will be working full time. sadly, anyway you ad it up, it doesn't spell 45k a year.</p>
<p>why dont we shift the topic of discussion to "really big 3rd party scholarships"...essays are sort of my thing, I need a good essay contest.</p>
<p>edit: btw I will be selling literally all of my possessions, including my car. damn thing cost me 1500 bucks.</p>
<p>bubble.... I'm sorry to say this but you sound truly ungreatful for the advice given and the opportunities you've had. Previously you said there is a 300K income, now your just sounding like a whiny little kid looking for someone to give you the "easy-way-out" answer. Go to <a href="http://www.fastweb.com%5B/url%5D">www.fastweb.com</a> and apply for scholarships, take out a loan. If you want to make this work, you can and that is really all there is to it.</p>
<p>Sorry, Bubblehead, I thought the $1500 was from USC. As I said in my post, I don't know anyone who got any merit money from them and I am from the east coast which gives the kids a bit of a geographic plus and these kids who applied were high stats, great EC types. It is not easy to get money from them. Though I see posts on CC about kids getting money, this forum is really skewed to top achievers. Realistically, it is a long shot. Getting in at all is tough. </p>
<p>The fastweb is one source, and another is local scholarships. You might want to ask your GC what he knows about what is still out there. But with a family income like yours, that is going to be the first line hit as federal and institutional methodology make your parents primarily responsible for paying for your undergraduate education.</p>
<p>I still don't understand the problem. Are your parents refusing to pay anything at all? My husband and I only make a fraction of what your parents make, and yet we plan to provide several thousand a year toward our son's education. </p>
<p>Most of the big scholarships are already over for the year, but there are still a few left, according to Fastweb. My son doesn't write great essays, so we haven't looked into that type of thing. There are still ones you can apply for even when in college, however. After your freshman year, you could apply to be an RA, which usually provides at least room and board.</p>
<p>I am sorry, bubblekid. Sounds like a tough family situation. My parents helped me through college. When I asked them how I could possibly repay them, they said, "Just do the same for your kids." To me it is just part of helping my kids grow up to help pay for their college. I am sorry that your parents don't feel the same way. I pray you can find a way to make your dream come true.</p>
<p>don't be sorry susantm...they are good parents. but both are foreigners and have gotten to where they have so I should be able to do the same. I understand where they are coming from with this, and I think if I pull this off it will be an important step for me as an individual...</p>
<p>Bubblekid, you might want to tell your counselor your predicament, and have them come in and go over the college options with him, and he can reiterate what I said about the way college payment methodology works in this country. Being from elsewhere, they may truly not know how it works. It is so easy to get the wrong perspective from hearing about this and that kid getting scholarships and thinking that is the way it works. Several of my friends who were not foreigners were shocked when their top students were "lucky to get into" certain schools and did not get a dime,as they had heard for years, how schools were going to snap them up and they were looking at Harvard, and how the scholarships were going to roll in. Not so. The reality is that with some of these schools with accept rates of 35% and less, even top students are going to have problems getting accepted to colleges of their choice, much less getting merit aid. To get merit aid, you need to be in the very top % of the applicant pool, and usually have some hook the school wants as well. And I think they need to hear that the undergrad education is like a continuation of highschool with the parent footing the bill and of course giving input in where you go. It is involves the student more simply because you guys are older and because your choice is often your total home for the next several years, but the bottom line is that your folks are primarily on the hook for it. </p>
<p>My own kids did not want us to pay much for them either, though we were not reluctant. And they found many venues to pay about half to a quarter of the cost.</p>
<p>Why do you want to pay for college yourself? USC is one of the most expensive schools around. Some kids work hard all their life (up through high school) just for college savings. It's not unreasonable to have your parents pay for part of it, and there is no shame in doing so.</p>
<p>A side note: for federal reasons and aid purposes, I thought all colleges want you to submit a FAFSA as soon as possible, no matter what - even if you don't qualify for need-based aid. It is my understanding that some colleges are sometimes required to have your FAFSA/PROFILE on file even for merit-based aid (scholarships).</p>
<p>Sorry bubblekid, no sarcasm intended, just ignorance. </p>
<p>My, mistaken?, impression was that the Trustee Scholarship was extraordinarily competititve. However, people with very find credentials, such as yours, were often offered a Presidential scholarship almost as a consolation prize. Am I in error? Do you have to be National Merit to be considered for the Presidential?</p>
<p>From USC's web site:
"USC awards almost $250 million in need-based grants, merit scholarships, loans and work-study through a combination of state, federal, university and private funds. USC has a long tradition of meeting 100% of the USC-determined financial need for admitted undergraduates who satisfy all eligibility requirements and deadlines."</p>
<p>So jamimom, USC should not have gapped anyone unless a mistake was made.</p>
<p>Total tuition, room and board collected per year from students would be about $683 million, if all 16,271 undergrads paid the full $42,000 sticker price. But $250 million is not paid because of financial aid, so USC only collects $433 million, or on average $26,635 per student.</p>
<p>Also, jamimom, I question your statement "USC's name comes up often as a school where subsequent year awards do not measure up with the first year 'teasers.'" I have been following this forum intently for the past two years, with a focussed interest in USC, and the only posts I have seen that support this statement have been from you, but they have been frequent. Is your opinion based on recent information, and are you sure you have a large enough sample to make a conclusion? Just checking. I might have missed all those other posts, or maybe it is information from outside CC. If you are right, it is scandalous.</p>