<p>Hey everyone, this is my first post in this forum. I was just curious, what is USC (Southern California)'s financial aid like for those community college transfers? I'm thinking of applying but the only thing holding me back is the possibility of getting decent aid to help with the cost..</p>
<p>Any help is definitely welcome...</p>
<p>Their transfer brochure (see PDFs on right side of page) discusses need based FA:</p>
<p>[Transfer</a> Students - USC Undergraduate Admission](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/apply/transfer.html]Transfer”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/undergraduate/apply/transfer.html)</p>
<p>Merit aid:</p>
<p>[USC</a> Financial Aid](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/grants_scholarships/undergraduates/meritbasedft.html]USC”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/grants_scholarships/undergraduates/meritbasedft.html)</p>
<p>USC uses the FAFSA and the CSS/Profile and guarantees to meet 100% of USC-determined need. The policy applies to freshmen and transfers. As a transfer, you will qualify for the same need-based aid as students who entered as freshmen.</p>
<p>Please be aware that the USC-determined need may be different than your FAFSA-determined need. The CSS/Profile will consider assets, such as home equity, that the FAFSA does not.</p>
<p>entomom has already linked you to the information you need. Good luck!</p>
<p>I have a question: I completed an online financial aid calculator that uses the Institutional Methodology (which includes assets and such, just like USC does), and it said that my EFC came out to about $1500. So does that mean that if I have to pay the EFC of $1500, I’ll be able to use work study, loans, grants, and university grants to cover the rest of the amount? If no one knows, I can just start a new thread but I thought I’d try. Thanks! [:</p>
<p>First, the IM calculator is a generalized one and your EFC can vary depending on the school. Although you give the same financial information to all schools on the Profile, they each use their own calculations based on their FA policies. So, for example, how much you’re expected to pay can be different at USC vs. Harvard because their policies are different.</p>
<p>Yes, since USC pays 100% of need, whatever they figure is your need will be covered by WS, loans and grants. However, what you don’t know is how much of each they will give you, so it could be heavy to loans or heavy to grants.</p>
<p>Yeah, I wasn’t expecting it to be a concrete figure, but I at least wanted to know what ballpark my EFC would be in, so I decided to try out the calculator.</p>
<p>Wow, that’s great! I mean, my mom didn’t qualify for the parent PLUS loan, so I would be eligible for I think $11,500 my junior year, which is great, plus another $15,050 from Cal and Pell grants, plus my $1500-ish EFC, so hopefully university grants and work study would cover the other $24,900ish. I really, really want to go to SC, so hopefully I can afford it!</p>