My parents are small business owners who have fluctuating annual revenues. By looking at income annually, on most years, from an income perspective, my family would be considered right in the middle of the middle class. However, on particularly successful years, my parents could have “upper-middle class” incomes. Even then, since I am part of a large family, my family and I consider tuition prices to be a very important factor.
I admit that I’m not financially savvy, so I may not understand the specifics of how USC financial aid works. However, I am concerned that my parents’ income may make getting financial aid very difficult.
So, current students, would attending USC be worth it if I had very little financial aid?
I would be majoring in East Asian Studies because that is my interest. I plan on applying to law school.
I have very good grades that give me a solid chance of getting accepted. However, merit-based financial aid is still an unknown factor, as of now.
USC can be very rewarding, but there are other equally respected schools and programs for cheaper. Assuming you get to choose between multiple schools, the higher cost for USC would have to be justified for yourself, such as the location or specific clubs.
Schools that take the CSS, like USC, look at all your assets - from bank accounts to small businesses. Hopefully your parents have done some research and know what to expect for aid. You should tell them to use the calculator on any school’s website to estimate how much free money they can get.
For law school I’d say you should think about taking a cheap route for undergrad since your undergrad school won’t matter outside of connections and you’ll need money for law school. And on saving money, you can always start racking up small, less selective scholarships to pad your expenses.
You posted yesterday that you were deciding between a couple UC schools as a transfer student.
So is USC actually in play for you? More than half the students at USC are full pay, so many think it is worth it. But that also depends on personal financial information that only your family has. If going to law school, unless all of this is easily affordable (which it sounds like its not) saving money as an undergrad is the responsible move. Good luck!
Very little merit based aid is given to ANY transfer students at any U.
As posted above, to keep grad school and job options as flexible as possible, go to a school that is as inexpensive as possible.
Grad & law schools look at your grades and test scores. If you have tons of debt, you really limit options for you AND your parents for grad/law school and also options for jobs.
Higher education nowadays is so out of whack in terms of cost versus value that it really has to be a dispassionate business decision. if you know that you want to go to law school, then you’ll want to look at which undergrad programs send the most kids to the best law schools - which ones are the biggest feeders - and work backwards from there.
The other thing you can do is go to community college for 2 years and then transfer. I have a friend from USC who went to an Ivy League law school as a 2 year transfer into USC and he’s doing just fine nowadays. But I would urge you, if undergrad is just a waystation, to take the LONG perspective and not obsess over any particular undergraduate institution. USC is great, but it’s not the only school out there. You can also apply to a number of schools and weigh financial aid packages.
Bottom line - do your homework, find the best feeder schools, and take the LONG TERM perspective.
Nope! And I’m saying that in the nicest way possible. No bachelors degree is worth that much, even if it says Harvard. The earning potential of an experienced lawyer is not much higher than a software engineer, so you really want to keep the debt to a minimum. I would go for an affordable bachelors degree and get top grades and LSAT scores.
If your family can afford it, USC is worth it. My D is a rising senior there. However, it sounds like your family would be tapped out after USC and you have siblings, so you would have to take out loans for law school absent a merit scholarship. Loans for law school ARE NOT WORTH IT.
For the most part, I just assumed that USC was not a factor because of the high cost. Just recently, I found out that the USC transfer application is due later than the UC application, so I am considering giving USC another chance since I have the time.
Right now it is most likely that I will either go to UCLA or UC Irvine. This is the most likely scenario because my GPA meets the transfer guarantee criteria for UC Irvine and is higher than UCLA’s average acceptance GPA for my major.
I’m asking questions about USC at this time because I don’t want to find out too late that USC is more generous with financial aid than I had previously believed.
As of now I plan to go to law school, however, that may change in the next couple of years, as I am applying for internships to see if law school is for me.
I don’t go back to my older posts to tell people that my plans have changed because my situation is constantly changing. I ask each question independently of my previous ones. Sorry for the confusion.
Looking at my previous posts won’t provide a seamless narrative because of unexpected changes that come along the way. My previous questions are not a reliable indicator of my current situation. But, thank you to those who really want to help me with my questions. I really appreciate your advice!
The good thing is if you are from California, several schools have amazing East Asian studies programs. My professor always spoke very highly of UCLA and other UC schools that have great programs – so I would really look into those and heavily consider them, especially if they are cheaper than USC. Also if you are considering law school, I would consider cost as a factor since law school is really expensive. If you are expecting some parental assistance for that, then I would say that going to an undergrad school that is less expensive would put you in a better position than one that is more costly – especially since prestige of undergrad does not really matter for law school admissions – mostly GPA and LSAT score.
This really is a question only you and your parents can answer. If the cost is greater then the value, it is not worth the price. This is your “reservation price.”
But, one thing you’ll find on these forums is a tendency to answer no to this question. However, your college experience is more then an education. If you find the athletic scene beneficial and the student body to your liking, then it may be.
It is really hard for someone to argue that a school is too expensive when they constantly have more “demand” then “supply .”
Hmm. Have a family member going there this year. I honestly think USC is much better known on the West Coast then the East. I had really never heard about it or maybe had heard the name once. Ok, so I’m not in the entertainment industry but I don’t live under a rock either. Seems like USC’s risen as the number of students hoping to attend college in CA has increased. I recognize that many schools have gotten much better in the last decade so it could be great.
Since you want to go into East Asian studies it is really a question of, is this the best program for the money that you can get into. You would have to check that carefully. It is not an inexpensive option. My family member talked more about the campus’ beauty then the curriculum but hey to each his own…