International Student Financial aid from University of Southern California(USC)

Hi, I’m an international student planning to apply to USC class of 2021. The problem is that I will be needing some financial aid. I know that USC gives out aid to international student, but what kind of caliber do you have to be?
Do average students get it(4.0 GPA with ~1400/1600 SAT)?

I want to know my chances of getting need-based aid from USC as an international student with the above statistics.
Is it really competitive?

Man, life is tough for international students.

Any help would be appreciated.

USC sadly does not give need-based financial aid to international students. Your best bet is to get one of the top merit scholarships, and they’re very competitive.

Thanks,
I was talking about the merit aid. I always get confused

Oh, in that case, there’s a bunch of info on merit aid in the pinned threads. They don’t consider international students separately, so you will be up against both other international and domestic students. There are ~100 students a year who enroll with full tuition scholarships, so it’s very competitive, and you can’t really predict who is going to get them (they consider a lot more than SAT and GPA). Also, if money is an issue, keep in mind that these scholarships require an in-person interview, and that you will need to prove that you can finance your first year at USC, regardless of the scholarship.

It is really competitive or everyone in the world would be applying. Do not underestimate how competitive it is to get scholarships, as LayraSparks said about 100 enroll with full tuition scholarship of the approx 70,000 that apply (more are offered but go elsewhere). Yes, that is competitive. Not impossible, but have back up plans.

The worse thing you can do is believe, in any way, that getting merit money is easy at a school like USC. Soooo many students fall into that trap every year only to be extremely disappointed. Just getting admitted is hard enough these days. But sincerely, good luck!

The higher “ranking” and more selective the school, the more difficult it is to stand out from the pack to qualify for merit aid.

For merit aid, target lower ranking/ less selective schools, where your stats put you well above the 75th percentile of students at that school.

@GMTplus7
Since I have a 4.0 GPA, 1400/1600 SAT, and Valedictorian honours, doesn’t that make me well above 75th percentile at USC?

It’s not all about scores. @CADREAMIN is correct in stating that students (especially international students) believing they are unique and can easily get in and get merit aid. Consider that most of those 70K students will have better if not similar scores. Valedictorians are very common.

We are only trying to keep it real, not discourage you…I can name several kids with 4.6 (w), 4.0 (uw) with very high test scores, many APs and excellent ECs that did not even get admitted to USC. I kid you not, our local public high school had 16 Valedictorians two years ago, not fluff, that’s how many posted perfect grades all four years. It’s a supply/demand problem in the US. Few spots for many kids with great credentials. Kids are learning the test and getting better scores, and 4.0 is pretty common for applicants at top tier and in demand schools. And USC uses holistic admissions, looking at so much more than scores. It is so competitive is all we are trying to tell you, so apply to USC but also apply broadly, and look for a school where you are a top student coming in as GMTplus7 said, that is where the merit money is. And good job looking into all this while you have time to do so.

@KingYusHalo This year, that test score (1400 on M+CR) would only put you in about the 60th percentile of USC admits. The 75th percentile starts around 1510.

@s0meUSCkid95
Whoah, bruh, I never thought of that!

I guess I might have to remove USC from my list. I have better schools to apply to.

Is university in your home country not more affordable?

Schools that geant merit money each have their own criteria on how they select recipients. It often not a simple SAT/GPA threshold for automatic money.

@GMTplus7
What i mean is that an international student has to work 2X as hard as a domestic student to get into the same college.
An international student going to Harvard is going to be waaaayyy smarter than a US student going to Harvard. Most likely the international student will have IMO or IPhO credential with award winning publishments. Admission rates for international students at top uni’s are usually 1/2 or 1/3 of the domestic acceptance rate

If only I had a US passport. sigh
BTW, my country has pretty shit universities. The degrees are worth nothing. And also, my dad can afford the US education, but I just don’t want to burden him as ~$300,000 is a lot of money no matter where you live.

Smarter? No. Smart students, domestic or int’l, are a dime a dozen. They just have to be extraordinary in some way-- that could mean demonstrated leadership, elite talent/athletic ability, politically prominent parents, uber family wealth.

Nor always. It varys by country. Applicants from underrepresented countries may enjoy a much higher admit rate than do domestic applicants.

Your stats are dime-a-dozen for USC.

“What i mean is that an international student has to work 2X as hard as a domestic student to get into the same college.”

Yep, the US college system privileges US citizens / taxpayers. Is there a problem with that? Plenty of US students can’t afford college here, but keep on thinking US colleges “owe” international students anything.

@Pizzagirl
What you are saying is absolutely correct…but I believe it should only apply to public schools.
International students make up $30 billion of the US economy. Not only that, international students are usually very prosperous and give back to their uni’s.
Take for example, Ratan Tata, former CEO of a 100 billion dollar industry in india, donated 50 million to HBS. Likewise, other international students are very generous to their alma maters’.

And yah, because public universities give zero(0) aid to international students, these foreigners are paying in full. Most of the international students attend public universities, so that adds up to a lot of income for the government/uni.

Private universities? It’s their choice to admit whoever they want 'cause they are not funded in any way from taxpayers money.

^ But they are, although to a lesser extent. They all get subsidies from the government for research & etc.

Sure they are. They get taxpayer funding in the form of Pell grants, subsidized student loans, research funding, privileged tax treatment on their endowments, and exemptions from property taxes.

If international students were in fact smarter, why wouldn’t they have great universities where they are, or at least stick around to support their own country and make it better? Isn’t that what smart people would do? May sound snarky but it is actually a serious question.

"$30 billion of the US economy. "

which amounts to a flea on an elephants back.

“It’s their choice to admit whoever they want 'cause they are not funded in any way from taxpayers money.”

US private colleges ARE supported by ALL US taxpayers, because they have non profit, i.e. tax free status, courtesy of IRS and the US congress.

that adds up to quite a lot of tax $$'s they DONT have to end up paying to the IRS.
That tax free status could change very quickly if Congress decides that private US colleges no longer deserve non profit status because they are not treating US citizens, who are indirectly supporting them, fairly when it comes to admissions decisions.
I doubt it will come to that…