<p>I'm in the middle of an appeals process right now. I hope they listen...</p>
<p>Aaah, the entitlement mentality is alive and well!</p>
<p>I hate to point out the obvious, but FA at any specific school is a privilege, not an entitlement --- both in merit and need-based form. If you can't make the numbers work, say "thank you" for what you got and move on to the school where the numbers do work. Just because someone's EFC is X, the school is under no obligation to meet the full gap. This works on both ends of the spectrum --- on the high end people are expected to dip into home equity and other assets (some families withdraw from IRAs and 401ks) or the student has to cover the difference with loans. Obviously, the only option on the low end is loans. In either case, someone bears the pain. $10k/year is on the high end of what one should consider taking on in loans. If USC is the best option available to the OP, it can be made to work.</p>
<p>
If YOU don't think that higher ed s worh $6k/year to you, why do you think USC should invest nearly $18k/year in you? A BS/BA is worth in excess of $1M in earnings over the lifetime of the recipient, paying $24k to get $1M back seems like a rather sweet deal. Instead of complaining about how lousy USC FA is, take the UNC offer.</p>
<p>FA is a good thing for society, and I don't mind paying a very high price to subsidize the tuition of a needy student who uses it to pull themselves into the middle class, so that they can then in turn subsidize the tuition of a needy student of the next generation. However, it statements like the one above that sometimes cause the people who pay through the nose to question the wisdom of the current system.</p>
<p>Personally I think you should talk to them, USC says they meet 100% of need (and unfortunately it's not what you think you need, its what the CSS profile/FAFSA [mostly CSS] uses). The good thing is the CSS takes into account many factors, the bad thing is this takes into account many factors such as 401ks, home equity, etc. Thankfully (well not really), the CSS Profile was able to show USC that my stepfather lost his job last year and even though our EFC was like 14k, after reviewing our profile I only have to contribute 6700, with 2000 in loans (they actually took a 1700 dollar loan off a few days ago and added it to my grant).</p>
<p>I think that if your EFC and CSS EFC says one thing and they do something far different you should appeal because they were more than generous for me.</p>
<p>Also, local scholarships and everything are good. I've already received like $1000 from local scholarships.</p>
<p>Just thought I'd point out that this is a thread from last year. April 2007. :)</p>
<p>How do you check your EFC on CSS?</p>