<p>Our FA authority alamemom asked me to post answers to some pressing questions raised around here lately:</p>
<p>-If you haven't submitted tax returns, only Federal aid will be included - no USC grants until tax returns are submitted!</p>
<p>-Yes, if you "forgot" to submit FAFSA, CSS, taxes, do it NOW and hope for the best. Others have posted that they been awarded sufficient aid in that situation.</p>
<p>-If you are NMF and named USC as first choice, YES, the scholarship is coming. In the meantime, FAX or scan a copy of your NMF letter and send it to both FA and admissions with the USC ID# included. Double-check that USC is your first-choice. Even Spring admits are eligible for the NMF scholarship.</p>
<p>-If you only are getting MERIT awards, no, the FAFSA and CSS are not required.</p>
<p>madbean, someone told me that this year (for the first time) USC did require the FAFSA, even to be considered for merit awards. Other schools have this policy, so it’s not unheard of. Someone should double check if USC did indeed change their previous “no FAFSA required for merit aid” policy.</p>
<p>jazz/shreddermom, I really hope that isn’t true. I’m hoping to get the NMF Presidential and I didn’t submit the FAFSA/CSS. Should I just do it in case?</p>
<p>Hmmmm. I wish I could answer that, and I kind of doubt it would be the case without them making it very clear on the website. A call to someone (other than a student - ask for a real FA rep!) on Monday will provide the answer.</p>
<p>And the person who told me this may have been misinformed by one of those well-meaning but often mistaken phone-answering students.</p>
<p>It would be odd to require the FAFSA/CSS for only new students applying for merit money. As parents of a current student with merit, we were not told we needed to file either form for next year.</p>
<p>looking through some other threads, the person who told me this may well have been misinformed. Looks like FAFSA is still not required for merit aid:</p>
<p>Thanks jazz/shreddermom. In the packet I received for USC, one of the “Steps is for Admission” says Complete Application for Financial Aid ASAP. In a small box labeled “Financial aid basis”, it says “Undergraduate financial aid includes merit scholarships and need-based grants, loans, and Federal Work-Study. All merit scholarships, departmental aid and/or non- USC awards you receive must be included in your financial aid award.” </p>
<p>Does this mean anything, in terms of having to submit a FAFSA/CSS? </p>
<p>How can you appeal your FinAid award? USC did not give me enough in grants for it to be remotely possible for me to attend-- how difficult is it to to appeal succesfully for more $$$?</p>
<p>limi, I am not the one to answer, but I don’t think that is saying that you MUST fill out the FAFSA. Only that the FA office takes into account any merit awards you receive. Alamemom, where are you?! (I do know that they’re always urging/reminding you to apply for FA, even if you know you don’t qualify!) We did not qualify and did not fill out FAFSA, but my S did receive a departmental scholarship, two years ago.</p>
<p>icesk8girl, your award may not yet be complete. Please search through old threads for this information. It may well still go up between no and when it is complete. But yes, you can appeal. See the FA stickie!</p>
<p>Thanks jazz/shreddermom. I’ve asked some current students and most of them are saying no, so hopefully your well-intentioned but misinformed student was indeed misinformed!</p>
<p>My son/s grants exceed the value of the presidential schlarship. Does tht mean the grant is reduced accordingly, or does some of that help out the EFC and/or loans?</p>
<p>^The grants will be reduced. Last year, My son received the presidential scholarship, a $2500 university scholarship, the $1000 NMF scholarship, a small grant, and both subsidized and unsubsidized federal loans. Our EFC was not reduced.</p>
<p>Legacymom, what I know they WON’T do is let you come out ahead, where grants, scholarships combined equal more than COA, so your kid is basically making money to go to USC. There are indeed circumstances where scholarships and grants combined make USC very affordable. I hope that helps.</p>
<p>Son got the email notification today, so I imagine the FA package may be complete. We are a middle class family living in high cost SoCal. H had bone cancer, with multiple surgeries/no income for long periods during last decade. No college savings to speak of, as a result. Our equity did us in. </p>
<p>Ahh…sadness. Feeling a bit bad for son since he has done so well, excelled, and is an incandescently sunny young man–despite growing up with cancer hanging over the family since he was five. I will read the FA threads and see about next step. Thanks for directing us, madbean, jazz/shreddermom, alamemom, and others. </p>
<p>Am happy, just the same, for all of you who received wonderful news from FA!</p>
<p>If you have a lot of equity in your home, you could probably get some cash out of your home with extremely low interest rates…much lower than student loans.</p>
<p>I have scanned my NMF letter to the USC admissions office, hopefully this can speed up the process, and hopefully there is no requirement for FAFSA/CSS. Thanks for all your help!</p>
<p>Gladiatorbird, I would consider writing a letter, explaining the family situation (long cancer battle) and ask for a reassessment. I can’t see how it would hurt, and it could help.</p>
<p>Thanks for the suggestions, all! Family will put our heads together tomorrow and think about appealing, etc. We are 10k short, at least, even with grandparents helping. </p>
<p>Wait, if I obtain an outside scholarship (local philanthropist here gives quite a few big ones to promising business majors, in the 5-10k range), will that take away from the grant money in my FA package or the loan/work-study part? I have 42 in grants and another 8 in loans/work-study, so our EFC will still be around 10k, will that change?</p>
</p>