<p>I'm at USC right now, finished first semester with a 3.85 GPA and I might transfer for next year's fall semester. I want to apply to a school that offers merit based scholarships for transfer students, so what are some schools I should look at?</p>
<p>Not many schools really do, so I would just go to a UC where you can get instate tuition.</p>
<p>If you are just going to end up at a UC, you might as well get into the CCC system asap. You’ll save tons of money that way AND if you get more CCC credits than 4-year college credits from USC, you will be considered a CCC transfer and get priority transfer. You will have to wait to apply and transfer for Fall 2013, since UCs take junior level transfers only.</p>
<p>All other privates will be the same cost issues, and probably even more expensive as most privates do not give out much transfer scholarships. USC is known to be fairly good with their FA packages, so I doubt a less-endowed school is going to do much better for a transfer student. Many students don’t realize that colleges generally do NOT offer transfer students great FA or merit aid.</p>
<p>Is there a college you can attend and live at home? That is often a way to save almost 8-10K a year off of room and board.</p>
<p>Sorry, forgot to mention I’m not from California.</p>
<p>Ouch. The UCs are not at all a good financial deal for you then. Sorry, I assumed.</p>
<p>I would have you look at your own in-state public options for affordable options. I can’t think of a private college that would give you a significantly better deal that whatever you have at USC. While each private would give you a different FA deal, I have a hard time imagining having a FA package be offered that would contain a significant enough transfer scholarship to really make a major dent in the overall scheme. You can always just send out applications and see what shows up in the FA packages, but that is a mini investment already of a few hundred dollars for a look-see.</p>
<p>If financial aid is a big factor, I’d check this out:</p>
<p>[Best</a> Values in Public Colleges, 2011-12](<a href=“http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/colleges/]Best”>Best College Values, 2019 | Kiplinger)</p>