<p>I'm in a weird situation. So I enrolled very late to USC (University of Southern California) as in only about two weeks ago. As soon as I got permission to enroll I turned in all Financial Aid documents (save for my FAFSA had already been received ages before). According to the Financial Aid office I will receive an award but I will not know for another week or so.</p>
<p>Sadly, classes start tomorrow! However, my classes do not begin until Tuesday. But, I live 2 hours away from the campus (on a good traffic day) and do not want to commute. By the time I enrolled it was too late for guaranteed housing. On Monday, I have an opportunity to go in the wee hours of the morning (8 am) for a chance to have housing. I really need this or some off-campus apartment.</p>
<p>Sadly, my financial situation isn't good either (All this was indicated in the CSS profile). I live with only my mother and we make less than 20k a year, we live with other persons in our family who contribute to pay bills, therefore we have no property value to our name or other assets. (FAFSA EFC is 0)</p>
<p>I really need an estimation on what kind of aid I am going to receive because I don't want to go tomorrow leaving at a 5 am trip tomorrow just to hear that I won't have the resources to pay for it. I need to know what type of aid I am looking for. I've seen stories of great packages but I don't know, I'm nervous obviously - it's also not just for the commute factor that I don't want to stay at home - it's extremely stressful my living environment as well.</p>
<p>Thank you all! </p>
<p>
Can you attend the school without paying? Did the school tell you that you can go to the classes?</p>
<p>I expect to pay of course I know some has to come from us as well as loans but I am wondering how much. </p>
<p>Did you run a net price calculator for USC? That would give you a good guess.</p>
<p>When I ran the one on their website it said I would receive $0 of aid, for some reason I can not believe that. </p>
<p>If your numbers in your first post were accurate then you made some major mistakes on the NPC. Try it again.</p>
<p>You should be on the phone with financial aid, burning up those lines. They are the ONLY ones who can clear this up for you. You have NO idea what kind of money USC is going to give you, if anything. Yes, you could end up getting up at 5 AM and going there to have them just throw up their hands and say the numbers are not in yet. You need to call Admissions and FIN aid and turn on the heat and find out what you are going to have to pay.</p>
<p>And yes, you will have to pay something. You aren’t gong to walk into USC with someone waiting to roll out the red carpet and escort you to your room. Nope. Doesn’t work that way. If you have not filled out the master promissory notes you won’t get your loans. If your FAFSA has not been filed and the SAR come back showing you have need, you won’t be getting any money despite what you think about what your EFC is. On top of that, USC is a PROFILE school that has a required student contribution in their formula, so you will have to come up with some funds, just like you and your family will be paying for that trip to the school in gas money and other travel expenses. </p>
<p>They also are not likely to have a room for you. You have to find one. You should be on Facebook and other social media sites for USC and talking to the housing dept for referrals on where you can find a cheap room. If you have little money to spare, you need to find an inexpensive room share. There is likely to be someone who is in need of a roommate. To get into some of the apartments through regular channels involves credit checks and big deposit checks as well big time rent checks a lot of that right up front. How are you expecting to pay for all of this? It is highly likely that USC will present you with a bill, not a check for you to attend the school.</p>
<p>A few years ago, a young man my son knew got into NYU and just assumed the same things you did. Very low EFC. But NYU didn’t give him much at all. He could commute there but when he got his tuition bill which had to be paid before he could enroll for the next term’s classes, he and his family could not pay it even with the state and federal aid that chiseled it down. The school just told them to try some Parent loans like PLUS or look for private cosigned loans if he wanted to continue going there, and, oh, if he didn’t pay the first semester balance and did not come back for the second, they would not release his transcripts or anything until that was paid. So don’t assume you are getting your expenses paid.</p>
<p>So…what happened??</p>
<p>Yikes, he should have tried to go and at least get a promise of university housing because off campus he will have to have money upfront for deposits and stuff. I hope he calls the aid office, they have to understand that he needs to get these things settled. I can’t believe they couldn’t give him some estimate of aid when they accepted him.</p>
<p>USC is not like NYU, they will meet need. He will have full fed loans.and some student contribution as well as possible family contribution, but he won’t be gapped like NYU at least.</p>
<p>I agree that USC is not like NYU in that USC guarantees to meet full need. However, it’s need as they define it, and for students who have a low EFC, or any student whose parents are in dire straits financially, even a small gap is not one that can be handled. Those minimum contributions can be hefty, and it does bother me that the OP mentions that when he “ran the one on their website it said I would receive $0 of aid, for some reason I can not believe that.”, referring to NPC on the USC website, despite a zero FAFSA EFC. Some schools do NOT guarantee to meet need to those accepted from the waitlist; I have no idea if USC is such a school. Others will give no aid from their own funds if their internal deadlines are not met for fin aid. Don’t know if the OP falls into that category. Doesn’t matter if a school is generally generous if you are one of the student for whom it is not the case.</p>
<p>Hello, I am just updating this thread in case anyone else needs help in this situation:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>I had driven down to USC and spoke to financial aid previously and was told to wait until my review was complete which would be any time starting on the first week of school.</p></li>
<li><p>Due to some positive responses, and a whole lot of faith I did go get housing. There were limited spots available (about 6 female and 3 male spots) the spaces available were mostly in the cheapest apartments (Century, etc) So I chose the cheapest option.</p></li>
<li><p>This morning my financial aid came out and with the inclusion of federal aid, USC grants, work study, and loans I will need to pay 6,000 a year which I will work another job for and I am likely to be able to cover this. so USC is actually very generous and affordable. My estimated cost to attend was 65,000 to have that reduced to 6,500 is great, in my opinion. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>Thank you everyone!</p>
<p>That is the best news I heard all day!</p>
<p>Thank you for the update - and** Best wishes for great success in college! **</p>
<p>Great. Try to earn the money summers, don’t work so much your schoolwork suffers. Don’t work more than 15 hours a week unless you can get a job you can study during. Find other ways to save. Buy your textbooks used to save money check Amazon, Chegg, Bookbyte, TextbookRush and Barnes & Nobles. </p>