<p>There was a very thin envelope addressed to my son in the mail from USC today. I thought it might be a rejection letter or perhaps some sort of request for more information. When the envelope was opened, all that was inside was a blank sheet of paper and a slightly crumpled $20 bill. What is this supposed to mean?</p>
<p>Maybe they are returning the bribe attached to his application as insufficient? ;)</p>
<p>It is just baffling. The school only got on our radar because of the 1/2 scholarship for NMS that USC offers. It was his first application, hurriedly done to meet the December 1 deadline. I don't recall him stuffing a twenty in the envelope.......</p>
<p>What department was it from? That is really strange.</p>
<p>The envelope says "Office of Admission and Financial Aid". The piece of paper in the envelope with the money is completely blank.</p>
<p>You can always call that specific office and see if they have mailed him something recently. They would probably have a record of what they sent out.</p>
<p>Kat</p>
<p>I'm laughing so hard about this, one of my co-workers just stepped in to see what was so funny. I just said she wouldn't understand. </p>
<p>Just so many outrageous possibilites here.</p>
<p>Wow, how bizarre. The only explanation I can think of is that you payed too much for the application fee - maybe you have really bad handwriting and they thought that your "30" said "50", or something ;-)</p>
<p>Perhaps a test of integrity. ;).</p>
<p>We paid the application fee by credit card using USC online payment-- I don't think we were overcharged. And wouldn't there be a check from the school with a memo line saying "overpayment" or something?</p>
<p>Well I've been accused of doing stuff like this, but it wasn't me, honest. If you live close to USC I'd say walk over and talk to the Admissions office. If you're not close by ....</p>
<p>I think the key is that blank piece of paper. To me it says someone in the Admissions office thinks the twenty was associated with your S's application, most likely accidentally. Perhaps a co-worker in the Admissions office was repaying a luncheon loan and the twenty ended up atop S's application! Let us know how this turns out.</p>
<p>If it were an overpayment or refund of some kind it would most certainly be an official university check. That is truly bizarre.</p>
<p>Your son did not ask for a donation in his essay, did he? :)</p>
<p>I hope that's not your financial aid offer.</p>
<p>Maybe this is a test to see what his response will be. :D</p>
<p>Clearly USC is trying to covertly poach a top student.</p>
<p>IloveLA - funny.</p>
<p>We haven't applied for aid.......in that painful middle part of the income stream in which there is no aid, but $45000 a year seems like a huge amount of money. That is why the automatic 1/2 scholarship for MNS was so appealing.</p>
<p>I take it from the responses that this is not a <em>typical</em> mailing from USC?</p>
<p>This is very strange. I agree that any refund would be paid by USC check, except the OP said they paid by credit card. In that case, the refund would be made back to the credit card and an appropriate receipt sent with at least a couple word description.</p>
<p>Sounds as accidental as finding a $20 on the street, to me.</p>
<p>This is too funny.</p>
<p>I hope you post more when you find out about it.</p>