<p>I'm a high school senior who has already finished applying to colleges and has a few questions about financial aid.</p>
<p>When applying for financial aid, I'm assuming you have to indicate what your housing situation will be (on-campus, off-campus, home). Please correct me if I'm wrong about this.</p>
<p>If I apply for financial aid saying that I plan to live on-campus (namely for University of Southern California and UC's) and decide later on that I will live at home, will my financial aid be affected? In other words, can I apply saying that I'd like to live on campus just to see how the aid will be and decide later that I will live at home while still maintaining the same aid package minus the costs for room and board?</p>
<p>If I apply for financial aid saying that I plan to live on-campus (namely for University of Southern California and UC’s) and decide later on that I will live at home, will my financial aid be affected?</p>
<p>Yes…your aid will change. A school has different COAs for on campus living and “at home” living…because living at home costs much, much less.</p>
<p>Obviously, it doesn’t cost much to live at home. So, if your aid pkg is for on-campus living and then you decide to live at home, your aid pkg will be reduced.</p>
<p>Sorry…my question wasn’t very clear at all. I meant to ask whether or not my aid for things other than room and board will change. I realize that the school will subtract the aid for housing, but will that be all they do?</p>
<p>Or does their package not specify what the money will go towards?</p>
<p>Sorry, I don’t know much about this at all and neither do my parents.</p>
<p>Our experience…the financial aid broke down the amounts for travel, living expenses/dorm/ food, books, tuition. The amount remained the same whether our daughter lived on campus, or rented a house off campus with friends. In our case, the college was 2000 miles away.
This may be how USC and the UC’s handle their financial aid packages as well.
Hopefully you will be offered a financial aid package that allows you to attend the college you most wish to attend. Good Luck!
~APOL-a Mum</p>
<p>The financial aid award is typically broken down by grants, loans, work study. The cost of attendance is the total of tuition,fees,R&B, travel, Books etc. I checked the NPC (Net Price Calculator) for USC and they do not ask if you plan to live on campus. Therefore they assume you will live on campus and show the COA as such. You can run the NPC and see what they expect your net costs to be (Expected Family Contribution, Student Contribution/Work Study and Loans). You could assume that the grant will change if your COA changes (living at home) but what you and your parents pay will likely remain the same with one caveat that they will (hopefully) increase your travel costs to commute from home and adjust the grant. Here is the NCP for USC
[USC</a> Financial Aid - Planning for USC](<a href=“http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/applying_receiving/undergraduates2/netpricecalculator.html]USC”>http://www.usc.edu/admission/fa/applying_receiving/undergraduates2/netpricecalculator.html)
Page down for link</p>