Question about NMF first choice

Colleges and Universities A-Z University of Southern California
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I’m sure this has been asked before, so please forgive me! My daughter was deferred to regular decision at USC. She is a NM finalist. She’s got a 4.0 (unweighted school) and good SAT and ACT scores (1500 and 34, I think?), but her ECs are weak. We don’t really anticipate that she’ll get in to USC.

Here’s the question: Does choosing USC as her NM 1st choice school early (and thus having USC notified on 3/1) increase her chances of admission?

She’s got great offers at some other schools. I think she fears that she could choose USC, get in, and find out that it is still too expensive for us (possible since we completely screwed ourselves by not understanding anything about the FAFSA in 2021). Then she would not have access to the fantastic NM offers from other schools either.

Can someone help me understand if there’s an admissions benefit to declaring USC her 1st choice now?

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I don’t think so. They know she’s an NMF correct? And she has written a LOCI expressing her continued interest and that she would attend if accepted? There have also been unsubstantiated rumors over the years (so not fact!), that USC limits the number of NMFs they accept (most of their NMFs have no financial need).

Have you run USC’s net price calculator? If not, do that here: USC Financial Aid : Net Price Calculator

Also note that your D can change her first choice college in the NMF system. I think that can be done up until May 31, but practically speaking the deadline is May 1 because that’s the typical commit date. https://nationalmerit.imodules.com/s/1758/images/gid2/editor_documents/merit_r_i_leaflet.pdf?sessionid=6701aecc-52e1-4ef0-8d43-e41b653f8e95&cc=1

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USC asked deferred students to NOT send LOCI.

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Here is USC’s estimated COA. Can you afford it if the tuition portion were cut in half (ie. 54K)?

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If you’ll eliminate yourself from other schools (and not sure this is the case - I mean, you get a near free ride at great schools like Bama and Tulsa) - you’ll want to understand the nuances of first choice. I would look up the policies of the other schools - do you have to name them top choice, etc. and by when? What is the latest app date for other schools?

When you say you still might not be able to afford it - I’m going to assume you are full pay based on your FAFSA comment although USC uses CSS and hopefully you got that in.

Assuming no aid, National Merit is 1/2 tuition at USC. Cost of attendance is $86K. with tuition $63.5K this year. So if you take $31K off - can you afford $55K?

Short of other aid, that’s your qualifier.

Or would you rather go to Tulsa for free or Alabama for near free - you pay for food. And there are many other deals out there too. There are lists online. I put one below - but there is more schools than this.

That’s saving you - if you even get into USC - hundreds of thousands of dollars. You might find out what all the deadlines are - but if you’re not in, I wouldn’t blow a wonderful scholarship “hoping” for USC. But as others noted, you may still have time to declare your top choice.

Good luck.

National Merit Scholars – Scholarships | The University of Alabama (ua.edu)

National Merit Semifinalist Package - The University of Tulsa (utulsa.edu)

53 Colleges Offering Full Tuition Scholarships for National Merit Finalists (thecollegematchmaker.com)

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USC does not require a student to state their first choice until May 31.

Tulsa is a SEMI-FINALIST scholarship so there is no need to declare first choice for the big scholarship. They will award an additional $750/year if a semi-finalist becomes a finalist. Their requirement is that a student declare Tulsa as their first choice by the NMSC deadline (May 31).

Alabama requires a student to declare them as first choice by May 1.

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To answer your question. (@CADREAMIN please correct me if I am wrong.) USC financial aid and admissions are two separate processes. Admissions lets financial aid know who they ultimately accept but financial aid does not notify admissions who is in need, has outside scholarships, etc. I believe the NMSC first choice list goes to the FAST office, not admissions. CADREAMIN, can you confirm?

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True, but this is really just semantics as USC did ask students to fill out the early action deferral form to be considered in RD round (this form was required to opt-in if the student wants to be considered in the RD round).

Beyond that, there is no reason for a student to not update their AO about NMF status, or other relevant/significant updates (hopefully this wouldn’t be the first time they have communicated with their AO). Students could also write these things on the fall transcript they can upload in their portals.

Regardless for OP, as I said above I don’t think selecting USC as first choice in the NMF system will help with admissions.

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I don’t think so. The finalist letters just came out. But maybe they get updated on that through NMSC somehow? I have let her be mostly independent through all of this, so I don’t understand all the intricacies of the various portals and how/if she could update them with that info.

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If she didn’t put that info down on the Early Action deferral form, I would send an email (short, to the point) to her AO with the info.

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We can’t on our own, but she has an offer from grandparents that would mean we could afford the remainder.

Edited to add: When I say afford, I mean make it work. But she knows that it would mean a lot more work on our part and she’s got good schools she can attend with full tuition scholarships that would not require this level of family commitment.

But darn it, she fell in love with USC.

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Never fall in love with a school (rule #1 of the search) and never ever ever put your financial being - retirement or otherwise in jeopardy.

She may love USC but when she gets there it will have its issues like any other college. Profs she can’t understand, bad food, bad roommate, etc.

This is clearly not easy for you to afford so short of need based aid, it seems an absolute no!!

It’s hard to say no to your kids but they’ll realize later that you had to !!

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Yes, hopefully the CSS will do its job, as I did note our special circumstances.

I suspect that college is not “easy to afford” for many families in America, so we are proud that her efforts led her to some offers that would make it easy. We shall wait and see what happens with this school in particular. I am gathering that naming them 1st choice will not likely increase her admission chances.

Luckily, she’s pragmatic enough that her version of falling in love is pretty mild. :grin:

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College isn’t easy to afford and her hard work absolutely paid off by having access to these offers!!

I mean it’s why Bama has more NMFs than any school - free tuition and housing.

Obviously many NMFs go to a variety of schools. We all have differently levels of affordability.

I just hate when I read stories of families crippling themselves for a name. A former colleague has two at USC. Full pay. It blows my mind. I have no clue how he’s pulling it off but good for him.

I’m not sure the outcomes are worth it but to each their own.

But if you have to worry about money or impact grandma’s funds, then it’s not worth it (imho).

Good luck however it goes. I’m glad you have other affordable offers just in case.

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It’s funny. She’s so low-key (hence the dearth of ECs!!) and doesn’t give a rip about prestige. She is way more frugal than I am and won’t even ask for new shoes, lol. But of course, for some reason, USC was her favorite. She’s making up for all 18 years of being a cheapskate, ha!

If she were to somehow get in and really wanted it, I know she’d find a way to work to make up the additional money herself. I could probably learn a thing or two from her…

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Depending on how the “offer from grandparents” is given to her, it can really impact her qualifying for need-based aid in future years. Best to read up on the different ways that grandparents can help and how it impacts need-based aid. Rules are changing, so make sure you look at current information.

And, if you think you messed up your FAFSA or CSS Profile, or if you have unique circumstances that weren’t captured by those forms, you can appeal your need-based aid award with the updated information and USC will review that to see if you qualify for additional need-based aid.

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That’s a lot of work and a lot of money. It’s easy to justify for our kids - we all want them to have what they want - and if you choose to go that route, that’s fine for your family.

But as an outsider looking in, and that’s all I am, your desire to meet her need at any cost is a bit scary - but in most cases, you are (not her) going to be hurt in the long run. That’s not to say she won’t be successful - but you’re talking hundreds of thousands of dollars…unless you can comfortably pay that which it sounds like you can’t.

If it were me and this came up, I’d say no. We had a budget - stated up front - and stuck to it.

But everyone handles things differently.

Good luck.

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Yeah, selling a large stock gift from the other grandparents was what got us in this mess to begin with. We and the grandparents are weighing each option carefully, especially considering that we’ve got two more kiddos headed to college in 5 years.

If you know of a resource to point me toward that addresses this particular issue, I’d appreciate it!

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Grandma and grandpa are happily willing and able to fund 150K for undergrad per child (and no one is allowed to save it toward grad school :woman_shrugging:t3:), so “making it work” means that I increase my (part-time) work hours and/or my daughter works over the summer so no one accrues debt or stops saving for retirement.

There will be no “meeting her need at any cost” for this one. But there may be some “if you really want it, make it happen, kiddo”. :laughing:

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Sorry, been traveling (in LA actually) so haven’t been able to be too responsive…I don’t think selecting USC earlier will increase her chance of admission. However, you are able to change your selection as often as you want between now and the deadline, so if your other schools don’t need it done by March 1st, she can always select USC now then change it after decisions are out. Of course, you should research if other schools she is interested in need an earlier commitment of that choice for whatever reason.

I totally get her being in love and that’s ok! While I don’t like to see kids over emotional about a dream school, truth it, is can be hard not to. And they don’t get a do-over of those college years. Is that perhaps some of the reason the grandparents want the $ used for undergrad and not graduate school?

We don’t know your financial situation and no one understands how you want to fund your kid’s education. How much you dig into your retirement plans, or the next new car, travel, trips to TJ Maxx etc - that is up to you and only you. For some, those things are way less important than paying big bucks for a college, for others, it’s reverse. Both are ok. There are plenty that sacrifice everything for their kids in different ways, it is a personal choice.

I have sent several to college and we definitely turned down our fair share of full ride/very generous offers and lower cost options and chose to pay more at USC. But we really felt the fit for them at USC that wasn’t felt at the other schools. Did the $ impact us? Of course. But not an ounce of regret. (But the grandparent $ would have been great! ha.)

There was a wonderful dad on here years ago in angst about turning down a Trustees at USC for full pay at Yale (with a real financial struggle to do so). She went to Yale. He reported back in a DM a couple years in that he felt they made the right choice for them, and that’s all that matters.

I’m not rah rah USC, every school has good and bad, but for mine, I know the choice made a difference and they have things now they wouldn’t have gotten elsewhere. Point is, if she gets in, whether you want to pay the price, or choose not to - should only be driven by your family’s heart and minds.

Wish her luck in getting in and peace in the decision!

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